SimulTrans was founded in 1984 as a side project to Mark Homnack's (founding and current CEO) PhD studies at Stanford University. SimulTrans grew through his grassroots effort and brought translation and localization to the companies of Silicon Valley.

Today, SimulTrans is the largest and oldest full service localization and translation firm on the West Coast based in Mountain View, California. Since 1984, SimulTrans has been working with organizations all over the world to meet their localization needs by providing the highest quality services and creating scalable strategies unique to every client. Having always been a private company, SimulTrans has enjoyed organic, sustainable growth that is quite unique to the industry.

In The Beginning
In September 1983, Mark Homnack entered Stanford University as a PhD student in German literature, focusing on 18th century authors such as Goethe, Schiller and Kleist. A member of the German Department, Homnack was occasionally asked to do translations for customers outside the university; after doing a few translations, he thought to himself, "Translation work is much harder than I expected - there must be a good business to be made here."

So in March 1984, with initial funding of $50 that was used for a Yellow Pages ad, the entrepreneurial Homnack launched Academic Translators. He loved languages and literature and was fascinated by the dawn of computing that surrounded him in the Silicon Valley. Homnack surmised that Stanford's international and highly educated community would allow him to offer higher-quality translation services. He had called local translation companies and was appalled at the poor quality of the owners' ability to communicate. Plus, his competitors required a pay of $45/hour, which created a stunning opportunity in comparison to the $12/hour he was paid.

Homnack's business background was lacking, except experiences such as selling Christmas cards as a teen and running basketball leagues as a college student. For example, he did not know why his first commercial customer was not paying his bill until he learned what a "purchase order" was (the customer was Signetics, a spinoff of four of the "Fairchild Eight"). However, through trial and error and the experience that running a business provides, Homnack slowly grew to understand the business.

Slowly gaining clients and further leveraging the multinational student community at Stanford, Homnack began to grow his localization firm. Homnack would meet with translators and customers at campus libraries under various pseudonyms that he used to hide the fact that he was working more hours than Stanford allowed (20 hours/week) and to increase the perceived size of his firm (one person). Another tactic that Homnack used to make the company seem (or sound) larger was his playing a tape recording of phones ringing in the background, when a prospective customer would call.

In 1987, Academic Translators changed its name to American Translators International (ATI) and hired its first employees and continued its upward momentum. Three years later, in 1990, ATI became SimulTrans. At this time, SimulTrans experienced an exciting period of growth and evolution.

However, in the mid 1990's SimulTrans encountered some turbulence when a large client unexpectedly dropped them as a vendor and they had to react accordingly by cutting costs and downsizing. Learning from this lesson, SimulTrans established that no one client would take more than 15% of their business to ensure stability.

Slowly and carefully recovering, in 1997 SimulTrans opened a production and account management office in Dublin, Ireland and a year later opened a regional office outside of Boston, Massachusetts. With this growing family, SimulTrans continued to increase its business and grow steadily.

Not So Long Ago
The turn of the century saw the Silicon Valley in some disarray after the bubble burst. But as in tough times in the past, SimulTrans was able to get through this turbulent period without relying on external assistance and came out the other end all the stronger.

In recent years SimulTrans has seen tremendous growth despite a larger economic slow down. And in July 2008, SimulTrans added a regional office in Austin, Texas to its family.

Also in July 2008, SimulTrans became ISO 9001:2000 certified after having undergone a rigorous review period. SimulTrans was able to attain ISO certification in record time because it already had quality systems and processes in place. Having worked with an ISO consultant for several months, SimulTrans refined its processes in documentation, contingency planning, and creating, measuring and ensuring high quality deliverables. Adam Jones, Chief Operating Officer at SimulTrans, noted, “All of the team members at SimulTrans are proud to receive ISO 9001:2000 certification. This certification validates the quality-oriented processes our company has had in place and has continually improved during our 25-year history.”

Moving Forward
In an industry undergoing constant change and frequent mergers, acquisitions, and IPOs, SimulTrans has stayed independent and privately owned since its beginnings in 1984. Not only does this create a company culture that is not diluted in focus but it also enables SimulTrans to truly concentrate on its core values and beliefs. This has always been at the heart of SimulTrans and will continue to guide everything SimulTrans does in the future.

Unique among the many organizations in the localization industry, SimulTrans’ founder remains with the company as its chief executive officer. This consistency has created a stable environment for SimulTrans to grow organically and gain industry expertise.

SimulTrans continues to focus on its core mission of satisfying customers by delivering quality results. In order to better achieve its goals, SimulTrans is pursuing ambitious plans for future growth. While still focusing on the superior quality that keeps customers loyal to SimulTrans, it plans to expand its presence in US and Asia to accommodate growing demand and access previously untapped markets.