City and launch his business instead of going back home to Costa Rica to work in finance.
Kerbel says he’s had “great support and traction” from Michigan State and its students, with more than 10,000 downloads of the iOS version of the Spartan app so far. (The Android version is in beta development now.)
Launching this summer are the Wolverine App (University of Michigan), the Buckeye App (Ohio State University), and the Chip App (Central Michigan University). In 2014, Guidesmob will release apps for the rest of the Big Ten universities and its first city version of the app for Detroit.
Kerbel plans to hire brand interns from each university getting a Guidesmob app to help supply and vet content. He recently struck a partnership deal with Ordr.in to offer app users the ability to order food right from Guidesmob apps, and Guidesmob is working with backend software company Apigee to make the app’s platform “extremely scalable,” Kerbel says.
Kerbel’s goal is to launch Guidesmob nationwide in 2015, and he just hired a chief technical officer to help him carry out that mission. “I could easily go home to Costa Rica and get a job,” he adds. “But I’m committed to staying here and seeing this grow. I see a real opportunity here, and I’d do it part-time no matter what.”
