Ying and Yang: Owners of new web-app firm share duties
Published 11:00 pm Monday, May 20, 2013
The website says it all. Bitgraft.com shows exactly what partners Jordan Floyd and Coy Woolard can create for a company.
The site also shows how new the business is. The Washington residents started Bitgraft, a web-development business, in April.
“We probably started working on this about a year ago. We started kicking around the idea of starting out by ourselves and doing something more creative,” said Jordan Floyd, 25, business-solutions architect and cofounder of Bitgraft.
He and Woolard, 28, are self-taught computer pros. They have been working with web development, honing their skills since they were students at Washington High School.
“He is an extremely intelligent programmer,” Floyd said of Woolard. “The level of knowledge he’s been able to gain is far more advanced than I am.”
Woolard is the ying to Floyd’s yang. His computer acumen is balanced by Floyd’s business knowledge.
“We just meld well together. We kind of lean on each other,” said Woolard, lead developer and co-founder of Bitgraft. “He shares my entrepreneurial spirit and thinks big.”
The best part of starting a web development business, said Floyd, is that it can be done anywhere. A love for the area, friends and family ties anchored the pair to Washington.
“We have a lot of family here and friends we’ve made throughout the years,” Woolard said.
Floyd said he loves living close to the water. His love for the outdoors inspired the partners’ latest phone application. The new app has not been launched yet, but both are optimistic.
“It’s called Fish Scale,” Floyd said. “It’s gonna change the way people fish recreationally.”
The business may be relatively new, but Floyd and Woolard are starting to see the fruits of their labor. Floyd said it is because they fill a niche in this market.
“Revenue is coming in,” Floyd said. “In this area, I don’t think we have competition in eastern North Carolina. There might be one guy in Greenville who does what we do, but that’s about it.”
Woolard and Floyd devote about 20 hours a week to the new business. They have day jobs at Flanders Filters and are enrolled in school. Woolard is pursuing a master’s degree, and Floyd seeks a bachelor’s degree.
Floyd said their drive is what will lead to a successful business.
“We don’t take time off — even on weekends we’re collaborating,” he said. “That’s what separates the successful from the unsuccessful. Everybody wants to be successful, but there’s only a select few willing to do what it takes to get there.”