Movista was just a grad school concept six years ago.
Today the Bentonville-based mobile software technology firm is growing quickly and recently added Walmart to its expanding client list.
"We were mobile when mobile wasn't cool," said Stan Zylowski, company co-founder. "Mobile became a necessity and not just something that's 'nice to have.'"
Zylowski met co-founder April Seggebruch while they were taking graduate school classes at the University of Arkansas' Sam M. Walton College of Business. Both had extensive experience working in the supplier world.
They started the company in 2010. It provides data to retailers and suppliers in a quicker, more accurate way using mobile devices, Zylowski said. Movista's flagship product is MVretail and allows companies to manage remote employees and locations, control expenses and increase sales by tracking everything from time cards to store inventory, he said.
"We allow a company to manage its mobile work force," Zylowski said. "They can use our app and create a full loop."
Their client list includes the grocery chain Meijer and suppliers from Ghirardelli Chocolates to TracPhone.
Walmart was looking for something a bit different from the Movista. The retailer wanted an app that would allow customers to order food from the deli at its new format convenience store, Walmart to Go, which is being tested in Bentonville.
The app, Fast to Go, launched shorty after the convenience store opened in March and is available in the App Store and Google Play.
"We're always working to give our customers access to great shopping anywhere, anytime, at affordable prices. Walmart To Go -- and the Fast to Go app -- are a new way to do exactly that," said Deisha Galberth Barnett, Walmart spokeswoman.
Zylowski said Movista's work always focused on the business side of things and on customer interaction.
"We were delighted with the opportunity to serve Walmart and further prove ourselves as mobility experts," he said, adding that Movista remains focused on its core goal of helping businesses optimize workflow.
That doesn't rule out the company producing other consumer apps, he said.
"Our prime focus is on MVretail, but we will always seek to serve when asked," Zylowski said.
Staying focused but open to new ideas is key to any successful business, said Jeff Amerine, director for technology licensing at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and an adviser for Innovate Arkansas.
Movista is a client of Innovate Arkansas, a program that encourages technology-based innovations and job creation in the state.
"They have done a great job of growing up to this point," Amerine said. "They came into this business with an unusual collection of very relevant skills."
Zylowski has more than 15 years of sales, marketing and general management experience. Seggebruch has worked in marketing and corporate strategy and development teams. She was also the captain of the Lady Razorbacks basketball team.
Zylowski and Seggebruch joined forces for a class project of creating a business plan for Carol Reeves, the vice provost for entrepreneurship at the Walton College.
"I almost always start the first day of class by asking students what drives them crazy. I then ask if someone would pay to make that problem go away," she said. "Stan knew what drove him crazy -- wasted time and resources."
The two joined forces to compete in the 2008 Donald W. Reynolds Governor's Cup Collegiate Business Plan Competition. The idea was to create a company that uses mobile devices to track retail activity in real time.
The pair placed second in the statewide competition but went on to win the Tri-State Donald W. Reynolds Cup.
Reeves counts Movista among the 12 business successes in the graduate school's entrepreneurial program's past six years.
The pair was able to secure grants and private funding to back the company. Amerine said Movista's founders secured investors both inside and outside the area, something that is not always an easy feat.
"Getting going wasn't the hard part," Seggebruch said. "The hard part is growing and we are in a hyper-growth phase."
She said Movista could see business grow by up to 400 percent in the next three or four years. She did not provide any dollar figures.
Movista has grown to 23 employees, with the majority of workers based out of the office in a converted historic home off the Bentonville downtown square.
Zylowski said they are on a path to double the work force again in the next 24 to 36 months.
The founders have the retail background and rely on people with the technical skills to help turn the ideas into reality.
"We are retail people who started a software company," Zylowski said.
Movista, like many technology companies across the country, must look far and wide to find qualified people to fill open positions, Amerine said.
"They couldn't outsource the technology forever. They had to bring in tech people and now have a very solid tech team," Amerine said. "They figured out a way to do that."
Seggebruch said a team approach helps paint a bright future for the company.
"When you collaborate great minds you find great solutions," she said.
NW News on 06/02/2014