FCS News

For many Dalhousie University Computer Science students, success means more than just aiming for straight A’s.

Instead they’re combining their academics, creativity and passion and looking for success beyond the walls of their classroom.

Introducing Innovate UI

Meet two students who are quickly nudging their way to success.

Colin Conrad and Farrukh Momin, both Master of Electronic Commerce students, are not afraid of taking risks. In fact, they say they welcome the opportunity.

Their partnership began last fall when they competed in “Startup Weekend Halifax 2013”, a global grassroots movement of entrepreneurs who learn the basics of founding startups and launching successful ventures.

Young entrepreneurs were invited to pitch their startup ideas and then had 54-hours to build their business models and code and design their web applications.

Colin and Farrukh teamed up with 5 other student entrepreneurs to develop a computer plug-in called “Nudge-It”. The plug-in, which prompts users to get away from their screen if they’ve been at it too long, placed first at the competition.

Despite their success, The Nudge-It team chose not to participate in the next phase of the Global Startup completion. Instead, they parted ways leaving Colin and Farrukh to set their sights on a bigger project; taking Nudge-It to the next level.

With the money won at Startup Weekend Halifax, Colin and Farrukh are now starting their own web development company called Innovate UI.

“We want to integrated good user interface with data mining. That was the whole goal of Nudge-It in the first place,” says Colin. “We want to make web applications that look really good, that are really easy to use, and that also provide companies with lots and lots of useful information.”

Colin says there’s no better team to make this happen than him and Farrukh. He admits starting a new company while still pursuing a degree is risky, but that’s nothing new to his partner Farrukh.

Once a successful business owner and software developer in Pakistan, Farrukh left his wife, his home and his life, to move to Halifax to pursue his MEC. His ultimate goal; to one day develop a better life for his family.

He says despite having already owned his own company in Pakistan, he wants to learn how to build a company from scratch in North America.

“Starting a company in Pakistan is relatively easy,” he says. “Before creating my first company there, I knew a lot of guys in the states who gave me jobs on a regular basis. So when I eventually decided to start my own company, it was easy.”

Despite his connections in the United States, Farrukh admits he chose to come to Halifax to pursue his degree because….he loves our cold weather.

“I don’t own a winter jacket and I hate snow shoes,” he says dressed in a hoodie and sneakers in -20 °C weather.

Of course, he says the cold weather wasn’t really the only reason he came to Canada.

“I have this entrepreneurial brain and in Pakistan we don’t have the resources in place to share new ideas,” he says. “We don’t have opportunities like Startup Weekend Halifax.”

“In Canada you can work with your ideas. No one will stop you. Everyone will support you if your idea is good.”

Both Farrukh and Colin say they have what it takes to build their startup in Halifax. With their well-balanced blend of skills, Colin says the team has a lot more going for them than just the idea of “Nudge-It”

“Farrukh is a fantastic software developer. He’s amazing at making things look good that are also very intuitive,” says Colin. “In class, Farrukh is a show off. While the rest of the class is building Wordpress websites, he’s building complex webapps from scratch.”

As for Colin, his strong entrepreneurial skills and expertise in social science will be key in Innovate UI’s success. He’s also motivated by his passion for the Maritimes and is determined to build the company in Halifax.

“One thing that Farrukh and I have in common is that we both have very strong goals for wanting to be entrepreneurs in Halifax,” he says. “People are more open here, and good ideas have more opportunities to flourish. We really want to try hard to do something for this region.”

Colin says there’s still a lot of groundwork to be down in getting Innovate UI off the ground, but once school winds down this spring, it’s all hands on deck. The team has already begun working with many clients and startup companies around Halifax, and plan to leverage past clients in the States who once worked with Farrukh.

“I know that we can make it work,” says Colin. “This is the first time I feel comfortable about taking risks in business and I know it’ll pay off.”

Introducing Presenter’s Podium

Masters of Applied Computer Science students, Nilofer Mehta and Anuj Shah are no strangers to success.

Last fall the two, along with three other students at Dal, placed second at “Startup Weekend Halifax 2013”. The group developed a nifty mobile app that alerts shoppers when the price of their recent purchase has dropped.

Now Nilofer and Anuj are on to their next successful project. They’ve teamed up with Matthew Fanning, a Bachelor of Commerce graduate from Saint Mary’s University, to develop an eLearning platform that will help University students improve their oral communication skills.

Fanning had noticed that with many large class sizes, professors were having a difficult time giving students enough one-on-one attention to help them improve their oral delivery skills when making presentations. Recognizing the issue as a valuable skill in the workforce, he came up with the idea of Presenter’s Podium and turned to Nilofer and Anuj to develop the technology.

The tool is a cloud-based program that lets professors assign subjects that need to be researched, turned into presentations, and then practiced and recorded. Once recorded, students can receive constructive feedback from their peers. The presentations can be recorded using a computer, cellphone or a device using the Presenter’s Podium’s built in media server.

“The first reaction from students was that they were terrified of presenting in front of a camera and they were intimidated by the technology. But as they got familiar with the technology they felt it was quite useful.” says Nilofer.

While many Canadian students have said that they’ve seen improvements in their presentations, Nilofer says many international students specially felt the platform helped them get over the nervousness of speaking in a second language.

“It’s really great to know that students are using our platform and really improving their communication and presentations skills. I can definitely relate to some of the online testimonials,” says Anuj. “Sometimes it’s difficult balancing school and outside projects, but it’s worth it.”

Presenter’s Podium has garnered so much popularity, the team is now beginning to sell it to universities in the region. SMU’s Sobey’s School of Business has already begun using the application, and the team is in discussion with Mount Saint Vincent University and the Nova Scotia Community College.

“We see schools from all over the world using this platform in the future. It really helps build student's confidence,” says Nilofer. “This is an age for educational technology and schools are constantly looking to help students prosper. This tool will be valued by teachers and students alike.”

Nilofer and Anuj say working with Fanning on the project has been a great experience and the opportunity has set the stage for future partnerships together.

“We thank Matthew for presenting us with this opportunity …It is really heartwarming when we see something that we have built being used and appreciated by others,” says Nilofer. “We are just coming out of school and already have an opportunity to see people use what we have built from the ground up.”