By Cecilia Kang
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 27, 2007
About 20 strokes from the Key Bridge, the lactic acid kicks in. Ruth Stiver and Jen Reck have spent a full day at work, and now, at the end of their second practice of the day, the Pan American Games bronze medalists are cutting through the Potomac River on their narrow doubles shell and are starting to feel the pain.
"Focus on legs!" Stiver yells from the bow with a grimace, as the sunset's soft glow reflects off the Washington Monument behind them.
Stiver and Reck are not just teammates but coworkers at FortiusOne, an Internet mapping company in Arlington that happens to be a magnet for competitive rowers, some with their sights set on the Beijing Olympics. The company has six world-class rowers on its staff of 19. The chief operating officer is their coach. The founder and chief executive, Sean Gorman, has won national titles and says he would still compete if he didn't have a company to run.
In the Washington area's hyper-competitive high-tech industry, famed for its long hours and obsessive focus on work, FortiusOne has taken a decidedly different approach by integrating the often time-consuming athletic pursuits of some of its workers with the company's aim to grow into a major Internet player.
Rowers can take weeks off at a time through unpaid leave and vacation to compete in events such as the Olympic trials and the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta. This week, chief operating officer Matt Madigan and two staffers are in Munich for the world rowing championships, in a effort to secure spots in Beijing next summer.
The athletes start each day at 6 a.m. with an hour-long workout at the Potomac boathouse in Georgetown and arrive at the office about 8:30. By 5:30 p.m., they are back at the boathouse for more training.
Gorman, 33, thinks the athletes add an edge to his team of Internet developers, marketers and salespeople. He says the company has built in redundancies to cover for employees off at competitions. Some make up for hours away by working nights and weekends.
"Rowers are by nature super-competitive and want to win," he said. "They bring that competitiveness to work."
FortiusOne was created in July 2005 as an offshoot of Gorman's doctoral dissertation at George Mason University in which he used publicly available data to map the entire fiber-optic network of the United States. Like Gorman's dissertation, FortiusOne uses public data and mapping technology to create customized online maps using content from multiple sources. Its clients include Lockheed Martin.
When Gorman started the company, he looked for talent in the competitive arena he knew best. That meant a well-educated pool of potential hires; the best rowing schools in the NCAA are also some of the strongest academically.
Stiver, a graduate of the University of Texas, is a marketing manager at FortiusOne, while University of Virginia grad Reck compiles political polling data. Sarah Trowbridge, another Virginia graduate, and Margaret Matia, a graduate of the University of Michigan, were gold medalists at the Pan American Games in Brazil this summer; they started on the data team this month. David Hampton, a collegiate competitor and second-year medical student at Georgetown, also did a turn on the data team.
Gorman says rowers bring another valuable credential: a high threshold for pain. It's an attribute that Madigan measures during boathouse training sessions through blood tests for lactic acid tolerance as the athletes sweat on an indoor rower known as the "pain machine."
"These are people who will work through the toughest circumstances and who are super self-motivated," Gorman said.
Rowing also requires its participants to be financially resourceful. The sport does not attract lucrative endorsement deals, and many competitive rowers struggle in a temp-land purgatory, unable to find meaningful work. Gorman has a degree from the University of Florida in addition to George Mason but has supported himself by grilling ribs, moving furniture and counting trees.
"It was frustrating being highly educated and stuck in temporary secretarial jobs for so long," Stiver said. "A lot of people leave the sport to choose the high-paying jobs in law or on Wall Street."
Workplace experts say the balance between work and outside interests may help FortiusOne recruit and retain staff members.
"Great companies today must master the human side of their business, knowing the kinds of things their employees want and need, and creating an environment that attracts them and keeps them motivated," said Robert Rosen, chief executive of consulting firm Healthy Companies International.
Shared interests and a sense of purpose among colleagues helps build loyalty, Rosen said. When Stiver and Reck returned from Rio de Janeiro this summer, the whole office celebrated their accomplishments.
"Everyone could relate to our experience and really wanted to hear the stories," said Reck, 25. "Everyone is invested."
What's less certain is whether the company can maintain its culture of supporting athletes as it grows. Many of its workers are in their 20s, with few family demands. The data team is paid hourly, and some members work on contract. Gorman compares the data workers -- mostly rowers -- to outsourced programmers who are hired by project, unlike full-time staff members who receive a salary and have less-flexible schedules.
For now, the unique culture of FortiusOne appeals to its investors. Donald Spero, whose New Markets Growth Fund contributed part of a $4.2 million venture investment during the second quarter, feels a special affinity for the company's dual aspirations. He finished sixth in the singles competition at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. He said rowing requires a higher level of teamwork than other sports -- an important characteristic of any successful company.
"What's so special about rowing is that if one person is off a little bit, it destroys the rhythm of the boat completely. And at the end of the race, you don't know what you contributed to the boat, only if you won or lost the race," Spero said. "That makes a competitive rower someone inherently hard-working, which is exactly what you want in a company."
On a recent scorching August evening, Stiver and Reck were practicing starts, a drill aimed at picking up speed without losing control of the boat. If one oar rises even a centimeter higher than the others, the stride is ruined. With their eyes fixed on the Watergate complex, the pair stroked in perfect unison.
Even after a full day of meetings, synthesizing data, writing marketing plans and pitching potential customers, the two rowed with full energy and focus. They dropped their blades in the water, pushed with their legs and pulled with their arms in seamless, synchronized strokes.
It was a welcome change of gear from the demands of the office. "I'm not thinking about anything but rowing," Stiver said.
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