Two former Ole Miss roommates have come up with a new Smartphone app that lets users instantly know what’s going on at any bar in Oxford.
The two friends and business partners, Esco Satchfield and Kyle Cornelius, are the brains behind DealzAfterDark.com, which they bill as “Your guide to the best in entertainment.”
Satchfield came up with the idea of a one-stop entertainment app while sitting in a business class at Ole Miss. When he told his friend and former roommate Cornelius about the idea, the resourceful partner created a wireframe and contacted a software developer he met through his contacts at the Ole Miss School of Business.
“It was a data collection system that put the onus on businesses to update their own information,” explained Satchfield.
Satchfield adds that if you can sell anything to tired, skeptical bartenders and bar owners, you may have a highly successful asset on your hands. “We were able to convince folks in Oxford that this app could give them a tool to interact with their customers and develop their own business,” he said.
Satchfield, from Memphis, and Cornelius from Muscle Schoels, Ala., plan to live in Oxford and market their product in town, and then to other SEC cities and eventually the world. They plan to expand the app’s content other kinds of entertainment and recreational activities. The partners used their own capital to fund the start-up and Cornelius even sold his beloved truck to finance the venture.
“Think of a typical Ole Miss fan going out of town to attend the big game,” Cornelius said. “They don’t know what’s going on in that city but they can easily click on this app and know what’s going on.”
Sounds like an ambitious agenda but Satchfield and Cornelius believe they have the keys to success: belief in their product and faith in themselves. “We have a lot in common and our Dads even have a lot in common,” explained Satchfield.
His friend sums up their shared business philosophy: “It’s OK to find a job but it’s better to make a job,” Cornelius said.
Andy Knef is HottyToddy.com editor
