Meet the XI Leadership

"I first saw the World Wide Web in 1994 while working at IBM as a sales rep. I said to myself, 'This is the future. This is what I want to do!'" Stephen M. Carlson

Experience Makes the Difference

Stephen M. Carlson - President, Founder

I first saw the World Wide Web in 1994 while working for IBM as a sales rep. I said to myself, "This is the future, this is what I want to do". I had been selling IBM mainframe equipment and IBM midrange (AS/400) hardware and software for several years. I had seen the markets evolve from centralized processing to distributed processing and how this effected the markets I worked in. I realized that this new Internet thing was a radical change for technology, but even more, I realized it would change the business environment and the culture of the world live in. I knew it would become the defacto method for distributing information to almost everywhere in the world. I knew it would transform every aspect of business that we know of. I knew I wanted to be a part of it.

The Internet became my new hobby. Like many of that day, I was hooked, but not just as a consumer of it, I wanted to learn how to create it. I researched on-line, read books, played with the code, and figured it out on my own. Within a year I was developing web sites pro-gratis and for hire.... anything to get the work and do real web sites. I left IBM and made a career change where I could be closer to Internet technologies and became a webmaster for a small company in Atlanta. I also started my own company, Precision 1 Computer Technologies, creating websites, and maintaining computer networks and upgrades for Y2K and web development. I passionately developed my knowledge and my skills and within a few years was in management at Fusive.com, a web development company doing Fortune 500 web sites in the Dot Com Boom. I worked on really large sites like Southern Company, Invesco, and others; writing the code, managing the teams, working with the clients. It was an absolutely cool job. I loved it.

In 2001 the dot-com boom busted and my employer closed their Atlanta branch. I was out of a job. I consulted while looking for a new job and within a few months I was busy in my own web business. Since that time, I have been self-employed and Precision 1 has grown. Eventually we renamed the company as XI Interactive to reflect the change in primary focus from network engineering to web application and web site developement and design. I thoroughly enjoy what I do and look forward to continuing in web for many years. The only thing better than working in a field that you truly enjoy is doing it in a company that you own. Someone once told me, "Find a career that you truly enjoy, and you won't work a day in your life." Well, I've found it, .... it is work, but it is a labor of love. I get paid to do my hobby so I count myself very fortunate and very blessed.

Please contact me here for business or you can go to my FACEBOOK page for personal contact.