While studying abroad, one University student conjured an idea he hopes will help bring people together, create a profit and eventually help put him through medical school.
Brandon Iglesias, a chemical engineering senior, began working on his own Web site while studying at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu.
Being a long way from home himself, the idea to bring families together through Internet sharing incited Iglesias’s inquiry.
“FamilyXL.com is a virtual home for family and friends designed to connect people separated by long distances,” Iglesias said.
The Web site enables people to share photos, sound clips, secret recipes and various other things.
“I came up with the idea while I was in Hawaii,” Iglesias said. “The student exchange kind of paved the way for me.”
The Web site also features a message board, an online filing cabinet, a joke room and a calendar.
The easy-to-use Web site is not unlike the University’s PAWS Web site, Iglesias said.
“There has been stuff like this before,” Iglesias said. “But unlike some other software, there is no learning curve — it’s simple to understand.”
The cost of membership for one family is $9.95 per month or $74.95 per year.
“Everyone in the family becomes a member and has access to the site,” Iglesias said.
FamilyXL.com Inc. recently became a tenant of the Louisiana Business and Technology Center’s business incubator at LSU.
“We assist people who want to start a business and help them develop a business plan,” said Charles D’Agostino, executive director of the LBTC.
The incubator helps Iglesias’s small new company acquire funding and set up the business properly. It also provides counseling, training support, receptionists and office supplies.
“We hope to help entrepreneurs like Brandon develop their business successfully and potentially employ LSU students and graduates,” D’Agostino said. “It is a way of keeping our educated people in Louisiana.”
Iglesias was part of an incubator in Hawaii and moved back to Louisiana to finish his work.
Iglesias plans to have the Web site up and running by May or June.
“My goal is to get the site up and running, make some money, gain a customer base, then sell the company and use the money to pay for medical school,” Iglesias said.