Software as a Service

Jason Longo brings nearly a decade of e-commerce, inventory and operations control experience to his position as Product Manager. He’s worked with more than 75 clients (over 100 Yahoo stores!) to integrate order management systems including the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Harmon Discount Inc ( a division of Bed Bath and Beyond) and AccessoryGeeks.com.

Jason’s experience and knowledge of e-commerce and Yahoo! stores comes from the position he held, as VP of Operations, at Solid Cactus' sister company, Neeps. As their first employee, he’s had the opportunity to be part of every level and aspect of a dotcom business, which is what helps him understand and relate to his clients, helping them to understand and integrate as quick as possible.

"I'm always on, always taking notes and always working the angles. Hey, it's what sales guys do!"

When Phil Gaughan joined Solid Cactus the company was a newborn. Back then Phil crowed "I feel like I'm in on the ground floor with Microsoft!" His feeling and his fire haven't changed a bit. Now, as Vice President of Sales, Phil has an important role in every revenue stream, which includes store design, call center services, search engine marketing, the Solid Cactus proprietary product FeedPerfect™ and SaaS (Software as a Service). "I work to keep the sales channels open and flowing," says Phil. "I spend a lot of time working with our Solutions Advisors to come up with better ways to get clients excited about Solid Cactus products. As for our clients, my phone rings at all hours. I give lots of free advice, but I figure it's part of the job."

Phil is an unapologetic fan of Solid Cactus. "We doubled in size two years in a row. Both years we were chosen among the ‘Best Places to Work in Pennsylvania.' We actually improved from #21 to #11 while growing four times our size. That's amazing!" He also has no problem up-selling and cross-selling Solid Cactus clients. "Are you kidding? Solid Cactus clients already know how great we are. If we have a service and I think they need it, I'll tell them in a heart beat. Sure I'm trying to sell them, but at the same time I'm helping their business."

Phil has degrees in business and computer information systems and he's been around computers and e-commerce a lonnng time. He saw the value of computers in business when most people were still playing Pong. He computerized his Century 21 real estate office back in the days when the latest technology was the 12-inch floppy disk. "I played with them for countless hours until I became an expert," he says. "Since then I've just kept up with the technology." He worked for Blue Cross/Blue Shield for 3 years and helped them handle the Y-2K changeover.

Phil has a passion for Solid Cactus. "I work from home at night answering e-mail," he says. "I come in most Saturdays too. I put in the effort because the e-commerce market is growing and Solid Cactus gets more exciting every day!"

Phil is building ties with his alma mater, Kings' College. "We're planning a design competition for students sponsored by Solid Cactus," he says. "Some of those kids will be designers someday. Why not sell them on Solid Cactus now?" Spoken like a real sales guy.

"Our mission is to provide whatever the client needs in terms of services, automation and the like. There are many solutions out there. Our job is to find the best one."

"If there's any problem here, I'm the magician. I never say no. I just fix it."

Stas Beletsky is a computer maven. As lead engineer Stas manages the software engineers. "It's my job to train them and bring them along," says Stas. "But a big part of my job is managing our growth. It seems like yesterday when our entire department---was me. Now we're a team, a growing team."

Stas has been with Solid Cactus since before the beginning, working with co-founder Joe Palko and building "Y Stores" from his native Kyrgyzstan. Previously Director of Advanced Programming, Stas designed and developed software applications. "We did some software design, but the internet is exploding, and most of my concentration was on web applications."

Stas has been concentrating on computers since he was a boy in Kyrgyzstan, and he fulfilled his boyhood dream with some boyhood friends. "We were all in university in Kyrgyzstan together," Stas recalls. "We created a company to be freelance web site designers. Our target market was the US, of course. We noticed people were having trouble getting the most from their e-commerce stores. We designed a web site for Joe Palko (co-founder), he liked it and put us to work in Kyrgyzstan. Then he asked me to come to the States, and I did. I am one of the original members of Solid Cactus."

Stas is a Microsoft Certified Solutions Designer, MCSD with a specialty in dot net technology. But he's really a product of growing up with computers; Stas has been at the keyboard since he was ten. His degree from Kyrgyzstan is in Economics. But that doesn't phase him, and neither does his role at Solid Cactus. "I have a nice title, but it's not just administration, I talk to everyone," says Stas. "Clients, programmers, designers, project managers. People come to me about everything.

