the story of paragus
From its humble beginnings as Vertical Horizons, founded by a 14-year-old Delcie Bean in 2002, Paragus IT underwent a remarkable evolution. Transitioning into Valley ComputerWorks and later rebranding as Paragus in 2011, the company saw exponential growth, marked by accolades such as the Valley Advocate Best of the Valley Readers Poll and a BusinessWest Forty Under 40 award. Notably, the years 2012-2015 saw Paragus emerge as a leading IT firm regionally, achieving recognition on Inc. Magazine's list of the 5,000 fastest-growing businesses and co-founding Tech Foundry to support underrepresented communities in IT.
By 2016, the company underwent a significant transformation, emphasizing employee ownership and refining its core values. Despite challenges like the pandemic, Paragus persevered, expanding its reach with a second office in Worcester and ultimately achieving 100% employee ownership in 2024, solidifying its commitment to both its staff and clients.
Our Story | History | Why Paragus? | What’s With The Baby?
paragus through the years
Check out Our Timeline to see how our
evolution as a company over the last 20+ years.
Prefer to watch the movie? Check it out below, if you’re more of a reader, scroll down to the timeline below.
2002-2004
Origin Story
An enterprising 14-year-old named Delcie Bean founds Vertical Horizons. The rates are $10/hr.—and you have to come pick him up. Even with no driver’s license, he builds the company to the point where he has an office, real clients, and business cards.
2005-2009
Valley ComputerWorks Gets To Work
Gus the Paragus baby isn’t born yet, but the company takes its first steps toward success. There’s a name change to Valley ComputerWorks, a growing base of residential and commercial clients, and the purchase of our first office building in Hadley.
By 2008, we have 8 employees, almost $1 million in sales, our first Mini Cooper, and our first run of what will become a long award-winning streak with a Valley Advocate Best of the Valley Readers Poll and a BusinessWest Forty Under 40 award.
2010-2011
Paragus Is Born!
This is when things really get rolling. We change our name to Paragus, bring the employee count up to 24 and have our first fall retreat.
2012-2015
Big Doings
A lot happens in these four years. We go from a word no one has ever heard of to one of the leading IT firms in the region. Our customized Mini Coopers become recognizable all over the Valley.
We are ranked on Inc. Magazine’s list of the 5,000 fastest-growing businesses in the country and help found Tech Foundry, a nonprofit dedicated to helping underrepresented communities succeed in IT. Most importantly, as the staff grows to 45 people, we begin to take our first steps to becoming an employee-owned company and move into our new headquarters in Hadley, Massachusetts.
2016-2019
The Big Reboot
In many ways, the Paragus that exists today starts in 2016. We refine our core values, build a new leadership team, and turn over 40% of the company to our employees.
2020-2023
Perseverance
& Growth
Partly because of the systems we put in place over the previous few years, Paragus is able to weather the pandemic and come out stronger on the other side—as well as helping our clients do the same.
We continue to grow and acquire new businesses and open a second office in Worcester, expanding our footprint to serve businesses throughout the region and getting us closer to our goal of serving 1,000 businesses nationwide.
2024
100% Employee Ownership
With our staff counting more than 60 people, Paragus makes the decision to become a fully employee-owned company. With everybody on board, we move full speed ahead—100% owned by our employees and 100% committed to our clients.
why the name paragus?
Hadley, where we’re from, is famous for it’s asparagus, but asparagus is famous for making your pee smell funny, so we went with Paragus. We knew we were going to need a name that was unique enough to stand the test of time, and over a decade later, we can say confidently that our decision paid off!
So, What’s The Deal With The Baby?
That’s Gus, the Paragus mascot.
The idea of a weightlifting baby was meant to convey that Paragus was a small company capable of doing big things.
As Paragus has grown and evolved, Gus has stayed a baby, but he’s a pretty damn versatile baby. From a giant weathervane on top of our Hadley office to John Cusack in Say, Anything, there have been many iterations over the years, check out our Gus Gallery below!
