Ian Marlow

Ian Marlow of Boca Raton is the CEO of FITECH Consultants, which he founded in 2001. Ian oversees all facets of the day-to-day operations of the company and has directed its expansion into business process consulting, private cloud services, and establishing the largest integrator partnership program in the country enabling the FITECH team to become experts not only in the real estate vertical but the top enterprise-class applications that service Real Estate. Ian’s visionary approach to vertical service integration and solutions-based delivery platforms have served as the foundation for FITECH’s client-focused growth. Combining operations expertise with technology platform design and long-term systems and operational support, the company’s holistic approach integrates the secret to each company’s success – the balance of its People, Process, and Technology. Ian has a BS in Chemical Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic institute 1996. He was born in Brooklyn, NY 1975. Ian has lived in various states plus London and South Korea. Aside from being a CEO in Boca Raton, he loves and cares for his wife and children.

Where did the idea for FITECH Consultants come from?

Fitech comes from the words “Financial” and “Technology” contracted together, hence “FiTech”. The idea of the company was the genesis of the desire to solve the many process and technology problems that real estate owners, developers, and third-party managers face in their inability to service the technology and back-office support needs of both their corporate real estate entity and the properties themselves.

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

My days start early and fly by! They are never the same coverage needs that range from client scoping calls to discovery sessions to technology design to employee needs. Productivity is a function of understanding deliverables, urgency, and planning. I am regularly evaluating all of those items and balancing their priorities along with the needs of supporting our senior leadership team.

How do you bring ideas to life?

The ideas that truly are impactful for myself and the business usually arrive as epiphanies in the midst of my downtime. Those ideas are discussed with the talented group surrounding me and we discuss steps in how to bring those ideas to life and implement them

What’s one trend that excites you?

The cycle of the real estate market and how those cycles grow with our business.

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

Constantly driving to find the “pain” that we can solve for.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Keep going, you’re on the right track!

Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.

Those failures are in some form successes, it’s only how you look at them.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

Wake up every day and give it 110% like there is no tomorrow.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?

Being malleable so that we are always solving problems even if that problem is not directly in our wheelhouse. Ultimately, it becomes in the wheelhouse and expands the business.

What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?

I relied on partners for more than 50% of the contribution and I realized I have to be the 110% in order to achieve the vision that i set out.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

Digital is the future, so invest in it.

What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?

I prepaid $100 in allowance to my daughter so that she already had her allowance for walking the dogs. By prepaying the money, she felt obligated to do it even when she didn’t want to.

What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?

Proposify, which is our PO system. A great product that we use daily and helps us understand pipeline as well as build PO’s quickly for our clients.

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

Who Moved My Cheese, because it is a lesson on how to visualize and participate in change.

What is your favorite quote?

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

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