Opposite Inc., a four man mobile app development studio running out of Dallas, is led by founder/designer Brian Linder and lead engineer Nathan Clark, who left the ad agency world to launch the company on April 1st of 2011.
“That’s no joke,” Linder added.
Linder and Clark eventually found the atmosphere of ad agencies, where they worked on several big name brands for many years, to be too creatively restrictive.
“In that time we became painfully aware that the advertising agency is not an ideal environment in which to create digtital things,” Linder said. “So, we left the agency world and started our own world. Now, instead of making ads, we make products. Some for ourselves (like You Rule) and some for others (like the two apps we are working on now for others).”
You Rule, the company’s first app, allows parents to set up a regiment of chores for their children in a fun way, offering clear goals and organized rewards for their hard work.
Linder said the company name came from the reason they started a mobile app studio in the first place. “We wanted to do the opposite of what we were doing at [ad agencies],” he said. “We wanted to stop creating meaningless ads that no one cares about (websites, online ads, Facebook stuff, advergames, QR code things, print ads, TV ads) and start making meaningful apps that people might actually care about.”
He takes pride in not being part of the “startup circus” going on in other parts of the US. “We don’t take ourselves too seriously,” he said. When asked about growth, the founder wrote, “I’ve lost about 15 pounds this year, can that count as growth?” On traction he cited his Vans shoes.
Joking aside Linder said his company’s business model comes in four easy steps: “Love work, work hard, make money, repeat.” Both employees love the work they do so much that they aren’t willing to let any investors meddle with it, at least not yet.
“We have what we need and we like controlling our own destiny,” he said. “I’m in no hurry to have someone buy that away from us.”
The company’s next original venture is planned to be an interactive children’s story, though the app has been put on hold for now while the team works on outside projects.
