Today we’d like to introduce you to George Kelley.
Thanks for sharing your story with us George. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Most of my career has been spent in digital finance, with online and/or mobile banking software providers. The last company I worked for was Clairmail, a Novato, CA based mobile banking provider. I left in early 2010 and decided to sell my own knowledge and experience in that sector as a consultant. During my time at Clairmail I became friends with David Eads, who worked at another mobile banking provider called mFoundry. He had left mFoundry about 9 months earlier and started Mobile Strategy Partners. We eventually decided to merge our independent consulting practices and that’s when things started to accelerate. We still have the consulting business which operates under the name Xtensifi as well as a software company that we spun out of Mobile Strategy Partners called Gro Solutions Inc. At this point MSP is only a holding company with Gro and Xtensifi as portfolio companies. We grow the business from two, one-person shops to two operating businesses with a combined staff of about 70 full-time people.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
No. It was a lot of work and stress at times. We, as did our families, had to make sacrifices and learn to live with uncertainty. We did a lot ourselves to keep our costs down, putting in 70 hours per week for a few years. We chose to invest our profits by starting another company so that made for some belt tightening, but the hope is it pays dividends in the future.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
We like to joke that Xtensifi, like its predecessor Mobile Strategy Partners, is a consulting firm without consultants. All of us are fintech digital channels product management and developers. We have worked in the jobs our customers have so we understand the challenges they’re dealing with. Our knowledge doesn’t come from a text book, rather it comes from hands on experience. Our historical tagline – Getting You From PowerPoint to Production – is meant to convey a focus on execution. Our clients have lots of great ideas. They generally don’t need to be told what they should do, They just need help getting it done.
What were you like growing up?
I grew up in small town New England – Smithfield, RI. I was a good and conscientious student, and played a lot of sports, with ice hockey being my favorite. I liked to explore and wasn’t afraid of taking risks. My mother will tell you we spent a lot of time in emergency rooms as a result of some of that risk taking. I also liked to work. Whenever we were out of school for a snow day my friend, Tom Thalmann, and I would go out and shovel as many driveways as we could. We’d start early in the morning and stay at it until it got too dark. We also had our own landscaping business. We peaked at something like 35 yards we’d maintain. It was that adventurous streak that led me out of the area for college. I think I was only 1 of 7 to move more than an hour away immediately after high school to Washington, DC to attend The George Washington University. I also had an interest in the military, eventually serving 5 years in the Marine Corps as a Communications Officer.
Contact Info:
- Address: 6470 East Johns Crossing, Suite 420
Johns Creek, GA 30097 - Website: www.xtensifi.com
- Email: info@xtensifi.com
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/xtensifi
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/16226957/
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