Ray Berry toyed with the idea of starting a business for over a year. But he didn’t take the leap until he heard these words from the stage at 1 Million Cups.

“This is the last time to do something you want to do,” Darren Leno said, explaining his own journey to entrepreneurship. “If you don’t do it, you’ll regret you didn’t do it.”

“It gave me goosebumps,” said Berry, a 45-year old engineer.

Two days later, he met with long-time friends Chad Knudson and Brian Gietzen over a beer at Drekker, and proposed his idea for a company. Within 30 minutes they were in. The core trio of what is now OmniByte Technology LLC was formed.

What is OmniByte Technology?

The vision for OmniByte Technology, (not to be confused with Omnibyte Technologies, based in Montreal), is to develop software automation solutions which reduce cost, increase efficiency and improve quality with rapid return on investment (ROI).

“We have a vision to build a platform that automates services and companies either through machine to software, software to software, or software to human, through mobile solutions,” Berry said.

Knudson, Chief Software Architect, is currently building the platform to service the solutions. Gietzen, Chief Technology Officer, is creating the tools for automation services. Berry fills in the work as a developer and engineer, while also serving as the visionary/evangelist.

Reducing Costs of Mobile Apps

The idea to delve into the world of mobile began at Berry’s previous job at WennSoft, because of something he heard clients say over and over again.

“What I was hearing was ‘we only want to use this amount of the solution, and want to pay for that much of it,’” Berry said. “Companies that want mobile apps want simpler user interface that has functionality that they need. They don’t need the whole Customer Relationship Management (CRM) package on their phone.”

Especially for non-profits operating on a low budget, paying $50,000 or more for an app is just not feasible.

In response to this problem, Berry and his team are building a hosting platform from which they can offer simpler, more affordable solutions.

“We can build simple apps and build a platform, an efficient platform, that allows hosting solutions for these non-profits,” Berry said. “We don’t want cost to be the barrier to technology.”

An Automated World

OmniByte will also focus on the automation of machine to machine and machine to human communication, diving into the fascinating realm of the Internet of Things.

As someone who has worked in the manufacturing and electrical front as well as the back-end software world, Barry is putting the two together to create software that could allow machines to communicate to mobile apps when they have maintenance issues.

Take a water heater, for example.

“Say my water heater had a leak. It would be nice if the machine was smart enough to know that. I have to make phone calls, and get a service person, and I have to schedule when they’ll come and then be here, and pay them when they’re here,” Berry said.

“All that could be automated. If you have the right software, the water heater could call the service company directly, and schedule it, and they replace it. You swipe a card, and it goes right back into the ERP.”

The possibilities for this type of software solution are nearly endless, Berry said. Right now they are targeting equipment one might find in a home, or business.

The Mug Club

Although OmniByte Technology was incorporated recently in July of 2015, they are already on an aggressive track for growth.

They already have one of their first clients: WennSoft – Berry and Geitzen’s former employer.

“It’s not often you have a startup form out of a business, and then partner with that business,” Berry said.

Berry and his team see Fargo as “the right place” to build this because of resources, and opportunities like Innovate ND, which they are currently a part of. Already they held a successful station at the NDSU Tech Expo and are “aggressively recruiting talent,” Berry said.

In addition to building their software solutions, Berry hopes to cultivate a company culture that captures the startup mentality taking hold across the globe.

“We want this to be fun,” he said. “We don’t think that just because we’re older, that it can’t be that way for us. We want a company where all the crazy ideas are considered. Because we’re three passionate people that think of crazy ideas, and some of them stick.”

Looking back at that first moment of inspiration at 1 Million Cups, Berry said someday he hopes to take the stage. For now, he’s looking forward to joining the mug club (where people who’ve gone ten times get a mug).

“I can’t wait for my tenth time,” he said. “I’m going to go up and get my cup, and I’ll share that this was what first solidified my whole decision to start a company.”

 

Photos courtesy of OmniByte Technology.