I started my journey helping companies connect with the rest of the world in 1990 at the AT&T MultiQuest Action Center (MAC) where I lead the development of the patented Vari-A-Bill service.
After that, I was hired by locally owned company BFD Productions, Inc., one of the largest 'service bureaus' in the country, to implement the Vari-A-Bill technology I helped developed at AT&T. This effort resulted in BFD Productions winning several industry awards.
Since then I have been providing communications consulting services to many other global companies including...
As I was helping these and other companies I noticed something many of these companies had in common... difficulty getting some of the hardware and software they needed. I saw this as another opportunity to further help the companies I provided consulting services to. A new company was needed.
What to name this new company.
Years earlier I had stumbled upon the term 'Maven'. What is a 'Maven'? According to Wikipedia, a maven (also mavin) is a trusted expert in a particular field, who seeks to pass timely and relevant knowledge on to others in a particular field. Since this is basically what I do for my customers as a consultant, I thought the term was rather fitting.
In January, 2012 Maven Technology Management, Inc. (MTMI) was born. I could have easily made MTMI another VAR (Value Added Reseller) in an industry that is already over saturated with a bazillion other VARs. Instead, I formed partnerships with a select group of vendors that are widely used by the Fortune 500 and Global 100 corporations.
From the beginning I wanted MTMI to be different. Traditional VARs are in the business of selling products. The easiest way to sell a lot of products is to sell them for less than your competitors. However, many vendors require resellers to sign MAP (Minimum Advertised Price) agreements prior to selling their products. Vendors entice potential customers to buy from them instead of their competitor by including some sort of added value, hence the term 'Value Added', to the products they sell. Again, there are a bazillion other companies out there doing that and I didn't want to be one of them.
As a consulting company, MTMI made money providing communications consulting services to it's customers. As an added benefit, MTMI could also provide any necessary hardware and software our customers may have needed. An inverse added value of sorts.
This worked remarkably well for MTMI's customers.
As part of MTMI's growth, it was decided a new name was needed. Months were spent researching nearly every possible way of shortening Maven Technology Management, Inc. It turns out nearly everything using 'Maven' has already been taken.
While doing some late night work for a customer I had one of those fleeting realizations that hit me like a brick... the 'e' in 'Maven' wasn't really needed. 'Mavn' could be pronounced the same as 'Maven. This new spelling opened numerous possibilities which made it possible for Maven Technology Management, Inc. to change it's name to simply Mavn®, Inc.
With the new name comes a new mission... to bring the Fortune 500 and Global 100 experience to help Small and Medium Business (SMBs).