No one could ask for a better couple of months than William Hamilton, founder and president of TechSmith Corporation. February brought the celebration of 19 successful years of business, complete with a birthday party for all 135 employees. Next came the big announcement of TechSmith’s investment of more than $18 million to build a new headquarters in the Michigan State University Corporate Research Park within the Lansing Regional SmartZone, a project expected to create at least 105 jobs, including 75 or more directly by the company. Then, March brought more good news, as Hamilton was given the 2007 Entrepreneurial Award in the technology – software development category.

But Hamilton has never been one to rest on his laurels. Under his leadership, TechSmith has grown from a small software developer into a global company and a major player in the ever-evolving world of technology. Founded in 1987, TechSmith’s early operations included work for General Motors and the Cherry Point Naval Air Depot. These efforts funded the development of its initial commercial products, SnagIt and Enterprise Wide. The success of these products led to a partnership in the ‘90s with a large telecommunications company. When the partnership ended, TechSmith was left with debt and an uncertain future. Guided by the vision of the management team, all of the company’s resources went into creating an updated version of SnagIt and the self-appointed task of marketing it over the Internet. Over the next 18 months, TechSmith generated a six-fold increase in revenues and created a foundation for continued growth.

In addition to SnagIt, TechSmith’s development of Camtasia Studio and Morae have solidified its reputation as one of the most innovative and far-reaching technology providers in the world. TechSmith products are used in virtually all Fortune 500 companies; educational institutions such as Michigan State University, Harvard and Princeton; governmental agencies including the Census Bureau and the FBI; and are offered in five languages in some 37 countries and used by more than 7 million people.

SnagIt is computer screen capture and editing software which allows users to select anything on the screen, save it to a file and send it on to an editor to add professional effects, share it via e-mail or drop it into Word®, PowerPoint® or other applications. Camtasia Studio is a screen video recording tool which gives users the capability to record, edit and share screen videos on the Web, CD-ROM and/or portable media players like iPod. It is most often used to create training videos, screen casts and presentations. Morae is a research tool for usability testing, enabling organizations to observe and record how users interact with a website or application. More information about these products is available on TechSmith’s website (which receives some 70,000 hits a day); samples of TechSmith products can be downloaded from the site.

In 2005, TechSmith was ranked 394^th on “Software 500”, Software Magazine’s list of the world’s foremost software services and providers; by 2006, TechSmith had moved up 45 places to become 349^th. It is one of just three Michigan companies to be ranked on this prestigious list.

In accepting the award, Hamilton said, “This is an exciting time in the economic history of our region. Small-business driven but with a global reach, Lansing’s economic vitality is growing. The area’s many assets including Internet connectivity; the presence of Michigan State University; good, affordable housing; short commutes; excellent medical facilities; and recreational opportunities are what persuaded us to expand our business in Lansing.”

He continued by saying that Lansing’s past glories “astonished the world” with the development of the automobile and automotive technology. But he believes that Lansing is well on its way to show the world the kind of “vibrant, growing companies that can rekindle growth and once again astonish the world.”