Kaiwei Tang  (M.B.A. ’06, M.D.M. ’14)

Smart phones were developed to help us master our lives by becoming more connected, but often they do just the opposite when we are slaves to notifications and social media, becoming more disconnected from the physical world around us.

That notion irked Kaiwei Tang when he joined a Google-run incubator not long after receiving his degree. While there, he was encouraged to create new mobile phone apps, which he knew would only perpetuate the addiction cycle.

After meeting fellow incubator resident Joe Hollier, the two decided to do the opposite: create technology that encouraged people to take a break.

Together they created Light Phone, a white, credit-card-sized phone designed to only make and receive calls. It is a secondary phone that users can take when they’re on a walk or spending time with family and friends. Tang calls it “going light.” After launching in 2016, the company sold 11,000 phones. Feedback was positive, but several users just wanted “one more feature.” The founders collected these suggestions and developed Light Phone 2, which includes more features, including messaging and an alarm clock—but still no social media or news. That phone will ship early next year.

“When someone says, ‘Hey, I’m going light,’ it almost becomes a lifestyle,” Tang says. “I’m hoping Light Phone will encourage more people to live in the moment.”

Fariha Wajid (ARCH ’15)

For Fariha Wajid, a design isn’t just about creating something pleasing to the eye—it’s about translating the story behind it.

Wajid translates her memories, photographs, and sketches from her travels—the waves of a Wisconsin river, the geometric patterns of an Irani building—into woodblock-printed scarves and stationary, which she sells through her startup INKMADE. When customers order her handmade goods online or buy them in stores, they also receive a card that tells the story or experience that inspired the item’s design.

“I really enjoy selling at craft markets, because people ask how I came up with the patterns, and there is a conversation, and that makes the product unique,” she says.

The idea for the business began at Illinois Tech—she learned to woodblock print through a class, then developed a business plan through an entrepreneurship course—but it took a while before she was ready to make the leap to full-time entrepreneur. In fact, for most of her life she was set on becoming an architect.

“Once I founded INKMADE, it just happened, and I put time and money into it, and I thought, am I actually going to earn it back or is this just a foggy dream?” she said.

It wasn’t: Wajid is now working on getting her designs into more craft markets and into larger boutiques and pop-up stores.

Tiger Safarov (AE ’10)

“I’m an immigrant, so to me it’s easy. Not because we think differently. Sometimes you don’t have a choice.”

Tiger Safarov wasn’t looking to start a business while studying engineering at Illinois Tech, but in 2007, two years after he emigrated to the United States from Russia, he couldn’t persuade any construction companies to hire him.

After taking a construction estimating course, he approached his former college and offered an estimate to turn a basement room into a classroom. He won the job, despite having no formal company or any contractors. He quickly organized a company, Siegel Construction, and convinced contractors to buy materials on their own dime. They finished the job on time.

“I made $3,000 on the job, and I thought, this is it. This is my way to becoming the richest person on the planet Earth,” he says.

He eventually won a job constructing a medical office in the suburbs of Chicago, where two women walking by stopped and said they were impressed by the cleanliness of the work site. That serendipitous connection led to a job constructing a dental office, which led to another, and another. Soon the company was only constructing dental offices.

Safarov sold the company in 2014, but realized that, after talking with dentists, many offices had inventory problems. His next venture was developing software for dental practices to order supplies and keep track of inventory. ZenSupplies began in 2016 and already has more than 350 clients.

“What I’m doing now is freedom,” he says. “I get to the office, and nobody tells me what to do or how to do it, and I think that’s the ultimate dream.”

Alex Allen (CS ’13)

School fundraisers are no longer about selling cookies and wrapping paper.

But while the digital era of school fundraising allows teachers to easily set up their own fundraising websites to raise money for supplies, events, and infrastructure, Alex Allen found that administrators wanted more oversight and control over these crowdfunding ventures.

Enter Classmunity, fundraising management software for schools that allows districts to approve and track fundraisers, including both online donation campaigns and in-person events. Allen founded the company three years ago with several other Illinois Tech alumni and works as the company’s chief technology officer, developing the software and ensuring it can scale up as the company takes on more clients.

“What I learned at IIT was how to integrate complex systems and think holistically,” he says. “Learning how to learn is the most important thing, because in a field like technology, there are always so many new frameworks and languages and practices.”

The company has clients throughout Wisconsin and is looking to expand throughout the Midwest. It also continues to incorporate new features, including an online marketplace. Turns out people missed buying and selling those cookies, after all.