BUSINESS

Arizona start-up unveils higher-education platform

Angelique Soenarie
The Republic | azcentral.com

Andrew Chaifetz and Alex Slaughter look to be the next tech leaders for higher-education platform systems.

They are the creators of NoteBowl, a social learning system that offers one place for course discussions and campus community information on a social platform that encourages collaboration and engagement.

This week Chaifetz's and Slaughter's innovation will be featured among top start-ups at the Educause conference in Orlando, which addresses IT technology issues in higher education. The two University of Arizona graduates launched NoteBowl this summer, and the platform currently is being piloted with several courses and professors at the university.

Chaifetz, who was a freshman in 2010, said he noticed that information was scattered all over the place and "there wasn't an application that combined the social life of college, courses and submitting assignments," he said.

"That's where the idea spawned," Chaifetz said.

NoteBowl, which aims to make everyday tasks simpler and easier, features a bulletin for news updates, campus happenings and space where students can share what they are working on. The agenda lets students see upcoming assignments, quizzes and tests that can be synced to a Google calendar or iCal. Other features include creating private and public groups for chats, message platforms, alerts and video hangouts for lectures and study groups.

Chaifetz and Slaughter developed NoteBowl over their four years of college. In that time, their idea was recognized as a top innovation at the Microsoft US Imagine Cup Startup Bootcamp and Venture Madness. The duo expanded their team by bringing on Alec Stapp as chief financial officer and a team of developers from Arizona State University, which landed NoteBowl a spot at ASU's Edson Entrepreneurship Initiative, a start-up accelerator for ASU student ventures. Not to mention that the group received a $300,000 angel investment from a former Microsoft employee.

Under a summer pilot program, Chaifetz said professors at UofA found that the platform reduces the redundant questions that often are e-mailed to professors. With NoteBowl, a student can post a question and the professor can answer it.

"It's pretty awesome to work on something like this," Chaifetz said. "Looking back on everything, I feel very fortunate to be doing something that I absolutely love to do and believe in. That is what drives this company."

Garret Westlake, an associate dean at the Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative at ASU's SkySong campus, said the NoteBowl group has invested a significant amount of time launching and developing the system.

"They are here every single day working at their desk," Westlake said. The Edson student program provides seed money up to $20,000 as well as support. Last year the program served 20 student ventures. This year the program expects to work with 50 student ventures, Westlake said

NoteBowl is "a comprehensive team that addresses and covers all the bases that they need to be successful. And that often accelerates the progress the team is able to make on their venture," Westlake said. He said they have built a team of technical, industry, sales and leadership experts, which has helped them to market and launch the product.

New leadership at Cox Communications

Cox Communications named John Wolfe this week as senior vice president and Southwest region manager. Wolfe's appointment comes after Steve Rizley's recent retirement announcement.

The Southwest is the Atlanta-based company's largest region and includes Las Vegas, Phoenix and Tucson. Prior to Arizona, Wolfe served as senior vice president and region manager for the company's Northeast region.

Wolfe is a 30-year cable-industry veteran. He joined the company in 1995.

During his tenure as Cox's Northeast region leader, Wolfe guided the company's operations in Rhode Island, Connecticut and Ohio during a time of intense industry competition and company transformation.

"With his tremendous leadership abilities, combined with a strong sense for what it takes to compete in our industry, I am confident that John will ensure the Southwest region remains a focal point for aggressive investment, growth and innovation, starting with Cox's Gigabit Internet deployments this year," said Paul Cronin, senior vice president of customer experience for Cox.

"Under John's direction, Cox will continue to lead Arizona and Nevada as a significant employer, community contributor and technology enabler."

The company recently announced plans to offer Gigabit Internet speeds to residents, which is 100 times faster than the average Internet speed in homes today. In October, the first customers are expected to come online in Phoenix.

Cox Communications is a cable provider and a multiservice broadband communications company, serving nearly 3 million residential and business product subscribers in Arizona.

The company and its employees recently raised $400,000 for Boys & Girls Clubs of America at a company-sponsored fundraiser in Phoenix. The funds will support Cox Technology Centers in local clubs in Phoenix, which provide computers and Internet access for families who have no online access at home. Members of the Boys & Girls Clubs can use the technology centers to get help with homework, research, job searches and college preparation.

Update

Reporter can be reached at angelique.soenarie@arizonarepublic.com.