Spring 2012 - Northwest Indiana Business Quarterly Magazine

Young InnoVAtorsconferencing program that’s poisedto take advantage of the latest cloudtechnology.Falter, 22, is a design major anduntil she got involved with Markoverwith two other students – StaceyMilspauw and Brenden Kokoszka– worked during the summer forSak’s Fifth Avenue and Coca-Cola.“I found the working world wasn’tfor me,” says Falter. “The communicationprocess was tedious. You’dhave to open and look at attachments,edit them and then e-mailthem back.“With Markover, we’re bringingchat to business. You can look atimages and video and converse overit all at once. It’s real-time communication.”Last summer Falter went to NewYork for the Start Up Weekend eventand that’s where Markover got a lotof attention. In October, she wona pitch series in New York, got a$10,000 grant from FedEx and is oneof 14 “tech stars” in the running for a$120,000 investment.When Falter isn’t in New Yorkor at Innovation Park in her office,she’s working at the Gigot Center atNotre Dame, a place she says hashelped nurture her entrepreneurism.“When I’m there, even at 3 a.m.,there are engineering students there.It’s great to have people around tobounce ideas off of,” she says.Falter has high expectations forher business. “In five years I’d liketo be on my way to a $1 billion business,”she says. “When you’re buildinga business like this and dealingwith technology like this it’s reasonableto say you’re going to get millionsof users.”In the meantime, she’s like a lot ofother students who’ve gotten moneyfrom the family and who spendsfootball Saturdays tailgating. “Thefamily comes in for football gamesand I tailgate, but I think I saw onehalf of one football last year. I’mliving on a tight budget so it’s niceto tailgate and get free food and takeleftovers home.”Running his own business is somethingDoug Meece always wantedto do, even while he worked forEnterprise Rent-a-Car and State FarmInsurance. “I mowed yards as a kidto make money,” says the marketingand business graduate of the Universityof Southern Indiana. “When Iwas a residence hall assistant at USI,I set up a business called Dial a Dogwhich delivered hot dogs aroundcampus after hours.”Today, Meece lives in Valparaiso,and with help from the Center forEntrepreneurial Success at PurdueCalumet, has created an onlinesports camp registration programthat is used by nearly all Division 1universities in the country.Meece operates ADM Camps andADM Races, which is an online programfor running events.“The goal of the program is to42 NORTHWEST INDIANA BUSINESS QUARTERLY SpRINg–SUmmER 2012