Robert Moore is founder and CEO of the thriving startup RJMetrics, but he still manages to find time for mentoring Temple students. Luckily, the man is no stranger to multi-tasking.
An entrepreneur since high school, Moore began his first web design firm before turning eighteen, then created and sold Poker odds software while studying at Princeton.
“Entrepreneurship is in my blood,” he said, adding: “If you knew what you were in for [when starting a business]…you’d have to be a bit out of your mind.”
It’s an inspiring kind of “insanity.” In 2009, Moore directed his formidable energy into his first “potential billion-dollar idea”: RJMetrics, a cloud-based software solution for small-to-medium sized companies.
“I noticed a trend of fast-growing companies not being able to understand their data to run their businesses better. The Fortune Five Million is really underserved in that universe. We started with a very real problem and built the right solution for it.”
RJMetrics provides a web-based service that empowers its clients to analyze customer data and make better decisions through that data analysis; they serve companies that range from mom-and-pop shops to medium-sized corporations.
“We use ingenuity and the cloud, and we take advantage of open-source software,” said Moore, noting the timeliness of his company’s inception. “The business can only exist in this time.”
For the Fox School’s Management Information Systems department, RJMetrics is a kind of pedagogical turnkey: the perfect real-world example of core concepts and methodologies taught in David Schuff’s Data Analytics course.
“[Robert] came in and did a guest talk in the class,” said Professor Schuff. “We also created two projects that are linked to what RJMetrics does: in the first exercise, our students use RJMetrics’ database that feeds the trial version of their product to perform a sophisticated data analysis in Excel. In the second exercise, students use their knowledge of data visualization to evaluate the effectiveness of the graphs and charts in RJMetrics’ dashboard.”
Thanks to Moore’s willingness to mentor at the university, it’s become a fruitful partnership. This past year, Moore delivered the keynote address at Temple’s Analytics Challenge, addressing the growing “data exhaust” that’s collecting and being stored in the cloud: “[It] changes the way that data can and is used…[and] changes the future of business.”
Moore’s knowledge, expertise, and savvy are valuable assets to Temple’s students—but the symbiosis is mutually beneficial. “It’s awesome to see that kind of passion for knowledge [in the students],” said Moore. “It kind of makes me feel young again: to be in the room with a bunch of students who are clearly very smart, very driven, and have a lot to learn. And the other side of the coin? We hire a lot of Temple students.”
For Schuff, the possibilities are numerous. When asked what was cooking for his newest roster of incoming students, Schuff said: “We definitely plan to engage with RJMetrics in future classes.”