Steve Kelley of Arganteal

Steve Kelley of Arganteal

Where are you from originally?

I grew up in a suburb of Saint Louis, Missouri

What university did you go to?

I have a Masters in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University

What is the idea behind your startup?

We have developed a technology that automates many of the labor-intensive tasks required to deploy applications in the cloud computing environment. 

What need does it fulfill?

By using our technology, systems integration companies can reduce the labor to deploy complex applications like Microsoft Lync by 60% - 70%.  This allows these companies to do deployments more rapidly and with fewer expensive technical personnel. 

What exactly does it do?

The Arganteal system takes information about the client – the number of users, their physical location and network identification – and then information about the computing environment – what operating system, what hypervisor is being used, how many servers of what kinds, what kind of database system – and based on this information create a library of commands that automatically install the chosen applications on the target cloud platform with minimal or no intervention from expensive subject matter experts.   

Who is it for?

We license the Arganteal SaaS to system integrators and consulting companies for them to use to install applications for the end user companies that are their clients.  This enables these companies to finish deployment projects for their clients in less time and at a higher profit. 

What was the most challenging aspect of starting up?

Since we know the needs of our industry and we have the expertise to design and develop our product, the most challenging aspect for us is raising the capital we need to effectively market our product and then fund the development of new product features. 

What is the next step for you and your business?

We have identified a number of companies that want to use our technology so our next step is to sign license agreements that generate revenue for us while we also raise money from investors.  With this income we will be able to fund the marketing and development activities to accelerate our presence in the market.

What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?

Focus, move rapidly, stay lean and stay flexible.

What resource have you found to be the most helpful and why?

We are a virtual company. The Internet provides a fast and economical communications platform that allows us to speed up our product development, deliver presentations and product demonstrations to prospective clients and investors (usually remotely thereby reducing travel time and cost) and communicate effectively within our own staff.  Because of the Internet we can move quickly, communicate effectively and run a lean and flexible company with greatly reduced capital needs.