Working out his sophomore year class schedule at Bucknell, Tony Tomashefski started writing software to navigate conflicts. Now a senior majoring in computer engineering and management, his ScheduleFast is used by roughly 57% of the Bucknell student body.
Tomashefski and business partner Zach Crowley, were the first-place winners at last month's Business Pitch Competition, hosted by Bucknell University's Small Business Development Center (SBDC).
“Tony and Zach identified a clearly understandable problem from their own experience as students and have developed a great solution in ScheduleFast,” says Steve Stumbris, the SBDC's director. “The traction they've already achieved was perhaps the most impressive part of their pitch; the majority of the freshman class at Bucknell are already users of their product.”
Tomashefski says he had never built a website when he decided to share his idea with other Bucknell students. “People started to use the site (feedback was really encouraging) so I kept developing it further and further.” He registered ScheduleFast as an LLC a year ago and started to generate some revenue with advertisements. Crowley joined last semester to focus on expansion and marketing.
The two young entrepreneurs are currently experimenting with different business models, says Tomashefski, and are attempting to generate revenue off the sale of books through Amazon's affiliate program.
“I am currently in the process of writing a mobile app for Android and we should have an iOS app in production sometime next semester,” he adds. “We plan on building up the website and pursuing a viable revenue model in the coming months.”
As first-prize winner, the pair will be helped with their prize of $1,500 and one year's membership in Bucknell's Entrepreneurs Incubator.
Source: Tony Tomashefski, ScheduleFast
Writer: Elise Vider
