Startup Venture Partnerships (SVP) represents the evolution of a journey that unknowingly started in 1995, on the South Side of Chicago, at the Chicago Computer Exchange (a popular computer sales & repair shop), located in an area known as Hyde Park, home to the picturesque Promontory Point (above), University of Chicago campus, Museum of Science and Industry, the beautiful Eastern shore of Lake Michigan, and popular Chicago-style eateries the likes of Giordano’s, Harold’s Chicken Shack Fish & Pizza, and many more. This is where our story begins.

Chicago’s South Shore community raised SVP’s founder, Clayton Harris. Early childhood computer learning camp at Columbia University and his parents purchasing a family computer (with an Intel i386 chipset), sparked an organic interest in technology that eventually led to after-school employment with the Chicago Computer Exchange at age 14. By age 17, armed with enough experience to build computers from scratch, Clayton left South Shore, to matriculate at Howard University in Washington, DC — determined to complete his degree at the College of Engineering, Architecture and Computer Sciences (CEACS), initially studying Computer Programming, but ultimately majoring in Electrical Engineering. During college, to pay for school, Clayton repaired computers across campus, and returned to the Chicago Computer Exchange every summer to strengthen his technical proficiency. He also worked at Best Buy, Circuit City, and earned paid internships with Northrop Grumman, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and Corning, Inc while in school. After graduating, Clayton started Hitek Consulting in 2005, a premium custom website design and enterprise web hosting company which at it’s peak developed, hosted, repaired, and maintained hundreds of websites. Hitek inevitably closed it’s doors after 12 years, due to the rise of mobile applications and the adoption of affordable online platforms and tools that simplify do-it-yourself website design. At a crossroads, Clayton decided to shift his focus, partnering with numerous tech companies to offer consulting support services in the public and private sector. After 15+ years of tech entrepreneurship, Clayton forged key partnerships to help cultivate a renewed passion to give back, by establishing a different type of tech company; one that provisions technology for people that may not otherwise have exposure to essential resources to design, develop, monetize, and launch their very own mobile applications. The SVP mission is simple — enable, educate, and empower others to create successful mobile app startups.  If you’re interested in partnering or learning more, for a free consultation, please contact us.