Summer 2008

Classroom Joke Turns into Entrepreneurial Success

It all started out as a joke.

During his last quarter at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Dustin Sapp (�01) was in an independent study group under Engineering Management professor Tom Mason, creating a business plan for handheld computer technology.

�I kidded him (Sapp) about the second week of the quarter, saying, �If you want an A, you have to get funding,�� Mason remembered. �So about the eighth week of the quarter, they said, �OK.��

Mason put the group in touch with venture capitalist Bob Compton, who had funded past projects originating from Rose-Hulman.

Compton remembers distinctly his first impression of Sapp.

�What really stood out were his very strong interpersonal skills,� Compton said. �Dustin�s never met a stranger. He�s able to meet someone and instantly develop a connection with him. That�s a unique aspect in anybody, but particularly in someone who�s so smart and technologically savvy.�

Sapp, a senior trying to finish his computer engineering degree at the time, remembers it a bit differently.

�He (Compton) grilled us with good questions, and gave us a good dose of reality,� he said.

But when the meeting, held in an airport travel lounge, ended, Compton decided to fund the project, and NoInk Communications Ltd., which would provide Web, tablet and handheld applications to the medical device industry, was born.

Sapp remembers that time in his life well.

�It was definitely difficult,� he said. �I was trying to handle a full course load as well as work 60 hours a week on a new venture.�

It was an experience that would serve him well. Sapp worked as NoInk�s director of professional services for the next three years, moving with the company from Rose- Hulman Ventures, in Terre Haute Ind., to Indianapolis, Ind. In 2004, Sapp became the company�s director of product management when NoInk was acquired by Everypath, a global mobile/wireless software company, but left soon after.

�I stayed for about nine months, to transfer customers, get products in synch,� Sapp said. �[But] I didn�t feel like I was having the same impact, didn�t enjoy the politics. I liked a lot of people there; I liked some of the things they were doing. But it just wasn�t the same.�

So when he quit his position at NoInk in 2005, Sapp took a familiar, and to him the most natural, next step: He started another company.

He approached Compton again.

�What Dustin understood was that voiceover IP made the economics of sending voice messages much more attractive than before,� Compton said. �He could conceive of a system that would allow customers to do everything themselves.�

�As we brainstormed about it, I was confident he could build a solution,� Compton continued. �His brains, talent and ability, and my money.�

In 2005, Sapp and Compton founded Vontoo LLC, which creates and manages permission-based, on-demand voice-messaging systems. The Indianapolis-based company quickly garnered a diverse array of clients, from churches and banks to celebrity fan clubs.

John Cooper, a Customer Services representative for Echo Music, has used Vontoo to help musicians such as Keith Urban and Rascal Flatts communicate with their fans.

Vontoo�s services �lived up to and exceed all expectations,� Cooper said, when he worked with the company for the first time in October 2006 to send a voice message from country music artist Dierks Bentley to fans on the day of Bentley�s album release.

�We got so much feedback from people saving the voicemail, saying how excited they were about hearing his voice,� Cooper said. He added that for three weeks, the hotline from which the call originated rang nonstop as fans called back, hoping to speak with the musician.

Cooper said since that time, Echo Music�s relationship with Vontoo has only expanded.

�They (Vontoo) are constantly bringing up new ideas and willing to accommodate in any way possible,� Cooper said. �And they�re great listeners. Dustin, in particular, has been very hands on. He really cares deeply and passionately about what he�s doing.�

Sapp recognizes this passion, too, and said it�s been his greatest asset in starting NoInk and Vontoo.

�The decision to work in an entrepreneurial environment is not a job decision, or work decision. It�s a lifestyle decision,� said the 29-year-old president and chief technology officer. �You have to be passionate about what you�re doing. It�s not a job. Frankly, it�s not even a career. It�s a lifestyle. You end up living and breathing what you�re doing.�

Being an entrepreneur at a young age taught Sapp a lot about the importance of priorities, and his are clear: God, family, work, and in that order.

�Those values are real, and he adheres to them,� Compton said. �But he puts in as many hours as any CEO or president I�ve worked with.�

Compton said Sapp typically works a full day, then goes home to eat dinner with his wife, Shelley, and his three children - Evan, 4, Nate, 2, and Elizabeth, 4 months - and play with the kids. Later at night, Sapp gets online and works from home, Compton said.

Sapp is also very involved at the Northside Baptist Church in Indianapolis, and credits his faith with much of his achievement.

�Without that part of our lives, frankly I don�t think these companies would have a lot of the success that they do,� he said.

The success is evident. Sapp and Vontoo have been featured in Indianapolis Business Magazine, Indianapolis Business Journal's "Forty under 40�" and American Venture Magazine.com "Top Forty Under 40�".

These accolades, Sapp said, are due to Vontoo's unique business perspective.

"We focus on the customer. That's really why people come to us," he said. "When your focuses are there, as opposed to the selfish end-game, you'll find that suddenly you have a better product."

Listening to clients' needs and creating a solution is Sapp's specialty, Compton said.

"He's got a real empathy for other people," he added.

It's true Sapp's empathy, work ethic and passion have made him a successful entrepreneur by any standard. But for him, it isn't about the next idea, or the next company, it's about making his mark wherever he finds himself.

"A lot of people ask me, 'What are your plans after Vontoo?' And I answer, 'What plans after Vontoo?'" Sapp said. "Once you get a taste of having this kind of impact, in this kind of organization, you never want to go back to anything else."