A U student start-up plans to incentivize companies to offer not only free but better WiFi to customers — and make a profit from it.
Inspired by an entrepreneurship mantra of “make a billion dollars by helping a billion people,” Kevin Corelli, Chris Fowles and Christian Wutz created a company aiming to make access to the WiFi offered via businesses more convenient, improve signal strength and help companies expand customer bases or earn revenue from the service.
Seeing the frustration people feel due to poor WiFi signals in restaurants and hotels, Corelli, Fowles and Wutz began work on their idea in 2014. The result, Tive, allows companies to make surveys, show promotional videos, stream ads and offer discounts when customers connect to the company Wi-Fi.
“Our vision is to enable more people better access to the greatest utility of our time — the Internet,” said Wutz, Tive COO and a senior in German, design and entrepreneurship at the U.
Tive, operating as a recent start-up company, emphasizes quick responses when problems arise with their customers.
“You really have to be able to respond within minutes to be taken seriously as student entrepreneurs,” said Fowles, Tive CTO and a graduate from Westminster College.
One benefit for Tive was the relative access to exclusive funding offered through college competitions. The group was recently featured by the Lassonde Institute and is a top 10 finalist for the U’s Opportunity Quest. The three entrepreneurs also worked with the U’s E-Club.
“Luckily we’ve found a lot of resources,” Fowles said. “Being a student helps a lot because you have access to funding others don’t.”
Tive recently finished beta testing and is moving toward expanding the business. If interested, visit tive.xyz for more information.
@BeauHart13