There are plenty of CEOs out there with more formal education than DirectPointe's Michael Proper.

But few have leveraged the simple idea of meeting customers' needs into a more successful business than Proper, a former foster kid and 16-year-old manual laborer whose hard-knocks business apprenticeship and bootstrap approach to entrepreneurism have led his company to growth and success.

Proper got his first tech job at a Colorado start-up and later helped another company grow from $100,000 to $10 million. During this time, he noticed the gap in IT products and support services for small and midsize companies.

DirectPointe was founded to fill this gap, with Proper and his spouse investing their savings to get the company going. Every other month following the founding, Proper hired another executive, asking each to invest his own money in DirectPointe.

The result is a team that is highly committed to the firm's success, an ethic that has spread to the rest of the staff. Following a cash infusion by angel investors in 2000, the company grew quickly and was repeatedly recognized by various Utah and national organizations.

Along the way, the company has overcome several challenges, including resistance by IT managers to its business approach of providing equipment, software, management and support for one monthly fee.

However, most managers quickly realized that, with DirectPointe covering core services, they could focus on more strategic goals, driving their companies forward.