Expert IT Support Built on Passion, Skill, and Real-World Experience
Nailed IT is a dedicated team of tech professionals who genuinely love technology, puzzles, and solving problems. For over 18 years, we’ve supported businesses—especially in demanding sectors like finance and life sciences—by making their technology reliable, resilient, and optimized for growth.
We don’t treat IT as a checkbox or a burden. We treat it as the heartbeat of your business. Whether it’s network performance, security, hardware reliability, or systems integration, we bring skill, curiosity, and a hands-on approach to every challenge.
White Glove IT Support
Receive personalized, on-site and remote IT support that anticipates your needs and keeps your technology running flawlessly.
Direct Access to Engineers
Collaborate directly with experienced engineers, not managers, for deeper technical expertise and faster, first-time solutions.
Unmatched Value
Enjoy the perfect balance of cost and quality—premium IT services that deliver exceptional results without overpaying.
Rapid Response & Resolution
Rely on our team to respond quickly and fix issues on the first attempt, minimizing downtime and keeping your business moving.
Business-Focused Solutions
Benefit from IT strategies designed to support your business objectives and drive sustainable growth.
Why Nailed IT?
IT Support Backed by Experience and Integrity
After nearly two decades in the industry, we’ve learned that what sets great IT support apart isn’t just technical expertise—it’s commitment to clients and personal ownership of results. At Nailed IT:
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We are owner-operators, meaning we’re personally invested in your success, not just transactionally, but long-term.
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We hire experienced, handpicked engineers who thrive on digging into problems deeply and solving them thoroughly.
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We focus on value and sustainability, investing in great talent and real solutions rather than clocking hours or selling unnecessary services.
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We’re consistently 15-20% more competitive than comparable IT firms, pass through cost savings to you, and avoid unnecessary overhead.
This means more reliability, higher uptime, and a tech partner who actually cares about your team’s experience and your business outcomes.
Our Operational Philosophy
At Nailed IT, technology isn’t just a service we provide — it’s the discipline that shapes how we operate. Our philosophy is built on technical expertise, operational excellence, and a commitment to helping clients understand and lead their own technology strategies.
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Technologist‑Led, Technologist‑Centric
Every team member has a technical background, ensuring decisions are grounded in real-world expertise. -
Scalable & Adaptable
Our processes, team structure, and built-in redundancy let your IT grow and change with your business. -
No Stone Unturned
From infrastructure to security to support, we examine every corner of your IT program for operational excellence. -
Knowing Is Half the Battle
We educate and guide clients so they can lead their technology strategy with confidence.
Keith Costas
Managing Partner, CEO
A native to the Silicon Valley, Keith Costas has been an Information Technology professional for over 20 years having worked as an engineer, manager and executive in three high growth IT companies.
Keith began his career after attending UC Santa Barbara as a prepress operator, graphic and multimedia designer. working in an all Mac environment that he supported. Shortly after he began KC Studios where he began his career in outourced IT in Macintosh environments.
Keith currently lives in Half Moon Bay with his wife of 18 years and his 10 year old son, Kieran.
Eric Johnson
Partner, CFO
Eric has worked in various roles in Information Technology for over 20 years. Prior to joining Nailed IT as a partner/CFO, Eric was employed by several IT consulting firms in the bay area supporting a wide variety of user groups, including fortune 500, venture capital, and professional services firms (legal and accounting).
Eric is a lifetime Bay Area resident, attended UC Berkeley, and has been married for 18 years with 2 daughters aged 12 and 17. When off the clock Eric is an avid computer and electronics hobbyist and machinist.
Shawn Lafferty
Partner, CTO
With over 15 years of proven business leadership and experience Shawn has joined Nailed IT as the Chief Technical Officer. His extensive knowledge and experience in various vertical markets such as Financial Services, Venture Capital, CPA and Accounting, Law Offices, Architectural, and Technology-based start-ups make him a formidable asset to the company.
His technical strengths include LAN, WAN, and Datacenter infrastructure design, development and deployment, virtualization infrastructures, firewall & VPN, Windows Active Directory, SQL Server Database, Exchange Servers, and several vertical specific applications.
