New flash movies

We've posted two new flash movies that our design guy, Nate, produced to highlight what Guidepoint does. One is flashy and speedy, with a techno soundtrack that we hope will appeal to the younger crowd. (Given that Nate is young and flashy himself, he's a better judge of that than me). The other is a slower paced spot that has a loping soundtrack that suggests Napoleon Dynamite. (As the middle-aged guy, I kind of like this one.) Both can be accessed on our consumer site (lower right hand corner).

New finance guy

Today is the first day of the rest of Joe Moeller's life. Joe is our new CFO, though he's no stranger to the company. He served for many years as Guidepoint's CPA and a consultant. Today, he begins as our internal finance guy, which should help us improve our finance and administration capabilities exponentially. Best of all, he's got a wicked sense of humor and a way with words. From an accountant no less. He can be reached at joe@guidepointsystems.com

Missing person no more

Got to personally help out on a recovery this morning that was a bit out of the ordinary. Initially, we thought it was a stolen vehicle, but the dispatch officer told me that it was actually a missing person report and that the person who had taken the car was thought to be at risk of harming himself. We worked with the Napa, Calif. police on a vehicle that was missing and were able to give them very detailed information on the vehicle's location: parked in the street in front of a house, two houses from the corner. They dispatched an officer and found the vehicle with the driver sleeping in it.

Mother and child reunion

Just got a nice email forwarded from a customer whose wife and one-year old we helped. He wrote:

"After my experience today I wanted to follow up and thank you and your staff for the very quick support today and a HUGE job well done. I have been in technology for the past 15 years and every once in a while you come in contact with something in high technology that can truly help you in life or even save a life. Over a year and a half ago I had one of your Guidepoint Systems installed in my vehicle while my wife was pregnant for simply the piece of mind of being able to us get out of a jamb if we locked our keys in the car or to have the ability of getting our car back if ever stolen. I never thought it would be to save my daughters life.

Today, I was golfing and got a frantic call from my wife stating she was calling from a pay phone because she locked her keys and phone in the car along with my 13 month old daughter. She remembered we had a Guidepoint but asked was so full of panic all she could think of was calling me. I then called your 877 line and got [response center specialist] Greg D. on the phone after a very short wait period. In seconds my wife had my little girl back in her arms.

Anything could have happened today. Just wanted to send a quick note to thank you for your efforts and having a great support staff and reliable equipment that obviously was able to save a life (or at the very least a Mom’s sanity).

In business, it's easy to become somewhat cynical, especially when you're in the fish bowl everyday and you're always pushing to sell more. So it's great to get a feel-good for helping someone out. One of the things we always say is that "Guidepoint is not a tech company -- it's a service company." Situations like this are a great reminders of that philosophy.