Young super-geeks take gaming to a higher level

FORT COLLINS – The children are our future and, in our technology driven world, the future is now.

Ryan Casey and Josh Moore, the owners of Rage Computers Inc., prefer to be seen as professionals instead of “a couple of kids,” though.

Fifteen-year-old Casey and 17-year-old Moore started Rage Computers in January. The duo builds high-performance gaming computers from premium components for cost, plus a small labor fee.

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“I got into it by taking apart my computer and putting it back together,” Casey said.

Moore honed his expertise by building and fixing computers for his family and friends.

“We were tired of people getting overcharged for their computers,” Moore said of the decision to start Rage.

For now, Rage charges only around $300 for labor, with the rest of the cost in parts. The company works with a distributor, so they pay a discounted retail price for parts.

There is no typical computer built by Rage because every element is customized to the clients’ needs and wants. The most expensive computer Rage has built was $6,000.

Since they formed Rage, Casey and Moore have built about 10 high-performance computers. Each costs about $1,000 less than a comparable one bought at another retail outlet, they estimate.

“We don’t want to build anything less than a gaming computer,” Moore said.

Top of the line

Because of the upper-end graphic and computing power needed to play such multi-player games as Halo and Counterstrike, gaming computers often come with top-of-the-line processors, graphics cards, sound card, etc. Casey and Moore explained that a good gaming computer can basically perform any function, including three-dimensional computer-aided design and video editing.

Besides being busy running high school track – for Casey – and preparing for a first semester at college -for Moore – the two are building their business by reaching out to potential customers.

That means networking – literally.

Rage hosts LAN, or local area network, parties every Friday night. A LAN party involves a group of people gathering at one location and networking their computers, usually for the purpose of multi-player gaming. Rage’s LAN parties usually attract just over a dozen and sometimes spill over into Saturday night.

The LAN parties are an effective form of advertising, because Casey and Moore can show off the computers they’ve built.

In addition to the LAN parties, Rage has attended several trade shows in the region, including Bixpo earlier this month. While the company has yet to garner direct sales from attending trade shows, Casey and Moore feel that the networking that occurs there is where the value is added.

Running a new business is a daunting task for anyone, but Casey said that one of the challenges they face is their age.

“We’re really young, and people think we’re inexperienced,” he explained.

While no potential customers have said outright that they were nervous about doing business with such young entrepreneurs, Casey and Moore say they have gotten a sense from some that their age becomes a factor in doing business. They counteract such notions through communication. Once they start discussing the specifics of their products, most people recognize that they know their stuff.

Starting young

Casey and Moore are part of the first generation to grow up with sophisticated computers, and the technology industry is taking notice of the skills a younger set of employees offers. Garret Acott, CEO of Fort Collins startup Ruffdogs Inc., said that he has often hired high school and college-aged employees.

“I don’t know if any of our development team is over 30,” he said.

Ruffdogs supports and develops Linux programs, free, open-source operating systems based on Unix.

Acott said that Ruffdog’s company culture makes it a good fit for young developers. He likens it to the culture at early dot-com companies before the bust.

Additionally, because Linux isn’t widely taught in universities, a passion for developing and learning is a must. Acott said he looks for easily adaptable employees with the ability to learn quickly.

Much of the upcoming generation also has grown up learning from the Internet, a practice Acott said has been a boon for the tech industry with developers learning from each other using message boards.

“It’s why a lot of these kids are starting at nine years old instead of 19,” he said. “It’s certainly helped keep us fresh.”

Acott sees the company’s relationship with its young employees as mutually beneficial. Ruffdogs gets bright, energetic minds to keep the business moving at least as fast as technology will allow, while the employees get training in not just Linux, but also in business.

“For us, it’s about developing developers, really,” he said.

For their part, Casey and Moore see a bright future for Rage Computers.

Moore said they’d like their S-Corp. to grow into a large corporation.

“It would be cool to go national and then international,” Casey said.

But one thing will never change, they say.

“We’re cheap,” Moore said.

“That’s the whole point,” Casey added. “If we become not cheap, there’s no point.”