Shawn's corporate experience includes serving as Director of IT for top 100 financial organizations where he served as the chief architect for improving business processes. Prior to the abovementioned engagements Shawn served as the Principal consultant for a nationwide Small to Mid-Market IT support organization.
Our Team
Meet the Nailed IT team, full of seasoned tech specialists and problem-solvers passionate about keeping your business running smoothly. With deep expertise in supporting small to midsize companies in life sciences, finance, and professional services, we bring more than technical know-how, we bring dedication, reliability, and a genuine care for your success.
We don’t just fix issues, we simplify your IT experience and tailor solutions that fit how you work. Whether it’s security, compliance, networks, or day-to-day support, our mission is to make powerful technology feel effortless. We’re not just your IT provider, we’re your trusted partners in technology
Keith Costas
Managing Partner, CEO
A native to the Silicon Valley, Keith Costas has been an Information Technology professional for over 20 years having worked as an engineer, manager and executive in three high growth IT companies.
Keith began his career after attending UC Santa Barbara as a prepress operator, graphic and multimedia designer. working in an all Mac environment that he supported. Shortly after he began KC Studios where he began his career in outourced IT in Macintosh environments.
Keith currently lives in Half Moon Bay with his wife of 18 years and his 10 year old son, Kieran.
Eric Johnson
Partner, CFO
Eric has worked in various roles in Information Technology for over 20 years. Prior to joining Nailed IT as a partner/CFO, Eric was employed by several IT consulting firms in the bay area supporting a wide variety of user groups, including fortune 500, venture capital, and professional services firms (legal and accounting).
Eric is a lifetime Bay Area resident, attended UC Berkeley, and has been married for 18 years with 2 daughters aged 12 and 17. When off the clock Eric is an avid computer and electronics hobbyist and machinist.
Shawn Lafferty
Partner, CTO
With over 15 years of proven business leadership and experience Shawn has joined Nailed IT as the Chief Technical Officer. His extensive knowledge and experience in various vertical markets such as Financial Services, Venture Capital, CPA and Accounting, Law Offices, Architectural, and Technology-based start-ups make him a formidable asset to the company.
His technical strengths include LAN, WAN, and Datacenter infrastructure design, development and deployment, virtualization infrastructures, firewall & VPN, Windows Active Directory, SQL Server Database, Exchange Servers, and several vertical specific applications.
Shawn's corporate experience includes serving as Director of IT for top 100 financial organizations where he served as the chief architect for improving business processes. Prior to the abovementioned engagements Shawn served as the Principal consultant for a nationwide Small to Mid-Market IT support organization.
Keith Costas
Managing Partner, CEO
A native of Silicon Valley, Keith Costas has been an Information Technology professional for over 30 years, having worked as a network engineer/technologist, manager, and executive in three high-growth IT companies.
Keith began his career after attending UC Santa Barbara as a graphic and multimedia designer. Shortly after, he started KC Studios, where he began his career in outsourced IT in Macintosh environments.
Keith currently lives in Half Moon Bay with his wife of 25 years and his 18-year-old son, Kieran. He enjoys spending time and sharing motorsports and other hobbies with his close friends and family
Eric Johnson
Partner, CFO
Eric has served in many Information Technology roles for over 33 years. Prior to joining Nailed IT as a partner/CFO, Eric was employed by several IT consulting firms in the Bay Area, supporting a wide variety of user groups, including Fortune 500, venture capital, and professional services firms.
Eric is a lifetime Bay Area resident, attended UC Berkeley, and has been married for 32 years with 2 daughters aged 26 and 31. When off the clock, Eric is an avid computer and electronics hobbyist, machinist, and mechanic.
Shawn Lafferty
Partner, CTO
Shawn Lafferty serves as Chief Operating Officer at Nailed IT and brings over 30 years of experience in IT leadership, infrastructure architecture, and managed services operations. He focuses on aligning technology strategy with business goals while ensuring clients benefit from secure, scalable, and reliable IT environments.
