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David Lanphear, IT Analyst at Liberty Mutual and Founder of PogoPlus

Her Campus Placeholder Avatar Lauren Murphy
Her Campus Placeholder Avatar Kathryn Burgner
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Bentley chapter.


Name: David Lanphear
Major/Graduation Year: Computer Information Systems, 2009 & Masters in Information Technology, 2011

Her Campus Bentley:  What were you involved in at Bentley?
David Lanphear: I am a founding father of the Pi-Kappa Chapter of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity and am currently on the Executive Board of the newly formed Alumni Chapter. While in school, I participated in Bentley’s first IT Business Case competition at Indiana University, and was active in APO productions. 

HCB:  What are you doing currently?
DL:  Currently, I am an IT Analyst at Liberty Mutual while moonlighting as Founder of PogoPlus, a small business online reputation management company, and starting up my most recent venture Frat Labs Inc. Let’s suffice to say that my day job pays the bills and I hope my night jobs will pay for the Lamborghini. 

HCB:  What is the new app you’re developing & how could Bentley students use it?
DL: The new app we are building is best described as a mix of Facebook’s social interactions, focused around foursquare’s location information, with chat abilities similar to “What’s App” and Sonar. Its core focus isn’t on places or relationships though – it’s on events. Let’s be real, events are way cooler than places – especially on mobile. Everyone wants to know what is happening and what their friends are up to and this app brings all of this ability to the palm of your hand in real-time.

Our app, entitled “Dope” because of its awesomely addicting nature, will be able to alert you to popular places and events on campus as they happen. Bored in class? Fire up the app and check into your class’ event page for a full-class forum or talk one-on-one with your buddy on the other side of the room. Got more than 1 friend in more than 1 class? Create a group chat to plan your weekly Gossip Girl viewing party and tell your friend who’s near Target to pick up some nail polish on their way back to Bentley.
Don’t want to be the only girl at the party? Check out event and location statistics before you arrive so you know where the real fun is at. Frequent a business? Follow it on Dope to allow the business to push you (a limited number of) flash specials so you always have the best deals (but aren’t annoyed from too many messages). It’s the latest advent in the extreme couponing craze and Bentley is at the center.  There are many uses for Dope and no one correct way to socialize.

HCB:  What do you miss most about Bentley?
DL: Everyone in one place in one community. College is unique and pretty unlike the “real” world. It offers a large social scene and an integrated community. That is part of the reason why we decided to launch Dope as a college-only social network. Hey, we hear Facebook got pretty big that way too.

HCB:   Anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
DL:  A huge part of our success is in the female population. We are UBER interested in what the female persuasion has to say about the app and are all ears to any suggestions, comments, ideas and feedback. Females are incredibly social and the way they use email and social means is incredibly awesome…at least in my personal experiences at Bentley. So we’re always thrilled to discuss our app with anyone (girls in particular) and want to know how you plan to be more mobile-social in the future.

The Bentley degree has definitely given me a solid foundation of how something should work from the bottom up. Building a startup you definitely use all aspects of the Bentley education – just usually toned up or down in different places. For instance, Bentley has us write 60 page business plans. The real (startup) world doesn’t make business plans. They make pitch decks. If I had it my way, Bentley would teach us how to pitch instead of how to write. It’s actually just as, if not more, important.

The “Dope” app launched on March 5th—stay tuned to Her Campus Bentley for more information!
 

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Kathryn Burgner is a member of the class of 2013 at Bentley University and is majoring in Information Design & Corporate Communications, with minors in Marketing and Gender Studies. Kathryn is so excited to be a part of the Her Campus team and be the founder of Her Campus Bentley! Kathryn loves going to school near Boston, but she also loves her hometown of Dalton, MA, where she grew up in the Berkshires on a turkey farm. Kathryn loves singing, acting, dancing ballet, baking, & playing volleyball, and is interested in gender issues, fashion, and health & fitness. She is a founding member of the Masters of Bentley Acappella (MBAs) and enjoys being involved with the Women's Center at Bentley, Alpha Psi Omega Honorary Theatre Society, and Resident Assistance at Bentley. Kathryn aspires to work as an editor, social media professional, or marketing design professional in Boston, MA after her experiences at Bentley! Kathryn would like to thank her family and friends for their love and support towards all of her experiences and dreams.