Young Entrepreneur Award Winners - TYLER & KIRBY GOMPF, SCOTT GRIFFITH, BRENT STEVENSON, Tell Us About Us Inc., Manitoba

The Globe & Mail

Frustration proved inspirational for four classmates, two of them brothers, in a University of Manitoba commerce program.

'It actually started five years ago from a bad service experience that I personally had,' says Tyler Gompf, 28. 'I was left without an opportunity to communicate what I thought was important to the upper management of this particular organization.'

'For me, it really sparked the vision to create a full-fledged account process of communication between management and customer.'

With accounts largely in the United States for such sectors as retail, hospitality and tourism, Tell Us About Us provides customer-satisfaction and quality-measurement programs, as well as customer-complaint management services, now with 15 employees.

'Timing has been important for us,' brother Kirby, 27, explains. 'When we came into the business, it coincided with the growth of the technology sector and when telephony technology costs were going down. This allowed us to to enter into developmental partnerships.'

If new advances were important, however, classic business principles have been the guide to success, Tyler says. 'Just treat people with respect and put in a lot of hard work and not live outside of our means.'