Source: iTunes App Store

Mobile app Wigo has become a hot topic of discussion among college students and it is the pet project of Ben Kaplan, the 23 year old college dropout. Wigo (Who is Going Out) is an application that helps college students to find out where their friends are going to meet up (study, meet up and do anything). Students have to sign up on the products website and download the highly popular app.

Youngsters say that Wigo is similar to Yik Yak, the anonymous social media application available for iOS and Android. In an interview with Business Insider, developer of the app, Ben Kaplan termed Wigo as LinkedIn for college going students. Wigo depicts the closely intertwined combination of innovation and technology in app development. This app has been widely available since September 2014 and college students are actively installing it.

More than 1200 colleges and one million active users are experiencing this innovative app. The developers include Paul English (Founder of Kayak], Kevin Colleran [Facebook’s Sales Professional], Sean Rad [Cofounder, Tinder], Justin Mateen [Tinder Official] and others. This Company conceptualized by college dropouts emerged as fourteen million dollar organization even without an effective business model yet.

LinkedIn for College Students

Kaplan got the idea of creating app for college students before two years when he was attending Holy Cross School in Boston. He got stuck with the question raised by his friends, “Who is having a party every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night? Which bar we are going to meet up”? Most of the friends of Kaplan had depended upon Facebook Events for dealing with weekend parties online. Ben Kaplan was not a programmer. Then, how could he handle the most intricate part of application programming? He took care of designing aspect of the app on his own and borrowed money from his parents to hire a programmer.

Enthusiastic and proud about his achievement, Ben Kaplan narrates his experience, “I launched it at my school. Within three weeks, half the school was using the app. That was about 13 months ago, in January 2014.” After local newspapers featured the report of Ben’s app, many people in the mobile application development industry contacted him and offered their services. What worked as a breakthrough in Ben’s journey? It is of course, the meeting with Paul English, Kayak founder. Kayak is a very popular website for tourists who make travel plans to Costa Rica

Saga of Innovation in App Development

Paul English introduced Kaplan to another versatile genius Giuliano Giacaglia who later became a cofounder of Wigo. Giuliano Giacaglia holds master degree in artificial intelligence from the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology and he turned down job offers from Facebook and Microsoft, undoubtedly one of the world’s best workplaces. Just after twenty four hours of app launching, thousands of college students from different parts of the globe downloaded it. Another college dropout, Swarz, is now the company’s director of business development. Their marketing person Claire Uhar is another dropout from University of Maryland.

College going youngster Andrew Nelson is an ambassador of Wigo and an elated Nelson says, “I heard about the app through one of my Facebook friends. I called Wigo and asked to be an ambassador. It was amazing to know that there was another college kid out there with big ideas who wanted to change something and succeed. It gave me lot of confidence and hope”. Wigo is now the hottest app in college campuses and its founder Ben is an inspirational role model for college students. Wigo team just raised its major round of venture funding landing $1.4 million at a valuation of $14 million. New age company of Wigo employs five people in their early twenties.

Success story of Wigo is relevant in current contexts as more and more youngsters are venturing into the world of start-ups just after completing their college degrees. It will be an inspiration to college students with no or limited financial resources to climb the ladders of success in business. Ben’s experience proves that it is determination and perseverance that matters in business success, not academic degrees or financial resources. The quote “nothing is impossible for men of faith and conviction” is applicable to the achievement of Ben Kaplan too.

Source: Entrepreneur