KC Entrepreneur Casts Nationwide Net to
Capture Wireless Communications Clients

Mobile Media Technologies, LLC — Kansas City, MO

One week he's in Tempe, Ariz. The next week he may be in the Windy City. Next you could find him on Peachtree Street in Atlanta or visiting a college campus.

You never know where wireless communications innovator Rob Sweeney will travel in search of clients for his brainchild, Kansas City-based Mobile Media Technologies, LLC. But you can bet he's virtually always out there on the road selling his firm's technological services.

Rob Sweeney, president and founder of Mobile Media Technologies, LLC, makes a sales presentation of his Textcaster wireless communications service to the advertising staff of the student media group at Arizona State University.

Four years ago MMT didn't exist. Today MMT helps clients instantly break communications barriers across the country and around the world with affordable instant-messaging capabilities.

Any size company, organization or individual that has a limited budget, a dispersed constituency and a message in need of speedy delivery would find MMT's TextCaster® wireless technology essential to its operations.

Sweeney got the idea for his company while heading up the wireless software development effort for Palm Computing in 2001. There he gained a thorough understanding of the state of wireless communications worldwide, and he discovered the U.S. lagged Europe and Asia in wireless communications.

"I had a clear vision that opportunity would present itself in the U.S. once the market caught up," Sweeney says. "I sensed the need that small-to-medium-sized companies would like to have the same wireless communication capabilities larger companies would have."

He also knew the stumbling block for the smaller outfits would be cost: "I decided to leave Palm and create a wireless infrastructure platform that was affordable, customizable, easy to deploy and easy to use by virtually any business. TextCaster is that platform."

Sweeney demonstrates Textcaster's text messaging capability to the ASU student media leadership team.

A page on the MMT Web site (www.textcaster.com) contains a classic definition of its service: "Think of it as narrowcasting: an immediate connection with subscribers that is direct, personal, targeted and interactive - always on, always present."

Sweeney's service must be working. The list of MMT clients mounts with each passing week. Those clients have important missives to deliver to the ever-present portable text-messaging devices of their far-flung audiences.

The types of clients MMT serves include security offices, schools, banks and news media outlets. Examples are NBC Action News-KSHB-TV, KC Metro Sports, Pappas Telecasting Cos., the National Newspaper Association, 610 Sports-KCSP radio, and the Kansas City AMBER Alert Program.

The Valparaiso, Ind., police department uses TextCaster to enhance public safety communication throughout its community. TV Colombia in South America has adopted Sweeney's service to enhance the way it reaches Colombian citizens living in the United States. KTNC- 42 Aztec America television in San Francisco uses the text-messaging service to deliver messages through what is believed to be the nation's first Spanish AMBER Alert program.

In addition, many school districts and universities use TextCaster to reach students, parents, alumni, faculty and staff with a variety of messages. And the Benedictine Sisters at Mount St. Scholastica in Atchison, Kan., send their Daily Reflection as a spiritual text message to supporters all over the country.

"As an entrepreneur, I am passionate about my company and what we do to enhance the way our customers communicate," Sweeney confesses. "We would be nowhere without customers who believe in us."

However, as loyal as his customers are and as pervasive as Sweeney's service has become, his success didn't just happen overnight. After starting his business in 2002, Sweeney found that while he was a master of his technology he still had something to learn about running a business.

By 2004 he knew he needed business advice. That's when he got connected to Mark Manley, manager of manufacturing technology at Central Missouri State University's (CMSU) Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC) in Warrensburg.

"We have conducted patent searches and advised Rob how to protect his intellectual property position," says Manley. "We recommended Rob to the Kauffman (Foundation) FastTrac new venture program. He took that and won the business plan competition. As a result ... he took a trip to Washington, D.C., and was introduced to legislators and angel finance organizations."

Sweeney accepts a legislative resolution from state Sen. Charlie Shields (R-34), in recognition for his firm's entrepreneurial achievements and contributions to Missouri's economic development. He received the honor during the recent Missouri Small Business Development Centers' client showcase at the State Capitol in Jefferson City.

With the guidance he's received from the SBTDC Sweeney learned to sharpen his business plan and include solid supporting facts to win the approval of venture capitalists and angel investors who seek promising investment opportunities.

"Mark Manley and Wes Savage (director of CMSU's SBTDC) are outstanding, quality individuals - very professional, very knowledgeable," says Sweeney. "These are experienced business people who have much to give small businesses like mine. They listen. They ask questions. They challenge you. They make you think. They do these things before they start offering advice. In short, they take the time to get to know you."

Manley knows Sweeney is a serious, astute business student and practitioner: "Rob has developed tremendous market traction for Textcaster in the last year. He's put significant financial resources into the business and has devoted nearly 10,000 hours over the past three years."

And Sweeney never stops selling.

"When Rob scheduled his first meeting with me, we set the time for 10 a.m." recounts Manley. "Prior to the meeting, Rob asked me for the name of our sports information director at CMSU, Shawn Jones. I later learned Rob scheduled a second meeting for 9 a.m. and sold Textcaster to Shawn prior to his meeting with me. Rob then demonstrated Textcaster to me on our own CMSU website. Classic entrepreneurship."

Textcaster
P.O. Box12003
Kansas City, Mo. 64152
Phone: 816-728-8279
www.textcaster.com

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