Lou Camerlengo Reflects on Decades of Tech Entrepreneurship

When Lou Camerlengo and Dave Colaizzi founded fivestar* more than 25 years ago, their vision was clear and simple. They wanted to bring together talented people to solve client challenges in an environment that supports long-term client relationships, work life balance and community service.

As the company evolved from workforce training to software development and even being acquired by Revision Collective, fivestar* has maintained its vision and Camerlengo believes the future for the company and Pittsburgh are even brighter.

fivestar* develops custom web and software solutions that centralize workflows, optimize processes, and enable decision-making through real-time data and business intelligence. Typical clients manage workflow and processes with a mix of software and web applications that are not fully integrated and often are a combination of products and legacy systems. Camerlengo says fivestar* simplifies all of that.

Ready, Set, Grow!

Fivestar* traces its beginnings back to Rochester, NY,  where Camerlengo met Colaizzi at a trade show, developed a working relationship/friendship and eventually decided to start fivestar*. With Colaizzi hailing from Pittsburgh, they wanted to start the company where more clients would be available than if they were to stay in Rochester. Camerlengo commuted between Pittsburgh and Rochester for a year before it stabilized and moved to Pittsburgh full-time. Camerlengo recounts the early days:“When we started, we had one full-time team member, Cory Seaman, who is still with the company today. He has been invaluable every step of the way. We had a very specific five-year plan and actually stuck to that plan. And then it was kind of building the airplane as we were flying. I mean, initially we were thinking about 10 years. But fundamentally, we just kind of kept going.

At that time, we were primarily focusing on the design and development of interactive training programs, we did not start as a software development company. We were using software to develop our programs, but we were doing training programs initially on CD-ROM, and then eventually the internet relatively soon into the company. We had clients that were asking us about software development, but it wasn't our primary focus. So for a while, we were doing both. The majority of it was training. The smaller part of it was technology, mostly for one out of town client. When the 2008 recession hit, I mean, the training business just literally disappeared and that is when we started the transition to full-time software development!

“We had a couple of opportunities to sell the company, one of them would have been very lucrative. One of our clients offered to buy us and they had just gone public, and they wound up doing phenomenally well, and then kind of crashed and burned. But we would have done really well then, but we just didn't feel it was the right time. And I'm glad as we've met a lot of people and taken on a lot of interesting projects. We’ve been able to be involved in the community. And even personally, I've probably learned more about myself in the past 10 years.”

The opportunity to sell resurfaced in 2022 and fivestar* was acquired by Revision Collective. Revision brings like-minded businesses together and grow their collective impact while caring for each company’s unique stakeholders: employees, client partners and communities. The acquisition allows fivestar* to continue to provide the same high level of service that clients have come to expect, with increased capabilities and operational efficiency. Camerlengo says the acquisition made sense as both companies’ values were so clearly aligned.

Giving Back

Community and equity have been at the core of fivestar* since its inception. In particular, Camerlengo has committed a lot of time working with RedChair PGH to help engage more women in technology and tech leadership.

“When we transitioned from training to a full-time software company, we became much more male heavy. So it was kind of in our minds that we need to be thinking about this, and I just happened to see something about RedChair,” said Camerlengo. “I went to their first event just to understand and learn. I met Julia Poepping the founder, and at the end of that event, they sent out a survey and I was just like, you know, this interests me. If you ever need any help, please call!”

Poepping, indeed, called and Camerlengo has made supporting RedChair as one of his biggest causes.

“Fundamentally what it comes down to is, even today, only 25% of the tech jobs in Pittsburgh are filled by women, and let's not even talk about people of color, and how the black community is even more underrepresented.

“We had a couple of opportunities to sell the company, one of them would have been very lucrative. One of our clients offered to buy us and they had just gone public, and they wound up doing phenomenally well, and then kind of crashed and burned. But we would have done really well then, but we just didn't feel it was the right time. And I'm glad as we've met a lot of people and taken on a lot of interesting projects. We’ve been able to be involved in the community. And even personally, I've probably learned more about myself in the past 10 years.”

“For women, especially mid-career, there isn't really kind of an environment that supports mentoring and coaching. People are experiencing implicit and explicit bias, harassment, and you can look at all the statistics that say diverse teams perform better. But at the end of the day for me, it comes down to what makes a well-balanced community is equity and fairness.

And I do think that I've always been a fair minded type of person. So I mean, fundamentally, this is just the right thing to do. RedChair is a very small group and everyone pitches into get stuff done!”

A Little Advice

Building, growing and selling a tech company over 25 years presents a multitude of challenges and opportunities to learn. When asked to pick one of his biggest business lessons learned over his career to share with the next generation of entrepreneurs, Camerlengo was quick to answer: “Build a formal board of advisors and really plan for what growth means!” He explained:

“We did have a board of advisors at one point, and what they always said is what they liked about us as we weren't too concerned about getting too far ahead of the headlights. But fundamentally, you can get too far ahead of the headlights. As an example, in 2007, we had our best year ever. We had probably close to 40 people and $5 million in revenue. We really didn’t adequately plan for growth. Because when you grow, you need money. If you’re going to grow 10% you need to be ahead of that. Everything's good halfway through 2008 and then everything falls apart with the markets.  So I think one of the things we learned is not to get too far out in front of the headlights. Be thinking a little bit further down the road when we're planning things and what the overall implication would be. And I think the big learning is, I would have started a more formal board of advisors.”

A Changing Climate

The Pittsburgh region’s tech and entrepreneurial ecosystem has matured in the years since Camerlengo and Colaizzi decided to ramp up fivestar* in the ‘Burgh.

Despite its challenges in diversity and access, Camerlengo said the climate has definitely changed for the better, but there will always be work to be done.

So I think one of the things we learned is not to get too far out in front of the headlights. Be thinking a little bit further down the road when we're planning things and what the overall implication would be.

“Way back when, there would be 500 people at an event and everybody looked like me, right? I know  there's still a lot of work to be done, but now I walk into rooms, and I'm just really amazed at kind of the level of diversity across every kind of aspect of things and more people who have been doing it for a while,” he said. “So there's more ability for people to provide support that have had the same kind of lived experiences. There's a much more kind of broad and diverse group of people and resources that are supporting the infrastructure. And there are more and more people looking specifically at groups and communities that have been left aside. So I think it's a much bigger tent now.”