Shawn has extensive experience supporting organizations in Financial Services, Venture Capital, Life Sciences, Accounting and CPA firms, Law Offices, Architecture firms, and technology startups. His expertise includes cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity strategy, Microsoft 365 and Azure environments, enterprise networking, virtualization, and modern endpoint management. He is passionate about helping organizations modernize their technology while strengthening their security posture through proactive managed services.
Prior to joining Nailed IT, Shawn served as Director of IT for a Top 100 financial institution and previously worked as a Principal Consultant for a nationwide small-to-mid-market IT services organization, advising clients on infrastructure strategy, security, and operational improvements.
Shawn lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife of over 25 years. They have three grown children and two dogs. In his free time, he enjoys listening to and playing music and hiking.
Nailed IT Case Studies
Cybersecurity | Professional Services
After the Breach: How One Company Turned a Phishing Attack into a Security Overhaul
Problem/Customer Need
A mid-size professional services firm contacted Nailed IT in the middle of a crisis. An employee had fallen for a phishing email, and the attacker had used that foothold to compromise the account, move laterally, and access sensitive business communications. The firm hadn't noticed until unusual activity triggered an alert — by then, the attacker had been inside for days.
SOLUTION
Nailed IT came in immediately. We identified the compromised accounts, shut down unauthorized access, and worked through the environment methodically to make sure nothing else had been touched. We got them back on their feet quickly — but the more important conversation was about what came next.
The honest truth was that this breach was entirely preventable. The firm had no multi-factor authentication, no visibility into suspicious account behavior, and no endpoint protection worth the name. One convincing email was all it took.
Once the immediate crisis was resolved, Nailed IT designed and implemented a layered security foundation built around the firm's real-world environment and budget. We rolled out MFA and conditional access policies to ensure that stolen credentials alone could never be enough to get in. We deployed SaaS monitoring to provide ongoing visibility into cloud account behavior — so abnormal activity gets flagged before it becomes an incident. Devices were brought under centralized management, and we replaced their legacy antivirus with enterprise-grade endpoint detection and response. We also hardened their email environment with zero-trust filtering to significantly reduce the volume of malicious mail reaching inboxes in the first place.
The firm now has the kind of security posture that would have stopped the original attack before it started — and the confidence that comes with knowing someone is watching.
Technical Consulting | Professional Services
Scaling Smarter: How One Company Transformed a Data Explosion into Compliant, Cost-Efficient Storage
Problem/CUSTOMER NEED
A Nailed IT client had an exponentially increasing inbound data stream (measuring today at 1/2 pedabyte and growing). Compliance regulated a 7-year retention and duplicate offsite set of data for backup and security purposes however the datasets had diminishing value over time. A single FaaS (File-as-a-Service) solution could not economically solve the problem of securely providing data access at the correct speeds at the correct lifecycle stages of the data.
SOLUTION
Nailed IT Architected a solution that identified data aging and history and utilized a combination of AI-assisted local fast and slow network disk storage to provide "hot" access for active data sets together with an automated data offboarding to AWS S3 cold and archival storage (eventually moved to Microsoft Azure Blob cold and archival storage to reduce costs further).
Over a (4) year ROI against traditional online/on-prem solutions, we were not only able to provide a "just in time" access of an exponentially expanding data set that satisfied all compliancy requirements, but we did so at a 57% cost savings.
IT Compliance & Policies | Life Sciences
Smarter Storage Strategy: How One Company Managed Rapid Data Growth with Tiered Access and 57% Savings
Problem/customer need
A life sciences company learned their FDA audit was approaching faster than expected. Their IT environment had grown organically over the years — systems were loosely documented, audit trails had gaps, access controls were inconsistent, and change management was informal at best. They knew they had exposure but didn't know where to start.
solution
They brought in Nailed IT.
We started with a straightforward assessment of where they stood against what an FDA auditor would expect to see. From there we worked through it systematically — tightening access controls, filling in documentation gaps, formalizing their change management process, and making sure the right audit trails were in place across their critical systems. We also worked directly with their staff so the team understood not just what had changed, but why it mattered.
By the time the auditors arrived, the client was organized, prepared, and confident. The audit went smoothly — no surprises.
