As a youngster, Mark Poese had a knack for tinkering - taking things apart and putting them back together, just to see how they tick.
"I'd tear apart old recorders," Poese (pronounced the same as the flower) said of his childhood hobbies. "I've always had the interest and the aptitude. It's in your DNA."
In a sense, Poese's early interests have come full circle: After a career arc that brought him from the military to international security and then a 20-year stopover as a technology developer in Silicon Valley, Poese is back to the hands-on business of fixing things.
GOING THE EXTRA MILE
A year and a half ago, Poese gave in to a lifelong desire and purchased Precision Audio & Video, a Roosevelt-based electronics-repair business at 6215 Roosevelt Way N.E., that he's "brought into the 21st century."
Along with handling repairs of all manner of electronics - DVD players, televisions, video recorders, home sound systems - Poese has worked to expand his business to include the preservation of vintage or "legacy" electronics, like old tube amps and turntables.
Precision is also increasing its sales of electronic consumer goods, and Poese emphasized the company's willingness to go the extra mile by offering full-service installation of new technologies like flat-screen TVs and surround-sound systems.
"You get the whole, complete soup-to-nuts," he said, adding that, unlike so called "big-box" stores, Precision takes the time to familiarize folks with the often daunting new technologies.
"We're going in all these areas where there really is a void," Poese said about Precision's services.
Such risk-taking is nothing new for the CEO. "I tend to reinvent myself over and over," he explained.
TAKING RISKS
After high school, Poese decided to enter military service, joining the U.S. Air Force airborne division. It was in the area of Cold War intelligence, however, that he found his niche.
His job, he said, was like something out of a Tom Clancy novel.
"I was given clearance to eavesdrop on the Soviet Union," Poese said of work as a cryptologist, adding that he realized at the time that he'd "never have the chance to do that again."
Following his four years of service - "the best four years of my life," he said - Poese spent a few years on the staff of a defense contractor before moving into commercial work for Apple Computers, where he was on a team that developed an early Macintosh Portable - essentially, a prototype of today's laptops.
"We killed ourselves for it," he said of the team that developed the Portable, adding that he flew back and forth to Japan so often that he didn't have to order his airline meals; they already knew what he wanted.
In 1995, Poese went to work for Phillips Electronics. "It was there that I got to work on my first audio-visual product," he said, noting that he was involved with developing an early version of computer-convergence technology, which links personal computers with the audio and visual components of home entertainment systems - again, a technology that is only now taking hold.
Poese moved to Seattle in 2004 and worked for a short stint as engineering director for an Internet-security firm.
In February 2006, he purchased Precision from Rob and Judy Matthews, who had founded the company in 1979. He inherited a dozen employees and immediately went to work revamping the business.
"We pretty much made changes to the infrastructure," Poese explained.
EVER-EXPANDING SERVICES
With Poese's expansion of services, Precision now straddles the uneasy fault line at the center of all technological development: The company is at once on the cutting edge of new technologies, while also servicing and preserving those older, "legacy" technologies that become artifacts in the wake of every new advancement.
The term "planned obsolescence" has no place in Poese's lexicon.
"Things aren't made to be repaired anymore," he explained, pointing out that too often it is more expensive to repair an electronic device than to simply replace it.
Nonetheless, Poese has found a solid foothold among a clientele who would rather pay a bit extra to get their items fixed.
"I've got a lot of people who don't like that for various reasons," Poese said of customers who don't want to see their old equipment fall by the wayside.
Often, he added, this can be attributed to environmental concerns, in that many people would rather recycle older equipment than have it tossed into the waste stream.
There are also those who, for one reason or another, prefer vintage technologies such as old tube amplifiers or turntables for vinyl records. Poese said he'd be more than happy to serve such aficionados.
Another point of focus, Poese said, is expanding the firm's installation business. Because he can't complete with the volume discounts offered by chain retailers (Poese guesses his prices are around 5-percent higher than big-box franchises), he said what he can offer is help at every level of installation, from delivery and uncrating to configuration and education, while even helping with the disposal of old equipment.
Once he gets these "legs" of his business shored up, Poese said he wants to move into product development, where he's creating his own lines of technology, with complete design and testing departments.
His first year and a half has been busy but successful, Poese said: "I felt like I was drinking from a firehose."
As an indication of his commitment, Poese pointed out that his revenue increased 10 percent in that first year - a remarkable figure for a first-time business owner just starting up and expanding services at the same time.
He said his goal is to have his product-development wing-whether a separate department or a different company - up and running by his fifth year of operations.
"That's really my passion," he explained. "It comes around full circle."
For more information, visit precision-audio-video.com, or call 522-7607.
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