From a Humble Start to State-of-the-Art: Our New Headquarters

As we celebrate the opening of our new corporate headquarters and embark on a new chapter in Aspire’s history, we take a look back at the early days, our modest beginnings, and the origins of Aspire’s unique culture.

Aspire Technology Partners began in an ordinary, window-less office in Red Bank, New Jersey. The space quickly grew from a small, two-person office to encompass a larger adjacent office and a staging area for equipment. The Aspire culture, an unspoken but palpable philosophy that remains a touchstone today, began in that modest Red Bank office.

Six people shared one office, all with different responsibilities and tasks. Everyone pitched in and worked together to make the business work. That fostered and nurtured the culture. Monday morning sales meetings took place at the “Executive Conference Room” table—a small, circular clear glass table that also served as the lunch room. The team accomplished a lot on that conference room table. It was a humble start, but “It was a great, team-oriented environment for all of us,” said John C. Harris, co-founder, President & CEO of Aspire.

The Starbucks, on the corner of Broad Street, in downtown Red Bank, served as Aspire’s first recruiting office.  Given the cramped quarters and unadorned work space, Aspire chose to use a local Starbucks when recruiting new talent. “It was a great place to work. We had a lot of energy. We got a lot of things done. We had great people. But the facilities were not flashy,” John Harris said.

Aspire’s growth necessitated the move to a larger space in Hazlet, New Jersey. The company earned awards locally and nationally from business partners such as Cisco and others during the Hazlet years. With continued success, even the larger space inevitably became too small to support the company’s rapid growth. Large meetings in the main conference room were reminiscent of the cabin scene from The Marx Brothers’ A Night at the Opera.

Aspire’s sustained acceptance in the small enterprise market space and the acquisition of many talented people, combined with a sound go-to-market strategy, corporate mission, and company vision were driving factors for their move to new headquarters. Aspire needed a facility that would empower and enable transformation for their clients’ business, and to enhance their, Aspire’s, capabilities to empower their clients’ digital transformation.

The new headquarters features a state-of-the-art Network & Security Operations Center, as well as a new data center, adjacent engineering lab, a large conference room equipped with the latest video conferencing and presentation technology, a Collaboration room for meetings, quiet spaces, and open space for teams to work together.

Aspire moved into its new facility in Eatontown, NJ on September 19. A ribbon-cutting marked the occasion on September 22. The event was attended by local and county officials, business partners, and family. The completely renovated, 15,000 square foot facility serves as a hub for our clients and business partners in an easy-to-get-to location. The new space accommodates Aspire’s growing business and employee base.

The new headquarters marks another important milestone in Aspire’s history and evolution. We’ve come a long way (and the original glass Executive Conference Room Table has come too!) since those early days in Red Bank where six people shared a room, possessed of a dream and a vision. The vision remains. The dream continues.