Our Specialties
Nailed IT partners with high-performance organizations across Life Sciences, Real Estate, Hospitality, Accounting, Venture Capital, Manufacturing, Legal, and Construction. Our industry-focused expertise allows us to understand the unique operational, compliance, and growth demands of each sector—delivering tailored IT solutions that support stability, security, and scale.
LIFE SCIENCES & BIOTECH
Supporting innovators like Adicet Bio and Annexon Bio, we deliver secure, compliant IT solutions that protect sensitive data and keep research environments running smoothly.
REAL ESTATE/PROPERTY MANAGMENT
Trusted by Broadreach Capital Partners and Tarlton Properties, we provide reliable, multi-site IT support that keeps properties, teams, and tenants connected.
HOSPITALITY & HOTELS
From The Ameswell to Nanuku Resort, we power secure networks and dependable systems that enhance guest experience and streamline operations.
ACCOUNTING
Serving firms like Sherwood Partners and Deaton & Michaels LLP, we safeguard financial data while ensuring seamless performance during peak workloads.
VENTURE CAPITAL/PRIVATE EQUITY/FINANCE
Working with Northgate Capital and Sequoia, we deliver secure, scalable infrastructure built for fast-moving investment teams.
MANUFACTURING
Supporting companies such as B2 Machining and McKenna Boiler, we maintain reliable systems that minimize downtime and keep production on track.
ATTORNEYS
For firms like McLaughlin Sanchez, LLP and SSL Law Firm, we provide secure, compliant IT that protects confidential client information.
CONSTRUCTION
Partnering with C&J Fencing and Daleo, Inc. we support field and office teams with dependable connectivity and secure collaboration tools.
Nailed IT's Service Areas
Our service area covers the greater San Francisco Bay Area, including San Francisco, the Peninsula (San Mateo to Palo Alto), the South Bay (Mountain View through San Jose), and much of the East Bay (Oakland to Fremont and surrounding communities).
Why Partner With Nailed IT?
Deep Technical Expertise
With over 18 years of hands-on experience in IT, our team brings a level of technical mastery you can trust to support your business technology. We understand complex systems inside and out, helping you avoid issues before they impact your operations.
Passion-Driven IT Professionals
We genuinely love technology — if it plugs in, powers up, or makes a network run smoother, we’re all in. That passion drives us to stay ahead of trends and deliver smarter, more reliable IT solutions for our clients.
Client-Focused & Accountability-Driven
As an owner-operator business, our success depends on your success — which means we take your IT needs personally and deliver with integrity. We build long-term partnerships based on trust, responsiveness, and being there when you need us.
High Standards Without the High Cost
We hand-select our team for excellence, ensuring every engineer is capable, experienced, and committed to quality service. By focusing resources on talent rather than excess overhead, we deliver premium IT support at competitive rates.
Hear It From Our Clients
"I have been using Nailed IT for more than 10 years and have worked with Keith Costas for more than 15 years across 3 different companies. Keith and Eric are knowledgeable, professional and creative and cost effective when it comes to problem solving.
I have recommended them to many people and companies over the years and would do so again (consider me doing so right now, with this review)."
"Nailed IT is truly one of the most client-centric IT companies we’ve had the pleasure of working with. Their team consistently goes above and beyond to understand our needs and tailor solutions that genuinely add value to our business.
Microrite greatly appreciates everything they’ve done for us. They have helped us tremendously in upgrading our systems, positioning us to take full advantage of AI capabilities and optimize our internal processes. Their expertise, responsiveness, and strategic guidance have made a significant impact on our efficiency and overall performance.
We highly recommend Nailed IT to any organization looking for a forward-thinking, reliable, and client-focused technology partner."
Zubeda Abraham
"We’ve partnered with NailedIT for the past five years, and their support has been consistently reliable and high‑quality. Shawn, the business partner there, has been a steady, knowledgeable point of contact throughout the relationship. Their team handles both desktop and server environments with a strong level of expertise, and they’ve helped us navigate everything from routine maintenance to complex troubleshooting. Response times have always been prompt, and their technicians communicate clearly. NailedIT has proven to be a dependable long‑term IT partner, and their steady support has contributed to the stability of our overall infrastructure."
David Xu
