They are stars in the regional startup community, enjoying a high degree of success at a young age.

When they are asked to explain their early achievements, brothers Stephen and Patrick Hankinson say that growing up in rural Nova Scotia they had few leisure options, so they began tinkering with their dad’s computer, learning a passion for tech and entrepreneurialism from him.

Both credit their father’s enthusiasm for computers and his own entrepreneurial leanings — Owen Hankinson ran a car dealership and gas station in the riverside community of Weymouth — with inspiring them. There may also be other genetic components to their success — their family line includes store owners, a shipbuilder and myriad other business people.

“Dad had a computer in the house since I was two. Dad loved technology. The first ISP (Internet Service Provider) in Weymouth was on top of his garage,” explained Stephen, 32, an electrical engineer and co-founder of Affinio, the Halifax social media analytics company. He is also the Co-Founder of 26ones, the Halifax engineering and incubation operation he runs with partner Tim Burke. 

“As kids, we started website businesses,” said Patrick, 26, who focuses on marketing and is a co-founder of Compilr, a Halifax startup that teaches people how to code.

“We ran an online website to sell computer parts and another that sold general merchandise.”

Compilr has recently been acquired by lynda.com, a California online education company, for an undisclosed sum.

“We were always trying to sell something,” Patrick said. “In a small town, the only way to solve our entrepreneurial itch was running an online business.”

The brothers say they always knew they would be entrepreneurs, like their forebears, who include great-grandfather George Hankinson, who ran a general merchandising and lumber business and also started Hankinson Shipbuilding Co. George and their grandfather, Ken Hankinson, sold Irving products early on in K.C. Irving’s own entrepreneurial journey, Patrick said.

Many of their cousins are in business, including James Hankinson, who has served as CEO and president of Ontario Power Generation, as well as CEO and president of New Brunswick Power Corp.

“Even our mom, Sharron, started her own daycare from our house and grew it large enough to need a new building,” Patrick said as the brothers relaxed in the bright new Bedford offices of Affinio.

The brothers respect each other’s talents and have collaborated on various projects, including the wildly successful Tether, which allowed people to go online on their laptop using their smartphone plan. Stephen, who is widely known for his technical speed and ability, built the product in just a month and they, together with Burke, launched it in March 2009, accruing six figures of revenue within three days.

The brothers will probably work together again, but right now both are busy with their own ventures.

Patrick and co-founder Tim Speed are continuing to operate Compilr from Halifax, despite selling their company to lynda.com.

“We’re growing our local team and we have a new office on Argyle Street,” Patrick said. “We are integrating our technologies with lynda.com. It’s interesting to be part of a massive organization. I like the knowledge-sharing. Lynda has a lot of processes in place that make me wonder, why didn’t I do that?”

After Affinio raised $1.5 million from Build Ventures, the Halifax regional venture capital fund, last October, Affinio is piloting its product, which allows small businesses to mine social media and other data to find potential customers, partners or employees.

Stephen says he is “at full tilt, travelling all over.”

“We’ve had a lot of interest in New York.”

The brothers believe they are natural-born businessmen but say they are more reserved than is ideal in an entrepreneur. They cherish their alone “thinking” time, but they also solicit each other’s advice; the close relationship allowing them to be franker than they might be with others.

“We haven’t killed each other yet,” Stephen joked as the two began to make plans to meet up for an online gaming session.