"It's what I like best about Solid Cactus. It's a very wide open environment, and we like helping each other. No one hesitates to ask a question about anything. And not coming from America, I have lots of questions. Of course I hope to become a citizen. I like the USA. It's an interesting country."

"Solid Cactus is our company," says Stas. "I feel like it's part of my family. I like the job, and I like what I do, but I don't just work at Solid Cactus to work, but also for the future." Stas Beletsky is living the American dream, Solid Cactus-style.

"I came with Solid Cactus right out of college. I like the laid-back atmosphere, I like the team work, and of course no dress code is cool!"

Software Engineer Danny Matriccino is part of the team at Solid Cactus which is always working on the "better mousetrap." Their contributions include Feed Perfect, Shipping Manager and other projects still top secret and yet to be revealed. "We invent the custom apps (applications) which e-commerce store operators can incorporate to improve their business," says Danny. "There are usually 2 lead engineers on our projects. We discuss ideas, they give me direction and then I code and re-code." Danny is a designer and also an explainer. "I help people with information about how it works. Along the way we add new features and fix the bugs." As a result, he knows Java, PHP, MYSQL and other languages. "Whatever it takes."

Danny started on the computer at the ripe old age of 10. Or maybe 9. "Dad brought home a 386 Windows 3.1," he recalls. "I played games on it and got hooked. Finally about 14 or 15 I got curious and wanted to know, ‘how do they work?' That led me to computer programming where I found I liked the math and the logical puzzles." Danny got a degree in Computer Sciences and Solid Cactus opened the door when he came knocking.

Danny Matriccino feels right at home at Solid Cactus. "The job I was looking for is the job I have," he says simply. "People help each other here, no matter what department you're in. Everyone puts forth that extra effort to help the company grow and our growth has been amazing! I'm like the 40th person through the door. It seems like a very long time ago. I'm doing the stuff I want to do close to my home. I feel very lucky."

Down the road Danny hopes for more, of course. "I'd like to become a lead engineer," he says. "I know I have a lot to learn and I'm doing that right now---every day at work. But we're growing fast and someday I'd like to move up."

"I want us to be the Rolls Royce of software design. I want the quality of our work to increase as the quantity of our work increases."

Robin Bagot is part of the "brave new world" of Solid Cactus application designers. As Lead Programmer/System Architect in the SaaS (Software as a System) department, he plays an integral role—literally and figuratively--in the future designs of the company. "I do programming and applications design for the software we sell to clients," Robin explains. "Design and implementation is part of the job, but in addition we have to decide what technologies to use; what works the best to make the best apps." In addition to the application designs, Robin also designs Application Program Interfaces (API's). "It allows programs to work together and makes integration between one app and others possible."

Robin didn't discover computers until he was 18. "I was an environmental science major at university (he's English)," Robin says. "We had computers at the school but no courses on computers. I started using the computer in my science courses for statistical analysis of scientific data. I started using the university main frame and I had to write my own programs. That's how I learned."

Robin got a computer when the internet was still in its infancy. He started out using his computer skills at work and then made the computer his career. "I got a job in data base management," Robin recalls. "I did programming and making applications to deal with data. Then I did my own consulting."

The computer led to romance and relocation to the States from England when Robin met his future wife—where else—online. He found Solid Cactus in a more conventional way, on Monster.com. "I was looking for a programming job and I saw the advert (he's English)," Robin says. "I came to Solid Cactus as a programmer but when SaaS opened up, I got to be part of the creation of our first product, FeedPerfect. Since then I've spent my time helping to develop new apps for our clients."

Robin likes Solid Cactus and he likes the prospects. "I like this type of work," he says. "I can decide which technologies to use, use the skills I have the best and in the process I can learn new skills. Believe me, we need the skills to develop the new products our clients require."

Robin likes a future even further west, in Maui, but admits that next move may have to wait for awhile. "Maui's expensive," Robin laughs. "Until then I have plenty to keep me busy right here. I want to direct the quality of our work someday. I want us to be the standard for web site quality. I see myself staying here for awhile."

