Crowd of 1000 attend APX Grand Opening - Security Systems News
It took place in APX’s “Final Four Gymnasium,” part of APX’s corporate campus, here in Provo, where there are big rocky mountain views in every direction. The house was packed for the event, with 450 seated guests and another 550 standing. While the APX executives were dressed in business suits for the event, others of the mostly 20-something, outdoorsy-looking APX staffers in the audience were in their accustomed casual wear—kind of a hiker-skier version of Silicon Valley’s T-shirt and jeans look.
Special guests included local legislators, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and former Massachusetts Governor and presidential candidate Mitt Romney. The security industry was also well represented. Among the guests were George DeMarco, George Gunning, Les Gold, Matt Westphal, Mel Mahler, Stan Oppenheim and Daniel Demers. Seated up front with the industry VIPs were numerous financial folks including representatives from Goldman Sachs, Peterson Partners and Jupiter Partners.
Pedersen told a couple of stories about trying unsuccessfully—“like 20 times”—to get a door-to-door sales job when he was first out of college. “This is the result of not getting that job,” he said to much laughter. When he first founded APX, someone else told him, “This door-to-door thing is never going to work … it’s one of my fondest memories.”
He moved on to more serious topics, talking about starting this business out of a van, and now having 375,000 customers across the country. APX has broken the mold in many ways in the security industry, he said, notably with its sales model. APX intends to keep breaking new ground, particularly with new product offerings, and services, he said. “We intend to make great changes to this industry,” he said. “It’s been a great ride, and it’s going to be a blast in the future.”
APX COO Alex Dunn, who worked for Gov. Romney when Romney was governor of Massachusetts, introduced the governor, saying Romney has much to do with the success of APX. During long car rides, “We talked about what made him successful,” Dunn said. “Many of the principles we talked about, we’ve put to work here at APX,” he said.
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