Business & Tech
Brighton Resident Receives $10,000 Grant to Develop iPhone App
After a year as a music major at Arizona State University, Brighton resident and 2008 Howell High School graduate Jeremy Ellens decided to change his major and, perhaps, the world.
As a Howell High School student, Jeremy Ellens was focused entirely on music. He played in the Michigan Youth Band and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra Civic Youth Ensemble. His hard work paid off early on with a scholarship to Arizona State University, where he began classes in the fall of 2008.
But Ellens wasn't completely happy. He loves music, but felt stuck. He couldn't envision a life-long career as a saxophonist, he said. So at the start of his second year at ASU, he enrolled in the Technological Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management program.
“I've never looked back,” Ellens said. “You might not think so, but there's so much creativity in the business world. You can go into any field with a business degree.”
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Along with a degree, a successful entrepreneur needs drive -- something Ellens, who will enter his senior year at ASU this fall, has evidently had from the get-go.
That combination of drive and creativity has landed Ellens something most people his age could only dream of -- a $10,000 grant to develop and iPhone app to help veterinarians determine diagnoses by ruling out possibilities.
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The app was created with the help of Ellens's aunt, Brenda Ellens, a veterinarian, and Tim Johnsen, a software developer and Ellens's classmate at ASU. He then entered his idea to the Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative, a privately funded business plan competition.
After being announced a finalist, Ellens perfected his business plan and practiced his pitch with the help of his professors. In late June, he received notification that he had won the competition and the $10,000 grant that goes along with it.
Ellens plans to use the money to continue to develop the app as well as Ellen Technologies, LLC, the business he co-founded along with his father, Rocky Ellens, a business consultant, in January 2011.
The app, which is specific to the iPhone, iPad, and iTouch, is set to be released as a free trial in August 2011. For more information, visit the Ellens Technologies website.
