Finish First: What customers of Logikos do. The Fort Wayne company creates specialized software you can't buy but probably use.

• Author: Hromadka, Erik
• Position: Indiana Business Magazine Cover Story

A Fort Wayne woman who is nearing retirement age, dresses conservatively and speaks about the virtue of slow growth is not exactly what one might envision at the forefront of Indiana's software industry.

However, E. Joanne Renselle is changing the image of what it means to be a successful software entrepreneur. As CEO and chairman of the board at Logikos, Renselle preaches perseverance. And she has the results to back it up.

"I've lived and breathed this company since it was started in my living room," Renselle says, recalling the early days when she gave up her job as an elementary school teacher and launched a new business with her former husband.

The year was 1978. Space Invaders was being introduced as the first video arcade game, the AMC Pacer was the latest in automotive technology and Bill Gates was exploring ways to write software for Radio Shack, Apple and Commodore computers.

Back in Fort Wayne, Renselle's home was being used by a handful of engineers to develop software for large defense contractors such as Magnavox and ITT, which had operations in northeast Indiana. Creating embedded software for military applications proved to be a solid business and it allowed the company, then named Software Consulting Specialists, to grow steadily over the next six years and move into its own office space.

However, the early success of the company was about to be tested. As the Cold War began to wind down in the late 1980s, much of the defense contract work that provided the company's revenue was cut drastically or eliminated completely. In addition, Renselle and her husband divorced in 1992, an experience that she describes as one of the most difficult challenges both professionally and personally.

While either event might have been enough to end the company, Renselle was determined not to let that happen. Instead, she agreed to assume the role of CEO and promised the company's 25 employees that she would find ways to keep their jobs.

Renselle renamed the company Logikos, the feminine form of the Greek word for logic, or the science of reasoning. She sought more corporate work to offset the loss in military projects. Logikos adopted the slogan "Finish First" to describe the results of clients it assists in getting a technological innovation to market quickly. And Renselle pledged to recruit top engineers who would help the company grow.

Her efforts were successful.

Since Renselle took over, Logikos has grown to 70 employees, with offices in both Fort Wayne and Columbus, and has seen its annual revenues more than triple to $7 million. Last year, the Greater Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce named Logikos its "2000 Small Business of the Year" and Renselle was recognized as an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year winner in the Northern Indiana contest.

The company also created a new specialty group called Infotronics to meet the growing demand for information applications. The group's focus is taking existing technologies and applying them in new ways to offer information access through portable electronic devices. Its slogan: "Knowledge. Anytime. Anywhere."

"Perseverance is absolutely important," Renselle says, crediting the...