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TULLY - Stephen Soos founded Applied Concepts, Inc. (ACI) 10 years ago and was its first employee.
Today, Soos is also a vice president and director of engineering at the company. Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, ACI says it is a healthy company that has shown steady growth over its lifespan. In its first five years, ACI grew from one to 40 employees. In the five years since, its employee count has remained fairly steady in the low 40s. Soos identifies his goal for employee count as "50 is the magic number."
The company manufactures DC to AC inverters, which are the power source for flat-panel display backlighting applications that light up LCD screens. Its products can be found in the drive-thru menu boards at Burger King, airport display screens announcing flight arrivals and departures, the computers in police cars, and the cockpits of airplanes, to name a few.
Soos worked for Smith Corona in Cortland during the 1980s, and then left to work for a company in Endicott, which he did not name, that developed similar technologies to ACI. Soos spent about 10 years down there and then wanted to start his own company. An acquaintance he'd worked with at Smith Corona introduced him to a man who had the money to invest in the startup and also had the building space in Tully. His name was Rick Shafer, and he had the two key elements financial backing and the location at 397 State Route 281 in Tully. When boos and Shafer talked, Shafer got enthused about the manufacture of the inverters. Shafer already was a part owner in a couple of small businesses. So he liked the idea, and Applied Concepts, Inc. got started in 1998.
Gary Nelson joined the company as president and CEO in 2005. Shafer is a major shareholder and partner, along with Nelson and boos. The precise breakdown of percentage of shares per partner was not provided. Shafer is not an officer, but he and boos are the original founding shareholders.
Nelson and Soos got together when Nelson did some consulting for ACI in...