When Kavun Nuggihalli founded ConsiderCode as a Temple University freshman in 2014, he couldn’t know how successful it would be — even while he was still in school. When he graduates this year, Kavun will be leading a B2B tech company that was recently recognized as a “most promising university company” that boasts customers in multiple industries.

Hacker to Coder to Entrepreneur: Where It All Started

When Kavun started at Temple University, he had a tremendous interest in software and data science. He’d picked up computer coding in high school and had already participated in several hackathons. These skills allowed him to take on projects like working with Temple University to protect rainforests with Artificial Intelligence or building healthcare software for the hospitals at the University of Pennsylvania. He completed two summer internships with software company SAP and DELL, which helped him understand the complexity of enterprise technology. Eventually, Kavun decided to “commercialize” his skills by starting ConsiderCode a software and technology startup in Philadelphia, geared towards big data, analytics, and customized solutions.

Before long, the Association of Information Systems at Temple University approached him to create attendance location software. The goal was to confirm attendees' presence at conferences by using geolocation data. His solution was so successful he licensed it for their use and expanded its use further throughout the Temple university system. By the 2016-17 school year, Kavun decided that he wanted to fully pivot from an IT service company to one offering designated solutions for big data.

“I realized I didn’t know that much about marketing or sales or product design,” said Kavun. “Thankfully, some people on campus told me about Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars and its Temple University Director, Julie Stapleton Carrol. She was very helpful and put me in touch with people to help formulate a business plan for the education technology sector.”

Around this time, Kavun also brought on a few leaders to help move ConsiderCode forward. Jack Morgan, a communications major at Temple, joined as a Director of Operations & Communications and Stephen Jeffers, a sports and recreation management major at Temple, joined as Director of Sales and Business Development.

Together, the three created Attend, the flagship product of ConsiderCode, a software application that helps users create interactive presentations, workshops, and meetings to get real-time feedback from their audience. The "Attend" software offers state of the art, real-time, geolocation-driven data analytics that turn one-sided presentations into two-way conversations with the audience. The team’s goal is simple: Be the most powerful and engaging data collection tool for the smartphone age.

Rapid Rise: From College Student to Business Leader

Before long, Kavun entered his company in the Temple Business School’s “Be Your Own Boss Bowl” student pitch competition — and took second place. With the $10,000 in competition winnings, plus $5,000 from Blackstone Charitable Foundation, he started beta trials of their Attend software. Soon after, in 2018, the ConsiderCode team joined other Temple students at LaunchPad Training Camp (now Propel). At Propel, the team met Ash Kaluarachchi, a Techstars mentor and founder of StartEd Education Technology Accelerator in New York City.

“In addition to meeting Ash, who's been extremely helpful, we were exposed to the concept of how Techstars-oriented companies use key performance indicators to improve their business performance,” said Kavun. “We were able to understand the importance of metrics and we used this knowledge to improve our products performance”.

In 2018, Kavun also successfully took his company through the Temple “1810 Accelerator,” and ConsiderCode was a featured student company at the annual Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies (PACT) conference in both 2018 and 2019. In 2019 Kavun also represented Temple University at the Pennsylvania Capitol for “Owls on the Hill,” ConsiderCode was a Goldman Sachs-sponsored company at the Philadelphia Tech Week Entrepreneur Expo, and it was awarded “Most Promising University Company” at the Angel Venture Fair (AFV), hosted by Morgan Lewis law firm.

What’s Next: Building on Critical Differentiation

With eight customers in education, financial services, healthcare, and transportation using the beta version of Attend, Kavun is looking forward to growing his company in 2020. The third version of his software will be released in the Apple App Store this January, expanding device compatibility to iPads and iPhones. By the second quarter of 2020, Attend will be available on all operating systems, including Android and Windows. 

Attend offers two unique elements that make it superior to other data collection tools. First, most data collection applications focus on the desktop component and complex integrations with presentation software. However, according to Kavun, the next generation of presenters are moving away from desktops and even laptops. Instead, he sees them doing all of their work on iPads and other mobile devices. Attend has simplified and shrunk the administrative dashboard, so it fits in the palm of your hand and works effortlessly on a phone, all while being the lowest cost solution on the market today.

Second, the team hasn’t lost sight of its foundation: improving engagement to get quality data. Kavun recognizes that in a typical survey or poll, once you ask two or more questions, people get bored. He’s focusing on helping users build engaging content — changing the way questions are asked — reducing labor and optimizing data gathering with a real-time system.

To try the software out yourself, visit www.GetAttend.com. Follow ConsiderCode on social media for all the latest news and developments: @considercode on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, and @consider_code on Instagram.

Kavun’s Advice for Other Student Entrepreneurs:

1. Start in college. Students today have a lot on their plates: classes, extracurriculars, work, and more. But Kavun encourages young entrepreneurs to take risks and be prepared to defend their ideas. “It might be more challenging to start something while in school,” he says, “but it’s also a great place to learn, network, and experiment with new ideas.”
2. Don’t drop out. With startup success comes more demands on time and energy, and sometimes financially tempting offers. “I’ve had VC people tell me dropping out is how you prove you’re committed to entrepreneurship,” Kavun says. But Kavun encourages students to stick with it until they complete their degree: “Finishing something you started proves something to future stakeholders.”