Marc Kessler, '18

Marc grew up ten minutes outside of Boston. He knew he wanted to attend Richmond from his first visit to campus. The uniqueness of a top business school inside a liberal arts institution, the community, and the campus were the selling points. He has always been passionate about pushing the limits of technology. 

Jon, Marc's co-founder and a University of Wisconsin student, grew up three houses away in Newton, Massachusetts. They have been friends since kindergarten. Since apps have a low price point entry into technology markets and the potential to scale incredibly fast, Jon and Marc saw an opportunity. Although their first product exists as an app, they view themselves as building a critical technology in the fabric of digital networking. "The app has evolved a lot from its inception but the core idea has been consistent – make digitally connecting with the people you want easier," the sophomore business student explained.

From inception to launch

The app is called FeelTheVibe. When we exchange contact information with new people, the many different social platforms we use to communicate with everyday are missed. The purpose of this app is to enhancing the experience of meeting new people by bringing them into your favorite networks. Marc passionately stated that, "the power and potential of social networks really has not been reached. Today’s successful platforms are too focused on the experience between people who are already connected".

Marc describes the process involved in getting FeelTheVibe up and running:

• Conception of the idea the summer before freshman year.
• After many, many inquiries, I received a contract in December with a software development Company in Boston to turn our vision into a reality. 
• Developed an incredibly simple product to test our core value prop at Richmond and University of Wisconsin – Madison.  We received a great response but knew the app would not be able to scale and technology team we were working with was not the right long term fit for us. 
• With 100 users, a MVP (minimum viable product), and a well-articulated marketing program, we got backed by an emerging Boston/Dublin VC firm, COSIMO Ventures to take our company to the next level. The legitimacy of this relationship has been critical to our success in building an awesome platform. Engineers are often very risk-averse and a talent gap exists for college entrepreneurs trying to get their ideas off the ground. 
• For the next 10 months, we built and managed a virtual technology team with as many as 6 engineers. We finally had a product we were excited to ship and scale. 
• This past winter break, we launched FeelTheVibe in Boston with a lot of our friends and family. At 1000 users strong, we are now beginning to roll out our college ambassador program to schools around the country. 
• We filed a patent...that was an experience in itself.

Future

Marc and Jon hope to enable a new lifestyle where millions of people can develop and digitally progress their relationships with new people. "The power and potential of social networks really has not been reached.  Today’s successful platforms are too focused on the experience between people who are already connected," Marc explained. He wants to enhance the discovery experience with new people and the process of bringing them into their favorite social networks. 

Having a 9 to 5 job is not something Marc sees in his future. When asked what he hoped to gain from this venture, Marc stated, "the experience of starting my own company has been more rewarding than I ever could have hoped. You learn so much from the ups and downs in all areas of operations, from product development to growth and marketing to fundraising. We just want to take our company to the next level, one (big) step at a time." As for his future, he "hopes to be both an entrepreneur in the social technology space and an active investor helping to build companies in other emerging verticals like autonomous vehicles, connected cities, vr/ar, virtual marketplaces, ai, quantum computing, robotics/drones". He craves to be in the epicenter of change.

Marc's app, FeelTheVibe, can be found in the Apple app store