Interview of Dan Leech, Founder

By RiverfrontSouth.com, LLC, August 8, 2013

You are the founder of Deep Cycle Technologies, which is a fledgling company just entering the App development business. Where did the company name come from?

The name relates to Deep Cycle Systems, which is the DBA for a business I owned that provided sound reinforcement at events, and also sponsored free music events at parks in Austin, Texas, during one summer.

What’s your background? How did you get to where you are today?

I have a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science.

At Warthog Games, I worked on projects for the Microsoft video game console, the Xbox, in particular, the games called Wrath & Skeller, and Johnny Whatever. I also worked on software utilizing the Nintendo Wi-Fi platform which allows players to compete online with other players, anonymously or as an online personality.

When Warthog Games was acquired by Gizmondo (Tiger Telematics), I designed for the Gizmondo platform, which basically combined a mobile phone with a gaming platform. The Gizmondo platform was capable of advanced graphics and media playback, as well as Global Position System (GPS) tracking.

I moved on to Freescale Semiconductor while Freescale was still part of Motorola. I was part of a team designing a development platform in the form of a dock for cell phones. The purpose of the dock was to facilitate development of technology prototypes.

What made you decide to start working on Apps?

Development of software applications for handheld devices is sort of a natural evolution of my skill set and life goals. I have a perfect skill set for this type of work, and also enjoy it.

What technologies/languages do you anticipate using to build your Apps?

Programming languages I would expect to use would include JAVA for Android development, and C, Object-Oriented C (OOC), C++, and Cocoa for Apple iOS development. For website interactivity, PHP may play a part.

In that this is a new company, would you be available for contract work to build Apps for customers? If so, how would you structure that?

I am starting Deep Cycle Technologies by undertaking a first project requested by a sponsor. I accepted that assignment because I am familiar with the type of software requested, both as a user and as a designer, and it is of a type of application in which I am interested. It could be that contract work would scatter my force and focus, so I would need to be careful about projects I accept, to make sure they would further the goals of the company and myself, personally.

Do you have any particular areas of interest which will be a focus of your company?

I find music, social networking, and geo tagging to be interesting subjects for app development. But I am also just interested in the technology itself. Narrowing down the choices between whether the app will be native (just using capabilities of the handheld device) or a web app, or a hybrid combining both native and web functionality will be an interesting design consideration.

Matching design type with a product type that I would like to use myself, something currently not on the market, would provide a number of choices. Setting up a challenge in that way seems a good way to organize an enterprise. So I expect an interesting journey. I expect a focus will develop naturally as I identify projects to work on which might fill a void in the marketplace.

Why are you starting an app development company at this time?

I believe this is a good time to enter the market. Handhelds are popular, and I personally use handheld devices, and have a feeling for what apps can do, and should be able to do, ideally. It is an appealing technology for a designer, and an involving and helpful one for the user.

It also helps that Apple and Google have encouraged app developers to bring apps to market, by offering a certain amount of training and support, and that there is a community of developers sharing ideas.

Have you identified an App design strategy?

My strategy will be to focus 90% on design and 10% on implementation.

What is the biggest hurdle you have faced or are still facing?

The first year of the business seems like a major hurdle at this time, because there will be a lag between product development and achieving the type of success that will allow the enterprise to continue. However, I am looking forward to the new venture.

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RiverfrontSouth.com promotes creative music endeavors on the internet through CreativeMusicWorks.net, GoKaraokeMachine.com, and other websites.