After working for the same Web firm during the late 1990s dot-com boom, Adam and Lori Fenstermaker reconnected in 2003 at a local Italian restaurant. The two made small talk, bored stiff by a technology conference about relational database management systems.
It wasn't the most conventionally romantic of settings, but love was in the air. They married in 2004, and now run their own businesses. His is a Web-based software company specializing in foster care and adoption systems. Hers is a boutique talent acquisition firm that uses a unique Internet search tool to headhunt highly specialized job candidates.
Adam's
Cadence Solutions LLC helped develop that tool. Lori had shelled out $1,500 for a nine-hour class on how to perform advanced searches scouring multiple sites and "failed miserably," she says. She left with hundreds of pages of instructions, totally exasperated.
"I quickly realized that I wasn't going to do that every day," says Lori, 37. "With him being a programmer, I handed him the three-ring binder and said, 'Could you just build something for me that automatically does this? And I want to search all the Web sites at the same time. I want to do a metasearch.' He said it could be done."
A collaborative spirit imbues the East Grand Rapids couple's relationship. Adam, 38, is one of those nomadic techie types. He doesn't have an office, per se, so sometimes he sets up shop at his wife's suite. Her headquarters is in the 1500 Executive East Building, off E. Beltline Avenue near Calvin College.
When Adam isn't there, often he hunkers down at Bethany Christian Services, one of his first clients and the largest adoption agency in the U.S. He and Matt Bidwell, co-creators of a foster care case management system called
extendedReach, embedded themselves in the organization to improve its efficiency. Then, they built Bethany's software from the ground up.
"You become an expert in the field," Adam said. "We work really hand-in-hand with our clients when we go in there."
The Fenstermakers are similarly tight-knit in their working relationship -- two ambitious entrepreneurs constantly looking for ways to give each other an advantage in their respective careers.
"It's been really fun to watch it all come together and to take both of our skills and really move our companies forward," Lori says.
Reaching Out Lori owns two distinct companies. She launched
Automatic LLC, a recruitment process outsourcing firm, in 2006. She and a team of about six co-workers, whom Lori calls "momtrepreneurs," help corporate recruiters, human resources departments and third-party agencies find the best fits for job openings.
They use the tool developed by Adam's company, called
AutoSearch, to comb social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and others to identify candidates. Then, her team picks up the phone and starts making cold calls.
"Most of the people we reach out to are working elsewhere," Lori says. "Just because you find their name doesn't mean that they want to be a candidate. You have to call them and old-fashioned headhunt them."
At first, Lori intended to keep AutoSearch a secret so she could maintain a competitive advantage. That changed, however, when a big name client caught a glimpse of what she had.
Ada Township-based Amway Corp. needed, of all things, a Mandarin-speaking cosmetics formulator. Lori entered the information in her search tool and came up with several matches. Her client was blown away, she says.
Amway became the first AutoSearch subscriber, and the company was founded in 2007. It currently serves 170 Web users. About 3,000 users have purchased a mobile application she launched in September. AutoSearch clients include PNC, Gordon Food Service, Herman Miller and Manpower.
There is no need for recruiters to fear that the tool will put them out of business, Lori says. It's more of a time saver.
"Years ago when Monster came out, recruiters thought they would be out of business," Lori said. "It's the same thing with AutoSearch. It'll just make them more efficient."
Lori, a Jenison-area native, skipped college and stepped in the recruiting business when she was 19. She recalls a different era of the recruiting industry and technology in general.
"We had a cart that we would roll back and forth to each other with people's applications," Lori says. "It was a big alphabetical cart and it was color-coded based on what their skills were."
Adam, originally from West Bloomfield, was dialed into technology from the start. He received a Bachelor of Science from Miami University in 1994 in systems analysis. He started out working on computer-based systems that ran large manufacturing companies, but he and his partner decided to delve into custom software in 1999.
Currently, Adam says he and Bidwell look to sell software exclusively to non-profit private agencies, particularly foster care. Their extendedReach product is used in 10 states and two countries by 21 different organizations. Its functions include a custom foster home search that integrates with Google Maps, as well as automated billing calculations among other features. That "extremely focused" approach makes more sense, Adam says, since such operations across the country have so many similarities.
Always On Lori says she wasn't tech-savvy before she met Adam. Now, the two share the same affection for the latest and greatest Apple gadgets and other trends.
"I'm always on
Mashable and we're both big iPad (users)," Lori said. "And now, I read technology books. It's fun to talk about the way technology can improve both of our businesses."
However, their love of toys is a liability in their domestic lives. They have two kids, 5-year-old Meg and 4-year-old Gabe. Their youngest knows Mom's weak spot.
"When I threaten to take my son's Batman cape away, he's like, 'Well, I'm gonna take your iPad!'" Lori said.
Lori and Adam say they must be available to their clients around the clock, so they never take extended vacations, opting instead for occasional weekend getaways, often centered around work. Adam mentioned a recruiting conference in San Diego as a "great vacation" dryly. While the two may tease about their career commitments, they like the pace.
"I think that we have a really good work-life balance," Lori says. "I would still consider myself a workaholic because I never turn it off, because I can't. At the same time, if my kid has an event at their school, I never miss it."
Aaron Ogg talks to politicians, party store owners, himself, kids, leaders of big corporations and the unemployed and writes about them. His byline most often appears in The Grand Rapids Press.
Photos:Adam and Lori Fenstermaker
Adam Fenstermaker
Lori Fenstermaker
AutoSearch (2)
Photographs by
Brian Kelly -All Rights Reserved