There are many stories of people who developed businesses in college and went on to make fortunes later in life: Bill Gates, one of the richest men in the world, quit Harvard to start Microsoft Inc.
Several students at Missouri S&T aren’t there yet, but they have developed their own company while still in school.
“We developed an application for the iPhone,” S&T student Michael Orlando said.
In one context, that may not seem like that big of a deal, considering there are around 100,000 different applications, many of which were developed by individuals not associated with Apple Inc.
Apple itself has only four applications on its application store, not including the ones that come with the phone.
However, for Orlando, the chief executive officer, and his partners, RJ Miller, the chief administrative officer, Colby Hall, the chief operating officer with Paul Parham, who came on later as a project manager, it hopefully is the first successful product for their company the Interdisciplinary Design Collaborative LLC.
IDC was founded in the fall of 2008, with the aid from the Small Business Technology Development Center at S&T, it launched in May with S&T student and Lead Developer Kenneth Perry, an iPhone application called the “barcodescan”.
Essentially, after scanning a products barcode, the application allows people to find information on that product — reviews, where it is sold, or different prices.
Since the introduction of the iPhone two years ago, there have been a reported 2 billion application downloads.
“The free version of our application has over 200,000 downloads,” according to Miller. The pay-for-version allows a user to photograph the barcode, the free version only allows a person to type in the barcode and cost about $5, has been downloaded over 2,000 times, according to the company’s members.
Around the holiday shopping season, the company plans to launch the second version of the application, with twice as many features and a cheaper price, Orlando said.
It is not the first time a company has opened trying to turn a profit in the niche of iPhone application development.
Tapulous, a software company that developed the iPhone application Tap Tap revenge, a combination of Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero, according to Orlando.
With a split 70 percent of the profits going to the developers and 30 to Apple, the students can obtain a decent amount of money on a popular application. Added to that is the possibility of contracting with companies to develop their own applications.
“Making applications is complicated, but if you can do it well, you can make some money on it,” Miller said.
But, the real interesting part of the company’s is its development model. Instead of building up a group of developers that work solely for the company, the students use “sub-contractors.”
Perry, who the founders called “their genius” fits into that category. In the scheme of things, working currently with 12 sub-contractors cuts down on overhead since they are not permanent employees and are paid commission on their designs.
In return for developing an application, the company provides designers the legal entity and management and then finds specific talent elsewhere. Essentially, an designer brings a application and the company pulls all of the pieces together.
“We think we can provide them with an advantage,” Miller said, alluding to the company’s experience marketing their own application.
More so than that, though, since the overhead cost for the students now is very low since there are only three permanent members and no office to worry about, the model allows the company to tap into a large resource continually, the university.
This week saw the start of a 10-week class the company is sponsoring for other students, to help teach the basics of writing iPhone applications.
There are about 10 participants in the class being taught by Perry, Miller and Orlando. At the end of the course, the company expects to have 10 complete applications to be marketed.
“This is the idea that can make it sustainable now,” Miller said.
Don’t be mistaken, though, the company is not a one-trick pony.
For example, the company is working on a design for a device that can monitor electrical usage in a home, collecting that data so a homeowner can keep track of their electrical use.
Teaming up with members of the S&T solar house team, who were working on the project, the company provided support in the conceptual design and funding stages.
“We worked with the team members specifically to apply for two SBIR grants from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Environmental Protection Agency valued at over $150,000,” Orlando said.
Going further away from the application design, the company started with video production, being awarded two video contracts from the university.
And despite the multiple plans and areas the company could go, there is a one fact the students will have to face in the near future. Both Miller and Orlando will be finishing up their degrees in the next year.
“Nothing is concrete or set in stone,” Orlando said.
Miller said he is planning to return to California after graduation. Orlando will possibly move back to St. Louis. What will happen to the company is unknown.
Whether that future is members coming and going or the company is sold, the students didn’t venture a guess.
“One of the reasons we started the company was to build resumes, both for ourselves and our subcontractors.” Orlando said.
However, a number of subcontractors are wanting to continue working with the company after graduation, according to Orlando.
One possibility, however, is the prospect of setting up satellite operations if the group splits up to different areas of the country.
Since the operation doesn’t necessarily need a brick-and-mortar center, company members and sub-contractors can communicate and work completely digitally.
“It’s on our minds, seeing what happens — we are more or less planning for it,” Miller said.