"I was helping Stas Beletsky on a project by computer from my home in Kyrgyzstan. The next thing you know, Solid Cactus offered me a job and here I am in the States!"

SaaS Programmer Konstantin "Kostya" Isaev has been part of major Solid Cactus projects. "I worked on FeedPerfect," says Kostya. "I was part of the development team. Now I'm on support. If there are any problems or bugs, we fix them. Other people at Solid Cactus deal with clients—we deal with applications."

Kostya first learned about computers in college in Kyrgyzstan. "It was a very clever machine to me," he recalls. "I wanted to see how it worked. I knew computers were for me right away, so I took lots of books home. I wanted to know everything. First about computers, then about networks." Kostya socialized and collaborated with Stas Beletsky, part of the Solid Cactus "Kyrgyzstan connection" which also includes Andrew Smagin. That led him to Northeast Pennsylvania.

Konstantin worked two years in the RTML department doing basic programming of Yahoo stores. After that he moved to SaaS and spent a year on the FeedPerfect project. He likes the mobility and the atmosphere. "Our company is growing up and the people are growing up, too," says Konstantin. "We're all so young. Everyone helps everyone. I like that team aspect and I like socializing with all the people here."

Isaev likes it in America and he knows what he wants. "I want to be a citizen someday," he says. "Everything in the US is comfortable for people. It's great. At work I want to work on more big projects and help this company grow even more. Mostly, though, I want to help everyone the way they've helped me."

"As part of my college internship I was an early member of the 'Geek Squad.' I also wrote software for movie theaters and even wrote programming for a medical school."

Software Engineer Joe Pace works for the Software as a Service (SaaS) department at Solid Cactus. He's a programmer in JAVA development and does back-end development on the Solid Cactus high tech systems. "I write software for our larger projects," says Joe. "I create ways for people on the outside to tap into our applications and gain information about inventory, sales and other reports we create through software. Basically, what we do is to open our apps to the outside world."

Joe first came in contact with computers late, according to him. He was in 8th grade and says he remembers the Pentium II. "My friends got my involved," Joe recalls. "They were making web sites and I joined in. When they took programming I joined in. I loved it." By high school Joe was taking programming classes, learning about data structure and computer repair. The "light bulb" moment came when, as a high school junior, Joe was part of an ACM competition. "We finished 9th out of 52 teams. I found out I was pretty good at this stuff and just decided to keep doing it." That led to a college major in computer science where Joe studied human/computer interaction and artificial intelligence.

Joe found Solid Cactus the old-fashioned way, in the newspaper. "I'd heard good things from friends," says Joe. "I heard they target people to keep them in the area. So I came in on a Monday for an interview. They called me Friday and I started the following Monday. They kept me right here."

Joe likes the Solid Cactus experience. "I love it here," he says simply. "It's a relaxed atmosphere. I'm part of a small software team at Solid Cactus and people here wanted my opinion from the start. It made me feel like a part of things."

Joe Pace says he plans on being "part of things" at Solid Cactus for some time to come. "I love software engineering," he says. "I like the architecture of systems. Someday I'd love to have the lead on a project."

"Programming is cool! It's my hobby and also my job."

Solid Cactus RTML developer is one of those people who literally grew up with computers. "I don't remember a time when I wasn't on the computer," says Rob. "It started when I was about five or six playing with Mac's. By age ten I started actual web programming. By fifteen I was helping people build web sites. It was perfect training for what I'm doing now, forcing me to think about content creation and design."

Rob took computer science classes in college, learned digital logic and took lots of math. "It didn't directly help me," he recalls, "but it helped with background and helped to round me out. I've always felt there was something else to learn out there, so I keep at it."

Rob came to Solid Cactus and joined the Store Programming Group. "I love the constant challenges," says Rob. "At SPG we take the parts that everyone else has constructed and make it whole. The Store Programming Group is awesome. We mesh well and Jeff Li is a great team leader. We're in our own little space and that energy works for all of us."

As for the future, Rob says he wants to continue to learn and grow with Solid Cactus. "For me, the computer is more than a hobby, it's more of an obsession," he says. "You know, I worked in retail. After awhile you're just dusting shelves. At Solid Cactus there are always new and better ways to approach things."