Professional services startup Mobiquity, which formally opens its headquarters in Wellesley on Laurel Avenue next month, has taken notice that more than a few of you are just about surgically attached to your smartphones, iPads and other wireless devices. The company’s focus is on helping businesses design and roll out applications to take advantage of this shift in the way employees, partners and customers live and communicate. I asked Wellesley’s Bill Seibel, who heads the company, about what Mobiquity is up to.
What’s the story behind the story of how the company started up?
The idea came out of a thought leadership event at Olin College of Engineering last October. We built the value prop, the team and the methodology in Q4. Raised money in March, launched in April. After only 6 months in business, we have approximately 40 clients (30 in the Fortune 500) and 80 consultants, 40 of whom will work out of the Wellesley office.
What’s your goal with the company? In other words, how big could this get?
Cambridge Technology Partners (where I was COO) grew to almost $1B in 7 years. ZEFER (where I was founder and CEO) grew to $138M in 18 months. Mobile represents an opportunity at least as exciting as those previous technology waves. So our sights are set pretty high. In our 3rd quarter in business, we expect to already be at a $15M bookings run-rate.
How might the sort of projects Mobiquity works on with businesses affect a typical Wellesley resident?
Mobile is ubiquitous — that’s where our name came from. Our solutions help consumers place their food orders at one of the major national restaurant chains in the area. Or buy merchandise from a kiosk in a store. Or book tickets and receive updates from one on the major airlines. Or access their financial information and improve their financial planning. Or read content from their favorite magazines and newspapers. Or access their medical information. Mobile is becoming the delivery platform for all digital content and services.
My impression is that Mobiquity mainly works with bigger companies on their wireless strategies, but are there things you think small businesses like those in Wellesley Square could be doing with mobile tech to boost their business and better serve customers?
A lot of innovation comes from smaller companies, and we allocate 15% of our time to working with them.
Why locate the HQ in Wellesley, aside from the fact you live here?
I want to put offices close to where people live — and so we have offices in Wellesley, Cambridge, Providence and Philadelphia. A number of our people live close to the Wellesley area. And it’s only a 45 minute commute for me — and that’s if I walk.
How many mobile devices do you own/use regularly?
I only have 4 — but one of our mobile architects owns 28 —- and has a mobile phone bill of almost $2K/month.
RELATED: Speaking of mobile technology, another Wellesley start-up is getting some notice for its technology designed to make creating mobile apps simpler. The company is called MobiFlex and here’s a mini-profile from the Boston Herald.
