Ryan Battles '01

Ryan Battles has launched a company that makes software to help self-employed workers ride out the financial ups and downs of client work. The mission of Harpoon (harpoonapp.com) is to help freelancers achieve their financial goals, schedule projects, bill clients, track revenue, make more money, and take more vacations.

Ryan shared with us, "I built this application while pursuing entrepreneurial dreams with the support of my wife (Heather Hurst Battles, '01) who works in the Columbus area as a pediatrician. It was tough building this company while my wife was working, and we are raising our four young children (future Pioneers), and homeschooling to boot!

In addition to providing invoicing and easy online payment, Harpoon helps freelancers answer the following questions:

- When do I need to add more projects to my schedule to meet my goals?
- Is it financially okay for me to take 2 weeks off?
- Which clients and projects are the most profitable?
- How much am I really making per hour?

We have a few hundred beta testers right now from our pre-launch list and feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Freelancers are hungry for an app that gives them answers to real questions that they struggle with on a daily basis."