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Founded in 1999, Chicago-based SurePayroll raised $17 million in venture capital to compete against ADP and Paychex. The company's innovation was to offer payroll processing services online. Last year, the 95-employee company based in the Loop was the fastest growing payroll company in North America.
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On June 6, cofounder Troy Henikoff and President Michael Alter shared their entrepreneurial war stories at the quarterly "Speaking of Success" series hosted by the Illinois Information Technology Association.

Henikoff, a serial entrepreneur who left SurePayroll in 2002, explained why they brought in Alter, a Harvard MBA and experienced manager, before having a product or customer.

"You don't want millions of dollars running through your company when it is held together by duct tape and bubble gum," he said. "You need an IBM and McKinsey guy."

SurePayroll, which processes more than $3.5 billion in payrolls annually, focuses exclusively on United States businesses with under 100 employees, and turned its first profit in 2004.

The company's investors include Mesirow Financial, Wells Fargo, Blue Star Ventures and Kettle Venture Partners. Alter said that while a financial exit through a sale or pubic offering is not "imminent," the company does have financial investors and "at some point something will happen."

Copyright © 2007. Chicago Sun-Times.