When their high school’s baseball coach needed an easy approach to statistics collection and analysis, these innovative Iowa State students stepped up to the plate with a mobile app designed to meet the coach’s needs.
Henry Shires and Pradyumna Dahal didn’t play high school sports. When it comes to entrepreneurship, however, Henry and Pradyumna definitely have game.
Pradyumna, a senior in computer science, and Henry, now a senior in computer engineering, are co-founders of Casmium, a mobile app that provides youth and high school sports teams with a user-friendly statistics collection and analytics tool.
“Many digital solutions help teams collect stats, but coaches still have to record numbers in spreadsheets and deal with clunky apps,” Henry says. “Casmium’s intuitive mobile app enables coaches to involve their players in the collection process, removing the need for paper, pencil, and spreadsheets. We incorporate custom features teams want but that may not exist in generalized apps.”
Getting inside baseball
Casmium started when Pradyumna and Henry were Valley High School students in West Des Moines. Valley’s varsity baseball coach needed an easy digital approach to statistics collection and analysis and turned to computer science students.
“We knew how create an app but needed to learn every aspect of baseball to meet Valley’s needs. All features and ideas came from Valley, and our design was influenced by our knowledge of computer science,” Henry says. “We’ve learned so much about baseball, though.”
—Abhushan Pradhan
First pitch right in the zone
As first-year students at Iowa State, Henry and Pradyumna placed first in the ISU Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship’s Fall Startup Pitch Competition. They further developed Casmium in CYstarters, the immersive entrepreneurial experience offered through the Pappajohn Center. It’s one of several programs that make up the university’s “Start Something” network, aimed at empowering students to pursue entrepreneurship and innovation.
“When I came to Iowa State, I didn’t expect so many resources. There’s so much out there that can help you to advance your ideas,” Pradyumna says. “The biggest advantage has been having a wide array of mentors who each have their own expertise.”
Upping the game – and opportunities
While Pradyumna has moved on to other projects, the other Casmium co-founders, including computer engineering senior Abhushan Pradhan, are focused on building the company, with a website and Apple Store app.
The experience has come with powerful lessons, says Abhushan. “…I’ve learned, while working on this project, it doesn’t really matter what I do as long as what I am doing is meaningful to other people … and it’s something I love doing,” he says. “As long as that is true, I feel I’ll be able to pick any career.”
