“I’m a little older than the average startup founder,” admits Mike Nguyen, who didn’t launch his first company until he was in his forties. But he and his business partner Allen Lee made up for lost time by selling it a few years later. At Syllabus Software, their second startup, they’re developing a platform that Nguyen describes as “Google Maps on steroids.” They’ve patented the cutting-edge technology behind HiaMaps, which can be used for everything from tracking a transit system to revamping a badly outdated 911 system.
You have to get out there with your product. With technology, there is a limited amount of time before other people catch up.
Nguyen got to where he is by a circuitous route, working as everything from a tutor to a firefighter. (“I was one of the guys with chainsaws trying to stop wildfires from spreading,” he says.) At 38, he decided to go back to school, taking courses from three different community colleges to keep from being bored. As a Columbia University grad student studying traumatic brain injuries, he came up with an idea for a game to measure hand-eye coordination. “We got lucky our first time and sold it,” says Nguyen. Their WeWork Wall Street-based team has continued to grow, but the way they work together hasn’t changed. Lee handles the software. “I am the idea person,” says Nguyen. “All of our products are based on me saying, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if we had something like this?’”
Photos: Emanuel Hahn