By the fall of 2004, it was clear to Vince Broerman that mobile phone owners were beginning to use their devices for things other than voice services. At the same time, it was also clear that a sea change was taking place within print media as newspapers gained online readership and continued to lose print subscribers.
By the spring of 2005, he had formed a new company:
ZebraMobile.
Housed in the
Hamilton County Development Center, ZebraMobile today provides a service that has allowed hundreds of newspapers to push content out to readers through its Just For Me application.
"It beautifully renders content on more than 11,000 different mobile devices," says Broerman. "And that is the foundation of any other products that we have since built."
While Broerman built the business around Just For Me, he's most excited these days about the potential of Ferg.it, a direct mail application that allows mobile device users to receive promotional offers tailored to their specific interests.
"As a consumer, you get all this crap in the mail," Broerman explains. "How much do you look at? What if you could receive a coupon book which is totally personalized, based on your interest, that is based on businesses you've tagged as favorites, and so it's filled exclusively with coupon offers and promotions from your favorite retailers, restaurants, so forth?"
The company has steadily grown, Broerman says, with a ten-fold growth in revenues since coming the Hamilton incubator. It employs six to 10, depending on product needs, he says.
Along the way, the company has benefited from investments by
North Coast Angel Fund,
Ohio TechAngels and the
CoreNetwork in Toledo. ZebraMobile also has been awarded up to $1.25 million through the Ohio Third Frontier's
Innovation Loan Fund.
Source: Vince Broerman, ZebraMobile
Writer: Gene Monteith