Computer Science Majors Build Mobile App

March 20, 2020

BVU senior Michael Martin smiled as his eyes fixated on the bright lights of the New York Stock Exchange ticker rotating near the ceiling of the Robert L. Peterson  Commodity Trading Room, a signature element for the renovated Harold Walter Siebens School of Business.

Martin, a computer science major, hasn’t taken one business class during his time at BVU. And yet, as he approaches his final semester as an undergrad, this is the space where he and fellow computer science majors Bazyl Horsey and Justin Rubek often find themselves, a precursor of what’s to come as BVU unveils an innovative entrepreneurship minor accessible to all students.

“Really nice space in here,” Martin says. 

“It’s the first time we’ve had an extended stay in the School of Business,” says Horsey.

The trio has happily branched out while devoting weeks of effort in building an app for the Harold Walter Siebens School of Business as BVU joins the Iowa Great Lakes Corridor Development Corporation in introducing a program to match existing business owners with up-and-coming entrepreneurs. The Match Learn Launch app, a startup funded in part through one of five Google grants awarded in Iowa, serves as an initial focal point for instruction within The Donald F. and Charlene K. Lamberti Center for Rural Entrepreneurship at BVU. 

“We’ve heard from a number of businesses in Northwest Iowa who are seeking assistance when it comes to business-succession plans,” says Gary Sterling, BVU instructor of management and director of the Lamberti Center for Rural Entrepreneurship. “At the same time, we’ve heard from entrepreneurs who seek opportunities. Through this app, we’re going to match key individuals to keep and grow businesses for another generation across Iowa.”

When tasked with finding a software developer to bring the Match Learn Launch app to life, Sterling quickly learned he need not search far. He found a trio of eager seniors with a robust knowledge of computer programming and a budding interest in starting their own business.

In addition to their work in the computer science major, all three boast internship experience in the private sector, a BVU focal point for decades. Both Martin and Horsey, Storm Lake natives, have worked for a startup named Koloni, as both managed a software team. Rubek, who hails from Irwin, spent last summer interning at CSG International in Omaha.

“CSG represented a big, corporate environment, and I learned a lot,” Rubek says. “But the startup culture here really appeals to me. I like working with a smaller team.”

“The idea of using a matching algorithm to put people together falls under the realm of machine learning, a field I’m passionate about,” Martin says. “Using it for a startup really interested me.”

“These are not interns,” Sterling says. “These three men are contracted software developers who are earning market rate for their work, work that will allow the app to bring people into our program.”

Martin, Rubek, and Horsey plan to invest those earned dollars into their own limited liability corporation, an enterprise focused on building better websites and platforms for customers, an outcome realized as a direct result of their interaction with Sterling and the School of Business, forces that have encouraged, supported, and fostered this entrepreneurial leap. They’ll work at The Foundry at BVU, a future site in downtown Storm Lake that will also serve as home base for the Lamberti Center for Rural Entrepreneurship.

“If we would have tried to do this in California or the state of Washington, we’d be considered small fish,” Horsey says. “It works for us to be here in Storm Lake, because we’re young and we don’t yet have a lot of experience. We found this opportunity because of the small community in Northwest Iowa that we happened to be in.”