ASU seniors Jeremy Ellens and Tim Johnsen are students who do more than just sit in classes.
The two are a part of Ellens Technologies, LLC, a new company that develops mobile applications and websites that help veterinarians diagnose small animals.
Ellens and Johnsen were among the 250 student entrepreneurs who vied for Edson funds this past year, and were awarded $10,000 to start their venture.
The Edson Student Entrepreneurship Initiative program provides up to $20,000 in funding, office space at SkySong, and mentoring to help entrepreneurs launch their businesses.
The program was started in 2005 by a $5.4 million donation from Orin and Charlene Edson.
Their team, which includes Ellens’ father, Rocky Ellens, and his aunt, Dr. Brenda Ellens, are in the final steps of developing their first mobile apps for the iPhone, iTouch, and iPad, that will likely be released in August.
Jeremy Ellens, a management major who works as the chief innovation officer for Ellens Technologies, said the diagnosis applications will help veterinarians diagnose animals more quickly and efficiently.
“A lot of times when vets are diagnosing animals they have to look up a bunch of a textbooks and resources,” he said. “The applications give them quick information when they need it.”
Ellens said the idea to create an application for veterinarians was largely influenced by his aunt, who works as a veterinarian and specializes in small, large and exotic animals.
“We started up the company and then she had all of these ideas as far as what types of products we could make,” he said. “She really explained the problem and that vets have the need for it. She basically came up with all the content for it. She was really crucial in developing the application.”
Ellens and Johnsen, a computer science major, met through a mutual friend, and soon started working together on the technical side of the diagnosis application.
“I think Jeremy was going to look for a contractor that would’ve been a lot costlier than I would have been,” Johnsen said. “He sort of ran me though the idea of the application and asked me how feasible that would be, which, it was very feasible, and so we kind of went off from there.”
Johnsen works as the chief technology officer for Ellens Technologies, and creates the mobile applications that organize and store the diagnosis information needed by veterinarians.
Ellens said he had heard about the Edson Initiative for a couple of years, and started going to the process of applying for funding at the beginning of the last school year.
“We did a lot for it,” Ellens said. “Asking my finance teaching to project financial data, going to my entrepreneurship professor to ask him questions, practicing our presentations in front of teachers.”
Johnsen said that Ellens has been “extraordinarily competent” at the business side of their venture and at securing Edson funding.
“It’s actually very excellent to be working through Edson with someone like him,” he said.
Ellens Technologies, LLC is based in Michigan, but during the school year Ellens and Johnsen are able to work from Arizona.
“Thankfully, with this type of business, it is not location dependent, and that was a big factor,” Ellens said.
Ellens said that if the group hadn’t won Edson funding, they would’ve still gone through the process of developing the diagnosis application.
“With Edson’s help we’re able to market it quicker,” he said. “With this award we can hopefully develop more applications and continue to market the applications.”
Ellens said that before the applications are released, they will be put through focus groups that will determine what final changes to make to them.
“We’re going to make sure that it’s easy to figure out,” he said.
Ellens said that the group has plans to develop more applications similar to the one they have completed.
“The product is young and the team is young, and so only time will tell,” Johnsen said. “I’m looking forward to the future and seeing what we can develop.”
Reach the reporter at katherine.torres@asu.edu
