According to popular belief, success in tech-savvy Northern California is measured by one yardstick: the number of digits in one’s bank account.

But Terri and Randy Reece say that beginning their own tech start-up on the Coastside was an opportunity to give back. Giving back — to their community, the environment and employees — became its own success for the couple, and last week the business was honored in the state Legislature.

The married couple’s company, Reece Computer Systems, provides computer repair, service and networking for Bay Area companies too small to merit having an in-house technician. Reece Computer itself remains small, with only 16 employees, but the company has cultivated a growing base of loyal customers, businesses and nonprofits.

Randy and Terri Reece in their office at Reece Computer Systems. The Half Moon Bay outfit was named '��Small Business of the Year'�� in the California Senate district represented by Leland Yee.

The Reeces say the company makes a concentrated effort to perform socially and environmentally conscious services in ways that include recycling the e-waste they accumulate, and doing work for nonprofits at a reduced price.

For all of that, Reece Computer Systems was honored last week by state Sen. Leland Yee as his district’s “California Small Business of the Year.” It’s quite an honor in an area that has more than 600,000 small businesses, according to the senator’s office.

“The Reeces are tremendous,” Yee said. “They’re both so talented, so smart, but rather than utilizing their talent and opening up a multimillion-dollar company, they decide to focus their energy on small- and medium-sized businesses and nonprofits.”

For Randy Reece, it all started by riding with a bag of tools on his bicycle up and down the Coastside.

With wife Terri stuck at home with an injury, Randy was taking time off to care for her and he would regularly have friends calling him, asking for computer help.

So as a way to get out of the house, Randy Reece would take a sojourn along the Coastal Trail and help troubleshoot friends’ faulty computers.

“Eventually, it turned into a full-time job,” he said. “It got to the point where I had so many tools, I couldn’t ride my bike.”

The Reeces like to say that was the humble beginning of their brainchild business, which officially started in 2003. They circulated computer-focused newsletters among the community, and within a few years their customer base had expanded to the point that they needed to hire about a dozen employees.

Today Reece Computer Systems operates two offices, one in Half Moon Bay at Shoreline Station and another in South San Francisco. But the couple says they avoid larger corporate customers, and instead they lean their company toward small organizations, preferably those that are within bike-riding distance.

“A full 30 percent of what we do is work for nonprofits at or below our regular cost,” said Terri Reece, who works as company president. “It’s part of our way to give back.”