Most CEOs wouldn’t suggest conducting their interview at Rockin’ Robin Guitars store, but then again Jack Brandt isn’t like most CEOs. For one, he’s as comfortable with a guitar in his hand as he is in a boardroom. And two, he figured he could get some shopping in when we were done with the interview.

It’s this efficient type of thinking that has contributed not only to the affable CEO and founder of Technology Solutions' success in business, but also to his ever-expanding collection of more than 36 guitars.

“Outside of my office and my home I spend the most time here at Rockin’ Robin Guitars. I’m a lifetime musician, started playing when I was 8, won my first songwriting competition when I was 11 and I can’t even tell you how many bands I’ve played in,” Brandt says.

Born and raised in Houston, Brandt lived in Stafford until age 7 before moving inside the loop. He graduated early from Sharpstown High School in 1982, but was technically class of ’83. He went on to the University of Texas where he majored in psychology with a minor in music and graduated in 1987.

“When I was in Austin I put myself through college," he says. "I sold cars on the corner of Sixth and Lamar, had jewelry stores in the flea markets of Austin. And for my last two years I played music on Sixth Street and was a house guitar player and singer for a studio there.”

Brandt has been involved in Houston’s technology industry for more than 15 years. “My first job after college was in the computer business selling computer supplies, surge protectors, printer cartridges and it was going really well until right up until the time a company called Office Depot and another called BizMart came to town. Ultimately that business failed," he recalls.

He then went on to TeleCheck, where he was responsible for all micro computing operations and subsequently became vice president at NetConnect systems, a Houston-based value added reseller.

Technology Support was started in 1994. “Back then there were no IT guys," Brandt says. "Small businesses were just beginning to deploy computers as a tool that they couldn’t work without.

"Accounting firms could still put their tax returns together without a computer; engineering firms could do drawings without CAD and so on. But as Windows 3.1, then 4 and ’98 became more pervasive that meant that they needed someone like us that the larger companies had from a departmental support standpoint.”

Technology Support now has 25 employees. Clients range from five to 10 up to 2,000 users.

“Day one I was everything: Selling, implementing, ordering," Brandt says. "Working with the client by day and then implementing at night. As things evolved I’ve moved into a sales and business development role. I still talk to a lot of our clients on a daily basis, but I don’t necessarily crawl under desks anymore.”

Brandt attributes longevity and skill set as major contributors to Technology Support’s success.

“We’ve been in business almost 18 years and in IT that’s a millennium so we have the history and the experience. and there’s really no substitute for that type of experience," he says. "The skill set we have is very comprehensive, more comprehensive than anyone a company could hire for their own internal staff, it’d be too expensive."

Brandt took an innovative approach to client services and instituted a unique pricing model that has been a tipping point for the company and enabled Technology Support to differentiate itself from the competition.

“What’s really been a game changer for us is we’ve formulated a way to offer an all inclusive price, which means our clients never watch a clock," he says. "We’re very creative and very easy in the way that we come to that price with our customers so that there are no secrets. A lot of the ways our competitors do things now, there’s just too much smoke and mirrors."

While Brandt maintains a balance between his two passions, business and music, he realizes which comes first.

“I love music, but no one is beating down my door to pay me a good living to play guitar, so the balance between business and music has kind of worked itself out that way . . . In business I’m very fortunate in that I feel like I get paid to play with toys all day. To this day, the best thing for me is opening up a box with some new component, new part and taking it out, configuring it, putting it in service, that’s really a privilege.

"I get to do what I normally would be doing after work if I was doing something else for a living, which is taking stuff apart, putting it back together and playing guitar.”

 Greg Scheinman is creator of the PBS show, PROFILE with Greg Scheinman, and an associate at Insgroup Inc., Houston's fourth largest independent insurance agency.