Future Help Designs grows staff by 3 as it works to grow app community

Future Help Designs knows it will be plenty busy as it continues to create mobile apps from its headquarters in downtown Pontiac. The 3-year-old start-up also wants to keep even more metro Detroiters employed as the app economy continues to emerge a significant economic driver.

"We can't get every job that is out there for mobile developers," says Christian Marcillo, CEO of Future Help Designs. "We want to help other people be ready to do those jobs."

To do that, Future Help Designs is offering training classes for people and companies interested in learning how to make mobile apps. The Mobile Developer Workshop Series will train people who want to get into the mobile app industry and for companies that would like to bring some of that work in-house.

The bottom line is Future Help Designs wants to grow the app development community in not only Pontiac but the region overall. It hopes that by attracting local arm-chair developers and tech-oriented firms into the industry it will foster "a rising tide that lifts all boats" philosophy.

"We're helping the community grow in terms of the mobile app domain," says Christian Marcillo, CEO of Future Help Designs. "We're going to be expanding it through our classes."

Future Help Designs got its start when Marcillo and Glen Konopaske, two Mac fanatics, were downsized from their corporate jobs. The duo began making iPhone apps and have since expanded into other mobile applications. The company moved out of their homes last year and into office space in downtown Pontiac as part of the city's Rise of the Pheonix program.

It now employs a team of 19 people after making three hires over the last year. It hopes to continue adding staffers as it grows.

Source: Christian Marcillo, CEO of Future Help Designs
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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