University of South Carolina Startup Creates an App a Week

Creating a new app every week might seem impossible to even the most ambitious app developers. However, 52apps, a startup based out of the University of South Carolina, has set the goal of creating 52 iPhone/iPad apps over the course of a year, and they’re pretty sure they can actually accomplish this goal. Since June 1st of this year, 52apps has successfully achieved their goal of weekly app creation, and it doesn’t seem like they’re going to be missing the mark anytime soon thanks to a module framework that allows them to make and test apps while eliminating some of the more time-consuming backend work.

52apps is an organization sponsored by the University of South Carolina and housed in the University of South Carolina Technology Incubator, an incubator that currently serves as a home for 32 Columbia, South Carolina tech companies. 52apps was founded by Brendan Lee and Christopher Thibault, two college seniors. Lee and Thibault have known each other since they were high school students in Arkansas. They first teamed up to make apps when they were 12^th graders and have been making them ever since. The high-tech pair of friends used the money they made as high school app developers to fund their college educations, and now they’re using their knowledge of app development to make 52apps a success.

Lee and Thibault keep their incubator running with the help of a few seasoned business leaders and a handful of University of South Carolina students. Their staff includes Stephen A. Leicht, William Kirkland, and Mark Murphy, three former executives at Collexis, a South Carolina software development company. Leicht, Kirkland, and Murphy’s years of business experience paired with Thibault and Lee’s creativity may be the perfect combination needed to actually give birth to a new app every week.

Most of the apps that this startup creates are based on the ideas of Columbia community members and everyday web users. 52apps invites Columbia locals to monthly events where the startup founders ask for ideas for new apps. Additionally, the organization encourages web users to submit their app ideas via the 52apps website. If 52apps likes your idea and creates an app based on it, they’ll share the application’s profits with you. Keep in mind that they’ve only been around for a little over a month, and the apps they’ve already created have been downloaded over 500,000 times. So, pitching the idea for that app you always wanted to create could be a highly profitable move.