Spotlights
Spotlight on Mobile July 2009
July’s second spotlight is on Doug Bellenger, co-founder and COO of PhindMe Mobile, a hosted mobile design solution that helps agencies, designers, brands and businesses get their content to consumers on mobile devices quickly, easily and cost effectively.
Doug graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology in 2004 with a degree in engineering and a minor in Philosophy. He received his MBA from Drexel University in 2006. During and after school, Doug spent six years in diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, and biologics doing Package Engineering and medical device design for Fortune 500 companies. He led global teams for product development and validation and focused on process improvement and lean engineering.
During Doug’s MBA, he co-founded PhindMe Mobile with some classmates out of a marketing project in 2006 and decided to put together a team to build the business and products from the initial seed of an idea. After many adaptations of the business plan and product, PhindMe now has 10 employees ranging from development and usability to marketing and customer service. Doug and his team support over 35 partners and 250 businesses and we continue to grow as mobile devices become a very important channel in interactive marketing.
Firm/company:
PhindMe Mobile
Occupation:
Co-founder and COO
Current Location:
Plymouth Meeting, PA
Hometown:
Ontario, NY
Favorite Philadelphia neighborhood:
Art Museum/Fairmount Area
Best advice you’ve ever been given:
Always listen and be prepared to change. There is so much you can learn by listening to your customers, your employees, your peers, your investors and your competitors. Successful companies are always asking how they can improve and execute on suggestions and ideas. Also, keep everyone involved, which is a very important element of implementing change and making it work for you versus against you.
Your favorite thing about living in the Philadelphia Region:
I’m sure most people say the parks, the history, the sports, etc, but I have to resort to the beer. I’m a big beer fan and Philadelphia is one of the best beer cities. There are a ton of fantastic microbreweries in the region such as Victory, Dog Fish Head, Yards, Sly Fox, Philadelphia Brewing Company, and more. Plus every bar you go to has something special on tap from all over the world. Whenever I leave the city I always miss the beer.
Your favorite thing about working in the Philadelphia Region:
My favorite thing about working in Philadelphia is the networks and resources. Philadelphia is a great city to start a company because of all of the support available. With groups like the Philly Startup Leaders, Indy Hall, the MAC Alliance, Innovation Philadelphia, Dream It, Drexel’s Baiada Center and more, there are great resources that can help any size company grow and achieve their goals. These resources make working in Philadelphia easier, smarter and more accessible and inevitably increase all of our chances for success.
How would you market the Philadelphia Region to professionals outside the region?
Philadelphia is an innovative and welcoming city with a ton of ambition and drive. It’s a great place to take a chance on a dream, to work among passionate individuals or to grow your career in many diverse areas. No matter what field you’re in or stage of life, there’s always an opportunity in Philly.
What advice would you give to young professionals trying to break into your industry?
Mobile design and marketing is still early, but it is becoming a necessity as the number of web-enabled mobile devices grows. My advice is to keep up on the technology and social trends and understand that there is a difference between the context of the web on these mediums versus the PC. In order to get a head start breaking into this industry I would highly recommend getting involved with Mobile Monday, which is an exceptional group in the area focused on mobile technology and marketing.
How has the design industry in Philadelphia evolved in the past ten years?
Over the last few years that I’ve been in this industry, I’ve seen a lot of evolution in what can be achieved in the design world. In the past there weren’t as many tools for designers to build interactive tools and websites without a strong programming knowledge. With Drupal, Joomla, WordPress and other great tools, there has been a major shift though and design has taken a new perspective. Philadelphia has a lot of great marketing and design firms such as I-Site, Brolik, 20/10 Design and others that are doing some really cool things in the interactive space because the tools keep getting better and providing more creative opportunities. At PhindMe Mobile we hope to enable designers to have the same creative opportunities with mobile.
PhindMe Mobile is a hosted mobile design solution that helps agencies, designers, brands and businesses get their content to consumers on mobile devices quickly, easily and cost effectively, allowing businesses to capitalize on the exploding demand for mobile-specific experiences on Smartphones (iPhone/G1), Blackberry’s, or feature phones. PhindMe Mobile products are easy for anyone to use and also provide the option of advanced creative customization for designers. The technology hides the complexities of mobile design, performing automated functions in the background for a unique experience on each handset type, delivering the content quickly and integrating device specific features such as click to call, maps and directions.
In addition to design, we also include a text message marketing system and social-network tools that facilitate interaction with consumers via SMS text messaging, Twitter and Facebook. Taken as an integrated whole, PhindMe gives you an end to end mobile development solution to deliver marketing, information or entertainment on behalf of your clients or your business.
To find out more about Doug Bellenger’s work in the region, visit
www.phindmemobile.com