Meet Innovator of the Week
Ray Pasquale
CEO and Founder of Unified Office
Please provide your 30-second pitch about your company.
Unified Office solves the reliability and quality issues inherent in today’s legacy premise and cloud-only VoIP communications service platforms. We designed a unique, hybrid cloud service platform composed of three key components: on-premise, private cloud, and public cloud. Total Connect Nowsm delivers increased reliability and dramatically improved call quality with our proprietary Highest Quality Routing™ algorithms. Our technology dynamically adapts and ensures the highest quality path is always selected for end-to-end communications. In addition, our Visual Performance Suite™ real-time business analytics package helps drive increased revenue and profit for our customers. Unified Office is deployed across a wide variety of market verticals enjoying particular success within the Quick Serve Restaurant (QSR) category, specifically Domino’s.
Who or what was your best resource for starting your company?
I’m a seasoned entrepreneur with experience in several successful startups that help build the Internet. I became an Entrepreneur in Residence at the NH-ICC thinking about building my next company, which eventually came to be Unified Office. The NH-ICC (now Alpha Loft) was comprised of several seasoned veterans that helped me shape my early vision for Unified Office.
What was your biggest obstacle in starting your company and how did you overcome it?
The economy and the lack of available seed and venture capital were the biggest obstacles, yet at the same time the economy was my friend. There was plenty of talent that was out of work or underemployed and we gave them an opportunity to develop Unified Office and take control of their future. I used my own money to help fund the early stages of the company and as a result we have now raised significant early stage capital to help fund operations and are now on a significant growth trajectory.
What’s the best advice you have received?
When I was young, my mother always told me things like “Nothing ventured, nothing gained”, “Can’t never did anything”, “Never quit trying”, and “It’s a marathon, not a sprint”. It was these messages that made me persevere and gave me the ability to overcome adversity.
What about the NH lifestyle appeals to you?
The quality of life in NH is like no other. It is in close proximity to major airports, cities, while you are still close to the mountains, lakes and ocean.
What does the future look like for your company?
The future is great! The company is undergoing significant growth nationwide. We are in the process of reinventing communications over the Internet and much in the same way that Apple reinvented the music player industry.
Connect with Unified Office on LinkedIn and Twitter!