A startup’s IT is decided in its first month, usually by whoever had a free afternoon: a Microsoft 365 or Google tenant created with one admin account, laptops bought as people were hired, passwords shared in chat, and nobody owning any of it. That works until the first customer security questionnaire, the first departed contractor with a working login, or the first insurance application. We provide managed IT services and security for startups and small businesses across the Twin Cities, set up properly the first time, priced per device at a flat monthly rate with no long-term contract to outgrow.
A startup has no legacy, which is an advantage if someone takes it. The identity setup, the device standard, the security baseline and the offboarding process can be right from the start, at a fraction of what fixing them costs at fifty people. The company also changes faster than any other kind of business: five people become twenty in a year, the office appears and disappears, and a customer ten times your size sends a due-diligence questionnaire before signing.
What a startup does not have is time or an IT person. The founder is the help desk, the most senior engineer resets passwords, and the first real breach arrives through a contractor whose access nobody removed. Support built for a settled office does not fit a company that reinvents itself every quarter.
Help desk from day one. One dedicated technician who learns your stack and your people, backed by a team, for Mac, Windows and Linux alike. Remote support resolves most issues in minutes so nobody senior is doing password resets. See how IT support works.
Identity done once. Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace set up as the identity source, multi-factor authentication for everyone, single sign-on into the tools you use, and onboarding and offboarding as a same-day checklist. See our Microsoft 365 support.
Laptops managed, not micromanaged. A device standard, encryption, updates and endpoint protection through device management, so a lost laptop is a lost laptop and a new hire is working within the hour.
The security layers a customer or insurer will ask for. Managed detection and response, antivirus, email security, account monitoring, backups and training, each producing the evidence a questionnaire wants.
Phones and the office, when they arrive. Internet, Wi-Fi and firewall for the first real office, a hosted phone system with an app on every phone, and a plan for the next move. See our network support and business phone systems.
Startups are targeted because they move money quickly, run on cloud logins and have not yet built the habits. Business email compromise aimed at the founder or the person who pays invoices, account takeover through a phished password, and a departed contractor’s live access are the incidents we see most. Our managed cybersecurity services layer the defences: Huntress managed detection and response on every computer, SentinelOne antivirus beside it, Microsoft 365 or Google accounts watched for takeover, email filtering, and security awareness training with phishing tests for the whole team.
Two free checks show where a company stands today: the cyber insurance readiness check and the email spoofing check.
Enterprise customers, investors and insurers all ask the same questions: who has access to what, how devices are managed, how people leave, whether backups are tested, whether staff are trained. A startup that can answer from a checklist closes faster and pays less for insurance. When the questions become “send us your SOC 2 report”, our vCISO service runs the readiness work; we have been through our own SOC 2 audit every year and know what the auditor wants to see.
Because the setup is right at five people, adding the next forty is a series of tickets rather than a project: a new laptop from the standard, an account from the template, access from the group. When you hire your first IT or DevOps person, the arrangement becomes co-managed IT, with the split written down, and nothing has to be rebuilt. Software companies in particular can read more on our software development IT support page.
We price by device, not by user, so a ten-person startup with ten laptops and no server pays for ten laptops, at a flat monthly rate with no minimum and no long-term contract. Security layers are priced separately so you add them as customers and insurers ask. See a ballpark in about a minute on our managed services pricing calculator; every rate is published on our pricing page.
We support software startups, professional services firms, agencies and growing small businesses across Minneapolis, St. Paul and the surrounding suburbs, with remote support for people wherever they work. OAC Technology has supported Twin Cities businesses since 2000 and is audited every year under SOC 2.
You need identity, devices and security set up properly, and someone to call. At five people that is a small monthly amount per laptop and it saves a rebuild at twenty-five. The office can come later; the setup should not.
Yes. Most startups are on one or the other, and we support both as the identity source, with single sign-on into the rest of your tools. If you are choosing, we will tell you plainly which fits your customers and your team.
Yes, through a policy that grants them and keeps the machine encrypted and protected. We manage the company side; your engineers keep the product.
The arrangement becomes co-managed: your person takes what they want, we keep the rest, and the split is written down. Nothing is rebuilt.
No minimum and no long-term contract. Month to month, per device, and you can leave with your documentation and your credentials in hand.
If a customer questionnaire is sitting in someone’s inbox, or your best engineer is also your help desk, call 952-548-5558 or contact us for a free consultation. We will review what you have, tell you plainly what we would change, and give you a flat monthly price.
