Entrepreneurs strive to create next “big thing”

Michael Helgerson is after the next “big thing” in technology.

The 31 year-old Vermillion native and senior business major said his new idea could revolutionize the way college students interact with universities.

QUICKcampus or QUICKclass, a smart device platform, would provide indoor directions and information regarding news, student events, athletic events and student organizations via push notifications sent directly to a student’s phone.

Helgerson said all of a university’s data would be aggregated into one source where students would pick what bits of information they are interested in. Electronic “beacons” would be set up around campuses which would interact with students’ smart devices.

“Once a student selects their preferences they will then run the application in the back, on the background of their phone, and as they travel around campus they will be pushed information based on their preferences,” Helgerson said.

He said the goal of the platform would be to increase the amount of engagement students have with their universities.

“We’re trying to target student engagement,” Helgerson said. “I personally feel that the average student at the University of South Dakota, and probably other universities as well, are not as engaged with their universities as (well as) they could be or want to be.”

Helgerson said the lack of engagement may be due not to a lack of information, but students may not be aware of the existence of the information.

“We live in a society these days where I feel like us, the Millennials, are looking for a push type of format where things are sent to us instead of having to seek it out,” Helgerson said.

Recently the idea won first place at the Wire Me Awake Competition at USD along with a $1,000 cash prize. It also received second place at the Governor’s Giant Vision Competition, which granted the project a $4,000 reward.

Helgerson said the road to the current success of the idea was not an easy one. A few months ago his programmer quit the project to accept a job offer. Before leaving, though, the programmer gave Helgerson the name of another person — Naveen Rokkam.

Helgerson emailed Rokkam and asked for the man’s resume.

“I found it (the resume) incredibly compelling and competitive,” Helgerson said. “I realized that that was the man I was looking for.”

Rokkam, a 29 year-old USD computer science graduate student from India, knows nine computer languages and has worked for professional technology companies such as Thompson Reuters and SAP Labs.

The programmer said he came to USD to pursue a graduate degree in the hopes of some day becoming a technology entrepreneur. Now, with his technical experience and Helgerson’s business experience, Rokkam’s dream may come true.

“We are two individuals with completely different sets of skills (which) compliment each other,” Rokkam said. “We visualize that we can take it to a new level.”

Within days of coming on board with the project, Rokkam came up with a Proof Of Concept (POC) for the idea, something a technology company in Sioux Falls wanted $40,000 to create.

“He did in two days, what a team of individuals was saying would take three months to create and a tremendous amount of resources,” Helgerson said.

With constant weekly mentoring from Ben Hanten, the entrepreneur in residence at the Beacom School of Business, and Venky Venkatachalam, dean of the school,  Rokkam said the pair is getting the advice they need to make their product successful.

“We feel that we are in a strong team. We are getting nurtured every day, we are getting the mentorship that we want (and) we are taking the steps in the right direction,” Rokkam said.

Venkatachalam said Helgerson and Rokkam are the first student entrepreneurs at USD to receive help from professors and professionals at the Beacom School of Business since Venkatachalam announced an initiative earlier this year to support entrepreneurs.

“We really want the Beacom School of Business as a hub for innovation and entrepreneurship on campus,” Venkatachalam said. “We want students across all disciplines. If they have creative ideas, (if they) are passionate about pursuing their entrepreneurial ideas, they don’t have to go too far.”

Venkatachalam said he is delighted with the feats the pair has achieved.

“We are building one successful entrepreneur at a time,” Venkatachalam said. “We are building on the successes.”

The two plan to incorporate their business, named WeConnectU,  in the coming weeks and try to sell their platform to USD and other area colleges later this year. Helgerson and Rokkam both said many of their victories could not have been accomplished without the help of connections with people in the business world and at USD.

“By linking up, by sharing your vision and your dream — and just kind of putting it out there — you’re able to then find others who reciprocate that idea, who want something similar out of life that you do, and kind of join forces,” Helgerson said. “When you start to do that, doors start to open up.”

(Photo: Michael Helgerson, far right, a senior business major, and Naveen Rokkam, right, a computer science graduate student, meet with Venky Venkatachalam, left, dean of the Beacom School of Business, and De Vee Dykstra, a business professor, April 20 to discuss the future of their idea. Malachi Petersen / The Volante)