We talked with Towson University senior Gabriel Brandao about his app, Headphone Connect, which is the North American regional winner of Google’s AdMob Student App Challenge. Brandao, a computer science major, is the CEO and founder of Skytrait, a mobile app company.
Brandao is founder and CEO of Skytrait and developer of the award-winning Headphone Connect app.
What is Headphone Connect?
It’s an Android app for your phone. Instead of having to scroll through your phone to find a music app, a dialogue box pops up with apps. You just click, and the app opens up immediately. It doesn’t use a lot of power. It doesn’t spam anything. It doesn’t take your personal information. It’s convenient—plug in your headphones and launch the app you want. There is also less fiddling with your phone while walking from class to class, so you don’t bump into people. I’ve done that before.
I got the idea because my Samsung phone has something similar. You plug in your headphones and a notification icon comes up but you can’t configure it or change it. So I figured I’d make my own version. I never intended to put it on the market, but I showed it to a few people who said, “Oh yeah, I’ll use that,” so I put an interface on it. Then, I cleaned it up for the Google Play market and they liked it.
How do you balance being a student and creating apps?
App development is my part-time job. I had an internship over the summer, but during the semester and winter break this is how I pay my rent and this is how I eat. So I have time I devote to my classes, time I devote to myself, my fraternity and my friends, and then time that normally would go to a part-time job that goes into app development.
I’m a computer science major so the work I do for my classes usually ties into app development. My laptop never leaves my side on campus or at home. I try to keep myself productive from the time I wake up, so at the end of the day I can kick back, hang out with friends and just relax.
How did it feel to be honored by Google for developing Headphone Connect?
That was just the best feeling ever—incredible. I made something that a company like Google, with a panel of judges with really big names, thought, “All right, this is the best one out of all of North America.” That meant a lot to me.
After seeing success in this year’s contest, what are your goals for the future?
I want to win the whole thing—that’s the ultimate goal. The new app will be useful for students, especially those on campus. It’s a student contest. I wanted to make something for students.
[Regarding the business] I have two interns working for me, so my goals are to expand my company, finish a new app that I’m working on with my friend for the 2015 contest and pass all of my classes.
What advice do you have for someone looking to create a successful app?
Don’t get frustrated. The Android market is so massive that no matter what problem you have, somebody else has also had that problem. Somebody else has posted on the Internet and somebody else has gotten a solution to that problem. Start off small and work your way up. Don’t take on huge challenges in the beginning. You want to have stepping stones to get to where you want.
