Windrush: Telling stories with data

It’s easy for organizations to produce and collect data, but employing that data to engage customers or donors on the Web with compelling stories is a challenge. To do it well generally takes a designer who’s skilled in multiple data management and web tools and plenty of time to commit to the project.

That’s why investors are impressed by a new web platform that three Skidmore alumni have brought to market three years after entering the Kenneth A. Freirich Business Plan Competition. Last summer, their business was awarded $25,000 and an invitation to join the selective FlashStarts Startup Accelerator in Cleveland. With additional funding the team has secured since then, they’ve expanded to six full-time employees and established a Saratoga Springs headquarters in a former bicycle shop on Van Dam Street.

It all started in 2011 when, as a dual major in history and computer science, Max Walker ’13 became intrigued by the challenge of creating a new software application that would enable historians to analyze and display data in more meaningful ways. Recognizing that the algorithms he’d developed had commercial as well as academic applications, he entered the 2013 Freirich Competition, enlisting the help of friends Riley Alsman ’13 and Mark Morrison ’13. The company they at that time called “Empire Windrush” (a nod to the H.M.S. Empire Windrush, a German vessel captured by the British at the end of World II) did not finish among the winners, but the experience motivated them to keep going.

“We knew we had something of value,” says Walker.

Three years later, that’s obvious. The enterprise they now simply call “Windrush” offers a sophisticated point-and-click platform that—thanks to the 20,000 lines of code they’ve written—enables organizations to visualize huge quantities of data to quickly create interactive charts and graphs. Supporting video and social media and compatible with all devices, the Linux-based platform produces dynamic pages that bring data to life, as the Super Bowl demo the team has produced shows.

Among customers who are sold on the Windrush tool:

• Wells Fargo Advisors, which is using it to produce an internal report to enhance communication about the opportunities in Tech Valley;

• Albany Public Library, which is using it to produce data dashboards to better communicate such performance indicators as book circulation, number of visitors to their various locations, wi-fi usage, and incident reports;

• The Skidmore Career Development Center, which plans to use it to strengthen communication about alumni outcomes.

When Windrush returned to Saratoga Springs last September after a three-month experience in Cleveland, the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce warmly greeted them as a notable addition to the city’s startup economy, which includes a growing number of game producers and web development firms.

“We decided that Saratoga has a lot to offer for a company like the one we’re trying to build,” says Walker. “There’s access to top talent coming out of schools like Skidmore, RPI, and Siena. There’s also an incredibly high quality of life here. While it’s a little pricey, it’s certainly not as expensive as Manhattan or San Francisco. If we had to pay San Francisco rents while trying to establish this company, it would have been a lot more painful, if not impossible.”

Another advantage of the firm’s Saratoga location, of course, is the close connection to Skidmore that it affords the partners. Walker—who married Carolyn McGraw, a member of the Class of 2012 last summer—still consults with Thomas O'Connell, a member of the Mathematics and Computer Science faculty, when he confronts a particularly thorny math problem. Two of the firm’s recent hires—Ethan Formichella and Aaron Osher—are members of the Class of ’14. And three members of their advisory board—Elliott Masie, Scott McGraw, and Brian Kelly ’00—are Skidmore trustees or alumni.

Asked to describe the experience of being an entrepreneur, Walker replies, “Incredibly difficult—but it’s what I signed up for.”

“It can be scary, and your sense of your situation can change in the blink of an eye, but that’s the world that everyone who takes their destiny into their own hands discovers. I’ve found I’m able to work in areas that I never considered to be in my wheelhouse, such as business, management, sales and public speaking. And I love building a close-knit team that’s committed not only to being successful but to making a big change in the world.”