Software engineering sophomore designs collaboration software to launch in fall 2015
Creating a successful business model, coding an award-winning app and winning an all-expense paid trip to California – these remarkable accomplishments are just the beginning for software engineering sophomore DeQuan Burnside.
Burnside and his business partner, Mac Liu, freshman in computer science, have designed a mobile app set to launch in fall 2015 to improve collaboration and connections between communities. The app will also have benefits on Iowa State’s campus. “Using this app, students will be able to connect with each other and student organizations can host and advertise events without using Facebook or flyers,” Burnside said.
The business partners, both from Sioux City, Iowa, met at a physics class in fall 2014 and came up with the product after realizing their passion for bringing people together.
The app recently gained traction and capital through the entrepreneurial contest “Canvas My Campus” sponsored by Prezi and Tilt. The first goal of the contest was to create a business plan for a product, including success rates and how the product will change the individual’s university campus. After earning enough of the popular vote to move on to the second round of competition, Burnside created a crowdfunding campaign on Tilt.
Though his goal of $1,000 was ambitious, he said, “I reached it through persistence, hard work and the generosity or friends, family, faculty and staff who support me and the work I am doing at Iowa State. They saw the value of my vision.”
Burnside and Liu learned their efforts were successful in January. That means everyone (students, faculty and staff) at Iowa State is eligible for Prezi premium accounts – that’s free access to $2.5 million worth of unique, engaging presentation software. The premium account, which is now available to anyone with an ISU e-mail address, allows users to edit presentations offline or make presentations private.
When Burnside is not designing his own business, he is hard at work with the Men of Color Collective, which strives to increase recruitment, retention and community action for men of color at Iowa State. Through this organization, he attended the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in Indianapolis in May 2014 to learn more about how to improve the organization at the student level. Burnside will also attend and present at ISCORE, Iowa State’s local conference, in March.
Though Burnside was unsure of where his adventure would lead him when first coming to Iowa State as an undecided major, he looks forward to being a leader in technology in the future. “Software engineering is a field where you can make a difference by bridging the gap between a problem and solution in short amount of time. I can do what I want to do and solve problems to help people,” he said.
He adds that many faculty and staff in the electrical and computer engineering department have been especially supportive. “Everyone wants you to succeed and is willing to do whatever it takes to make sure you get the most out of your experience.”