After years of working in biotech, Aaron Warner found himself consistently running into the same dilemma; finding cybersecurity that is both affordable and covers a multitude of security facets. In September 2016, he created a solution for the online community at large through his business, ProCircular. ProCircular goes above and beyond traditional cyber security in that they analyze your individual risk, tailor their security to your business needs, educate your business on the importance of cybersecurity, and continuously work to prevent future threats. “Running your own business is really like having your first child, it’s a lot of time, work, energy, and fun…and it changes your life that much.”

Aaron met his future SBDC counselor, Paul Heath while working in the startup community years ago, “Paul has always been visible and a huge advocate for small businesses in Eastern Iowa. He’s a great guy and has come to every event.” When asked to describe his overall experience working with the SBDC Aaron responded, “It’s been fantastic and very productive. They’ve helped us better understand our risks and understand what questions we need to answer in order to do what we do well. They’ve been great.”

Since starting his business in late 2016, Aaron has hired 17 employees and is approaching a million dollars in sales. When asked what ProCircular’s greatest triumph has been Aaron responded, “As a business, every customer that we have worked with has become our advocate.. For me personally it has been to see the team come together as a family. We’ve worked so hard to achieve what we have, the monetary reward is great but the community and family we’ve built has been incredibly rewarding.”

Aaron’s success partially lies in his emphasis on putting the relationship with his clients first, “I’m about relationships; I want a long term relationship with our clients through thick and thin and I’m far more interested in creating a lasting relationship than selling a thing for some point in time.”

For the future of his business, Aaron plans to go regional in the next three years and national in the next five. Aaron also noted, “Paul Heath and the SBDC have been a major contributor to our early success.”

To learn more about ProCircular, please visit their website at: https://www.procircular.com/.

Written by: Jolene Schaefer