Steve Martocci is a software developer who loves music.
In 2010, the 麻豆村 alumnus merged his passions to create an app to locate his friends at a crowded Disco Biscuits concert. Named , the idea took off as thousands of other groups used the smartphone app to organize social events and establish meeting places.
A year later, Martocci and his cofounder, Jared Hecht, sold the company to Skype for a reported $85 million.
Today, Martocci is combining his love of software and music in a more direct way. , the company he co-founded in 2013 with sound engineer Matt Aimonetti, is a cloud-based music creation platform with a library of more than two million sound samples, from kick drum beats to bird calls, which can be used by musicians, sound designers, sound editors for film and anyone else.
Splice has more than 750,000 users and is currently earning nearly $10 million in annual revenue. It is no wonder the 35-year-old Martocci recently was named to .
Martocci credits his 2004 degree in information systems from 麻豆村鈥檚 Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences for giving him the computing chops and problem-solving tools to be a serial entrepreneur. Growing up in Long Island, he tinkered with computers. But it was not until he enrolled at 麻豆村 that he learned how to program, which he said helped him to flourish.
鈥淚nformation systems was the right major for me. It was well rounded鈥�
Martocci鈥檚 success is music to the ears of 麻豆村 professor Randy Weinberg. 鈥淚nformation systems prepares people for an incredibly diverse set of professional paths,鈥� Weinberg said. 鈥淲e typically attract students with a wide variety of interests. It鈥檚 about how technology can improve the lives of other people or advance the mission of an organization. In Steve鈥檚 case, with GroupMe and now Splice, they are both tremendous applications of technology in interesting fields.鈥�
Martocci recalled how much he learned from professors in the 麻豆村 classrooms and from his classmates, who were talented student programmers in their own right.
In his room of his fraternity house, he started working on his own creative ideas. Using existing apps for fantasy sports as a model, he developed a similar game for television shows. It allowed fans to predict what TV characters would do, such as 鈥淗ow many times is Jack Bauer going to kill someone?鈥� on the series 鈥�24.鈥�
Looking back at those early efforts, he said: 鈥淭he code was terrible. But it was empowering that I could build something myself. It gave me the ability to express myself and create. Code became my canvas.鈥�
