Springfield native launches product from Silicon Valley

Brent Dusing, CEO and co-founder of Moonstorm in Santa Clara, Calif., spent his teenage years in Springfield, surrounded by his friends’ parents, who owned small businesses, and watching the city produce some of the country’s top entrepreneurs.

“You see guys like John Q. Hammons and Jack Stack growing up and you think, ‘Wow, that’s pretty neat what those guys are doing,’” Dusing said. “It plants seeds in your mind.”

Dusing, 27, started Moonstorm in January 2005 with co-founder Preston Tillingworth and, in December, launched its premiere product, Cellfire.

Cellfire is a free, downloadable application for cell phones that displays coupons to an array of stores, restaurants and entertainment venues. The product is only available in California, but Dusing said Moonstorm plans to roll it out nationally within a few months.

The coupons range from free movie rentals to discounts on haircuts and pizza. Retailers such as Hollywood Video, The Sharper Image, Finish Line, SuperCuts, Boston Market and 1-800-flowers.com have signed on, and more are coming, Dusing said.

Only phones with Cingular service are compatible with Cellfire, though Dusing said the company is in discussions with several other providers.

Cell phone users can check for daily coupon updates at their convenience, and once accessed, a coupon displays a code for cashiers to enter and complete the sale.

“We’ve designed the service in such a way that it mimics what cashiers are used to, from a paper standpoint,” Dusing said. “It makes it as seamless as possible.”

Consumer control

Moonstorm arose from Dusing’s desire to eliminate paper coupons that are easy to lose or forget and Tillingworth’s desire to find more uses for his cell phone.

The duo quit their jobs and worked out of Tillingworth’s home for several months before securing an office. Financial backing from a handful of wealthy technology investors paved the way for staff additions and development of the product, and the company now employs about 20 people, Dusing said.

“When you look at trends in technology, things that have done well – the iPod, satellite radio, Tivo – it’s all about putting consumers in control: ‘I want what I want, when I want it.’ And the mobile phone is, of course, ‘where I want it,’” Dusing said. “We’ve really designed the solution to be as user-friendly as possible to continue along that path.”

Springfield to Silicon Valley

Dusing was born in Columbia and moved to Springfield when he was 7. He attended Glendale High School and was active in Junior Achievement, which he says first inspired him to start a business.

“It was really great to learn about business and being independent and how all those things come together,” he said. “It really wound up being a good experience for me at a young age.”

Dusing scored a perfect 1,600 on the SAT, graduated from Glendale and enrolled at Harvard University, where he earned a bachelor of arts in economics. Before forming Moonstorm, he worked in portfolio investments at a venture capital partnership and in finance and marketing for several other firms.

Though he notes the influence of Hammons and Stack on his desire to work for himself, Dusing is more grateful for the example set by the area’s small business owners – namely, Roy Dameron, owner of Dameron Color Labs, 2525 N. Partnership Blvd. In high school, Dusing was close friends with Dameron’s son.

Dameron said he was surprised to hear that Dusing thinks of him as a mentor, but he isn’t at all surprised Dusing has started his own company.

“He’s a very bright young man, but besides being bright, you need to have a desire, and I think he has that entrepreneurial desire,” Dameron said.

“I’m proud of him, I really am,” he added. “I think he’ll do well.”