Russ: Hi, I’m Russ Capper at the Alpha Conference in Napa and I’m very pleased to have as my guest, Larry Shaffer, Senior Vice President, Marketing & Business Development with Insperity. Larry, welcome to the show.

Larry: Russ, it’s a pleasure to be here.

Russ: Great, so you guys are here because you guys are actually platinum sponsors of this cool event. Tell us about that. What motivated that?

Larry: Well, we have a very significant initiative that we are all in on right now, and that is to become the top of mind HR provider within the innovation community. So that certainly relates to angels, VCs, mentors, and of course the entrepreneurs.  Our goal is to get them to a place to where they say it’s time to call Insperity.

Russ: Ok, fantastic. Well, I’ve certainly noticed that you’ve been doing that in all categories of business. This one is sort of extra special, but an extra special happening category; health tech, innovation in medicine, and pharma devices. So, this is the place to be, don’t you think, for that?

Larry: It really is. The innovation in this area is escalating. It’s very exciting. There are businesses being formed and we believe that we can really make a big impact for these entrepreneurs at every stage of the development of their business. We’ve got tailored products and HR services that can fit where they’re at and help them go through these stages right up to optimizing their exit.

Russ: Ok, well speaking of exits, there was a speaker here yesterday talking about exits. It was real interesting because he invests and has been championing that cause across all sectors, but said that in his mind the area of most activity these days is in the health sciences. So, that’s what we’re doing here today.

Larry: It’s great to be here in that regard, absolutely.

Russ: So, it is likely we’re going to see Insperity playing more and more of a role? I know in our hometown, in Houston, Texas you guys played a huge role in the whole Houston Exponential initiative, as well.

Larry: Absolutely. We’re very excited about what’s going on in Houston and have become deeply involved in the innovation community there. We believe it’s going to be a prototype of the way that we will be able to move into other markets in a very similar way. Here again, tapping into the entire innovation ecosystem within a city that goes from the incubators, the space sharing, co-working spaces right up to angels, VCs, and then other opportunities. Hopefully, even to invest, from a financial standpoint, corporate investment into some of these areas. So, we’re really all in on this initiative. And, once again, we’ve been around for 30 years serving small business, but it’s really time for us to become the top of mind provider within this innovation.

Russ: When you said that it always reminds me, when I think of Insperity too, I mean, I’ve been associated for awhile, I was a client company back in the 90’s and so forth. But I can still sort of remember when Insperity was a startup, and what’s unique about it is that the founding CEO is still the CEO today, Paul Sarvadi.

Larry: He’s, certainly I’m biased, but he is quite an amazing business leader. Someone who can start a business from nothing, almost from scratch, 31 years ago and lead it through all of the ups and downs that go on and be where we’re at today.

Russ: And still be at about 3 billion?

Larry: We’re at about 3 billion in revenue this last year; clients in all 50 states. He, through these years has been able to maintain the core values that he started the company with. That’s part of why we love working at Insperity and why our clients love us as well.

Russ: Great. Well, before we let you go we have to look and tell our Houston audience that Houston is very well represented here in Napa. I’m sure there’s more Houston people here than any other city and market, in the United States.

Larry: I don’t have the official number, but it seemed like every other person I’ve met I’ve made the connection with someone else from Houston.

Russ: Right, absolutely. Well, Larry I really appreciate it.

Larry: My pleasure, Russ. Thank you so much.

Russ: You bet. And that wraps up my discussion with Larry Shaffer, the Senior Vice President, Marketing & Business Development of Insperity.