There’s an app for that

Charley Todd got tired of not having a mustache, so his app company helped him out with an app that gives men (women and children) mustaches. Sort of.

Success often happens while on the way to something else – and silly mustaches are part of that for Charley Todd, BBA ’11.

The business alumnus’s career plan is to earn higher degrees, then turn to teaching and writing, but for now he’s stirring some business experience into the mix. One of the ways he’s doing it is creating and selling apps.

“Apple and Google have made systems that, though complex at times, have made it possible for anyone that knows how to develop software to be able to submit it to the mass market,” Todd said. The Fort Myers native lives in New York City and is a consultant who leads digital integration initiatives for one of the largest Allstate agencies in the country.

But his passion is making meaning through new media. He and his partners in Quantic Fox, a business he started while a Business Management major at Stetson, are “creatives who eat, sleep and breathe new media” as they design and develop software applications now used by thousands and thousands of people.

Many of whom want to see themselves in a mustache.

Users of Autostachic, one of Quantic Fox’s entertainment apps, choose from scores of mustache styles that are automatically fitted in real-time to their face – men, women and children – and then can be posted to Twitter, Facebook or displayed in other ways. Downloaded more than 10,000 times, it was named “App of the Day” on Gizmodo.com, the online gadget and digital culture guide.

“If you have a soul, I don’t see how you cannot like this app,” said one Gizmodo reviewer of Autostachic, which was also spotlighted by Apple.

More serious and useful apps from the Quantic Fox team, created not only for desktops, but iPhone, Android, iPad and other devices, are also getting good reviews and ratings.

Quantic Fox logo.

Inspir is an app for designers and artists to connect with top sites and sources and allow mobile interaction. Albumtrackr scans a user’s music library and alerts the listener to any new release by their favorite musicians. Getshort quickly shortens lengthy and unwieldy URLs to use when text is limited, such as in Twitter messages.

More than 20,000 copies of Getshort have been downloaded, said Todd, and Albumtrackr was for a time rated the No. 2 music app in the world and in the Top 30 overall. That was a “wild ride to the top,” said the young entrepreneur.

“We’re making big waves in the app store, and I have my Stetson business experience to be grateful for,” he said.

The most important business course he took in the Lynn Business Center, he said, was a Family Enterprise course where he created his life’s personal development plan. “It was pivotal in understanding my direction and passion,” Todd said. “That class, or a hybrid thereof, should be mandatory for every freshman.”

Quantic Fox apps can be downloaded from the iTunes App Store, Android Marketplace, and the Mac App Store.