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SITE OF THE WEEK

It is a rare day when someone runs up to me on the street with a good story about her computer. Mostly we tech consumers commiserate over downed email browsers, nonresponsive peripherals, fried hard-drives and user-hostile software.

VISIT the Personal Nerd web site

"I just called the nerds," my acquaintance said somewhere on the edge of ecstasy. "They came right over and fixed my computer. These guys are awesome!"

I checked. The nerds turned out to be David Jackson and Jeff Grammer owners of Personal Nerd. There are also three part-time nerds and another full-time nerd is in training. Opened barely three months ago, the Seacoast start-up company actually makes house calls. If it’s got a plug or a battery, the nerds promise, they can make your gadget work.

"We tossed around about 50 names," Jackson says. He responded to inquiry from his cell phone late one evening between house calls. "In the MidWest a "nerd" is associated with computers. Around here people tend to say ‘geeks’, but we’ve had good response to branding the with ‘nerd’."

This isn’t just two guys with a crazy idea. While conventional wisdom suggests that technology support companies focus on small business, Jackson and Grammer see a growth industry in working directly for the end-users. It’s all about finding a marketplace filled with motivated customers willing to pay for services they can’t get elsewhere, Jackson says.

At 52 Jackson has successfully taken three previous technology companies "public". His expertise is in the field of knowledge management. Originally from Marblehead, MA, he worked in Europe, then back in the states. He and Grammer, 40, were founders of Integrationware, a Chicago software firm. Now both men live in the Seacoast and take their technology expertise right to the customer’s door, sometimes wearing their trademark nerd beanie with a plastic propeller top.

"Technology is so damn intimidating," Jackson says from the road, his cell phone fading in and out. "A lot of people get very very confused. We like to send out a sense of humor with everything we do. People appreciate that."

The web site is funny too. Changeable banner ads show nerds as modern-day heroes – depicted as cyberspace astronauts, doctoring email viruses, solving problems like detectives, defending data dressed as soldiers and defeating the grim reaper.

"We poke fun at the technology and at ourselves," Jackson says. "Then people find out that we’re really really good at what we do."

PersonalNerd.com is largely brochureware. Built in straight html code, the web site loads quickly with no frills. There are just four key pages. Readers get the low down on the nerd services provided, learn the pricing structure and can order up their own nerd consultant by phone or email. A news page offers help on the latest problems facing a growing list of technology-addled customers. Since opening in the last weeks of 2002, the technology service company has logged 140 repeat customers, and is rapidly growing a satisfied clientele.

A nerd news page on the web site offers late-breaking tips on the most recent computer problems. Lately the nerds have been helping customers remove "horrendous spyware" picked up while Internet surfing. Like exterminators the nerds enjoy killing those nasty "pop-up" advertising consoles that plague most homes. During his last house call Jackson assisted in the installation of a home entertainment center – one of his specialties -- then helped the customer uninstall an "insidious" AOL program.

THE UP SHOT

I had a close encounter of the nerd kind myself a dozen years back. A computer recycling company in Newfields asked me to design a mascot for their hardware re-sale outlet. I forget what the acronym stood for, but the company name spelled out the word N.E.R.D., so my creative advertising team came up with "Neddy the Nerd". People loved him. He was a cute little guy, a cross between Howdy Doody and Jerry Lewis with his thick glasses held together in the middle by a piece of white medical tape. It seemed pretty clever at the time, but since then the lovable nerd has become a well-known icon.

The Personal Nerd concept goes the extra mile. Chief Nerd Jackson wants to create an army of nerds to solve small electronics problems across the nation. If the idea flies, he has a nerd franchise in mind. Right now the virtual company is planning to open its first office in Rye.

Plumbing, Jackson says, is the business model. His nerds charge about the same rate as the guy who fixes your drain. Customers pay a $40 "trip charge" for house calls and services are rated at $25 per 20-minute increment. Longer-term projects and at-home training sessions cost less and there is no trip charge for regular customers.

I asked if new customers are adverse to the price, but Jackson says very few people have expressed any problem with the rates. They are willing to pay, he says, as long as their assigned nerd can solve the problem. Makes sense. Computers used to cost $3,000 and came with gobs of support. Now they cost $700 and the user is forced to make his own way with an enormously complex system connected to an even more complex Internet.

"The idea is to prove the concept here," Jackson says. "So far, I’ve never felt this confident. Of all the businesses I’ve begun, this is the fastest start I’ve seen and by far the most rewarding."

The former software CEO does not consider direct customer service to be "a step down" from his former jobs -- not by a long shot.

"I love this," Jackson says. "We have met some of the nicest people. I’m shocked. People are so grateful to have found a service that come to them."

"We love positive feedback," he continues. "I used to go out and save hundreds of millions of dollars for a big Fortune 500 company. That was just a job, and nobody even said thank-you. Now I can walk into some one’s house and they say -- God bless you! I get a lot more reward out of that ."

Jackson and Grammer are committed to giving back to the community that supports them. A number of charities are already on their contribution list. Under a clever promotion with Dunkin’ Donuts, 5% of new Personal Nerd customer payments go directly to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

"That 5% payment is forever, as long as we work for those customers," Jackson says. "Any company that wants to be successful has to be involved in the community."

According to Jackson, the word "nerd" also connotes a social misfit. But the math says otherwise. These skilled, fast-service, philanthropic nerds seem to be fitting into the e-Coast just fine.