Below is the fifth installment in the ZS history message series. _____________________
A Company is Born – And Grows!
Already having worked with eight companies by 1983, Andy and Prabha decided that they needed leverage and so incorporated their company on September 21 as ZS Group, Inc., soon renamed to ZS Associates, Inc. They rented their first office, with 1700 square feet of space, at 820 Davis Street in Evanston. It was close to Kellogg’s campus to enable the two to travel back and forth between their teaching duties on campus and ZS’s new office, and also to provide easy access to Northwestern’s computer center. As a hedge, Andy and Prabha subdivided the new space and planned to sublet half.
They hired their first full-time employee, Nancy Murphy, as Office Manager. She stayed with the firm for 10 years. More hires followed, and soon they were employing 10 people full-time. As they continued to hire new consultants, ZS outgrew the entire space in one year.
Confidence in the value of new ideas, combined with a realistic approach to planning, laid the foundation for ZS’s growth.
To be continued....
|