Steve Sogan
By Ed Avis
Last July the reprographics world was saddened to learn that Steve Sogan, Sepialine’s director of business development, died suddenly. Sogan had been the face of the company – which provides Argos and Printerpoint software – and had built deep relationships for Sepialine with reprographics firm owners and printer manufacturers.
So how are things going now? Jeremy Evans, the company’s co-founder and CEO, has taken over Sogan’s duties – “It’s going well but no one is going to think I am as fun as Steve,” he says – and is forging a path ahead in Sogan’s absence.
“Steve was our official sociable guy who would stay up until the wee hours with customers,” Evans says. “He showed us how to work with everyone. That was the greatest thing he did for us.”
Sepialine’s Start
In the late 1990s, Evans worked as an IT consultant for various architects in San Francisco. The internet was still young at the time, so his work involved installing servers, building email systems and hooking up internet connections - often the firms’ first.
“I saw the insides of hundreds of architecture firms, from tiny sole proprietors to global companies like HOK,” he says.
Part of his job involved working with the architects to procure printing equipment and he noticed that the software that was sold with the printers to track print usage was inadequate.
“It was a train wreck and often brought their systems down,” he remembers. “I was the protector of the IT network and finally said, ‘You can’t use this anymore.’ We decided to write our own print tracking program. It was bumpy at first but we were there to nurse it along.”
That software eventually evolved into Argos, and after successfully deploying it to their IT clients, they began selling it to other AEC firms.
“We realized making a living selling software was easier, and more fun, than being an IT consultant,” Evans says. “So we stopped consulting and founded Sepialine.”
Steve’s Input
Sogan celebrates his win in a company go-kart outing
When Sogan joined Sepialine in 2008, his social skills contributed to the company’s success. He had worked as a major account sales rep at both Xerox and Indox, so he knew the importance of making connections with everyone in the industry.
“Steve’s passion was definitely people,” Evans says. “He really opened our eyes to the importance of integrating into the business community we’re involved in. You can’t just go back in your room and make something beautiful. You have to get out and understand the ins and outs of how your customers make their living and then your product will be truly valuable. So we gladly made him the face of Sepialine, as far as business development goes.”
In addition to making deep connections with customers, Sogan also stressed the value of good relations with printer manufacturers. Sepialine’s software products, Argos and Printerpoint, have to integrate well with the large-format printers from HP, Canon, KIP and other major manufacturers, so having solid relationships with people at those companies is essential.
“Steve ended up being quite the conduit for the entire channel, from customers to the manufacturers,” Evans says. “He really cared about the nuances of our partners in the industry and he was able to explain why that mattered.”
A Deeper Relationship with Dealers
The Argos software product was Sepialine’s mainstay for the first 15 years of the company’s existence. Reprographers and other large-format equipment dealers sold Argos as an add-on. Otherwise, the dealers themselves had little need for the software.
So eventually the company, which now has 15 employees, decided to create a product that would be valuable for the reprographers as something other than just a revenue stream. Printerpoint allows dealers to monitor print usage remotely, which makes tracking clicks easier and leads to greater sales of paper and other supplies. From Sepialine’s viewpoint, Printerpoint gives them a deeper relationship with the dealers; it makes them more of a partner than a vendor.
“In the last few years a huge portion of our market has shifted to Printerpoint,” Jeremy says. “The impetus to make the Printerpoint product from day one was Steve Sogan. We’re all involved, but he’s the one who saw the bigger picture.”
Since COVID
COVID wrecked printer sales, at least temporarily, so sales of the Argos software dropped early in the pandemic. Printerpoint, on the other hand, solved a problem – since dealers could not visit customers in person, the ability to monitor printing remotely was essential. And since many companies furloughed staff, they valued software that allowed them to work more efficiently.
“That’s the message we were bringing to folks – with Printerpoint you can do more with fewer people, do it easier, do it better,” Evans says. “So in that sense we had a good year with Printerpoint.”
Now that COVID is fading, though, Sogan’s absence may become more deeply felt. Evans will soon begin traveling again and handling the in-person aspects of the business that his late associate did so well.
“Having taken over his role while not being able to travel, I feel like I’m doing great,” Evans says. “But I don’t know if I can stay up at the bar until 3 am… ”