Well, it’s green and it certainly has mountains….

Was the extent of my opinion about Vermont when I lived here as a child/teenager with my family in Barre.  However, after a restless decade in my twenties, I found myself reconsidering the Green Mountain state.  I’d lived in many cities and thought I could never return to the country side for good, until…I returned for good!

And it was just that easy.  Following is the story of Logic Supply in Vermont…the how, why and wherefore….

We started Logic Supply in our apartment in Boston in 2003.  Cramped, reeking of cardboard and decidedly unprofessional—the atmosphere didn’t appear conducive to explosive growth.  But we grew and grew, until the cracks started to show and the neighbors gave us the evil eye every time a semi truck pulled into the narrow streets.  My family lives in Vermont…Vermont has highways…and flush toilets…I know for a fact that there is broadband Internet is some larger communities…and Boston is just too chaotic…So we decided to move operations.

My first stop was www.thinkvermont.com, where I found out about the Vermont Economic Development Corporation.  Richard Agney (who has retired I believe) was very encouraging and responsive to my questions.  He put us in touch with our current landlord and gave a great overview of why Vermont is a good place for businesses.  We moved quickly into our new space which seemed cavernous after our tiny apartment in Boston.  Richard’s counterpart in Lamoille Country, Karen Lynch was also a good resource.  I think she would have liked us to move to the Cambridge Business Park, but we decided it was too remote.  Instead, we decided to move closer to Burlington, but I’m getting ahead of myself…Before we pick up and move, let’s make some money.

Of course, we could make money the good ol’ fashion way…earn it.  Or, we could ask for it from people who are giving it away!  Just kidding…no one gives money away for free and the state is no exception. Vermont, though, has clearly considered the impact of investing in Vermonters and has found that the return is high.  Phil Fagen of the Vermont Training Program wants to help Vermont businesses train their employees.  He knows that training will raise an employee’s value to the company and its value in the market place in general.  Educated Vermonters entice successful companies to stay or come to Vermont and everyone wins.  For a nominal amount of money from Phil, we’re proud to say that many on our staff have acquired relevant IT certificates (now we gotta give ‘em a raise…just kidding).  We’ve also been able to add up to 18 new employees over the years and provide them on-the-job training. We also worked with Marie Dessault at VEDA to make our new building in South Burlington a reality.  Oh…did I mention that we decided to build a 15,000 sq. ft office building in South Burlington?  Through VEDA we were able to secure a “direct loan” that helped us finance the part of our office associated with light manufacturing at a very low interest rate.  We hope to move in during the weekend of October 13. More later….