John Knific

 

 

CEO and Co-Founder of
Decision Desk

 

 

by Miano Weekes-Parris, crew 5

 

 

John Knific, age 27, has accomplished what few people his age have done.  He has started and continues to successfully expand a company.  His business, Decision Desk, began when John was just a college student.  Since then he has worked hard to make his company a success.

 

John decided to start his company Decision Desk, at the young age of 19. He wanted to help high school grads get accepted into college by simplifying the application process. Decision Desk provides a web platform for colleges to use in order to allow students to send all of their documents to one place on the internet.  This prevents the loss of application materials and streamlines the application process for both schools and students. Since he started his company, which was originally called Citizen Groove, has grown to help students apply for over four thousand colleges here in the US and other countries around the world.

 

“When we launched, we had zero dollars in revenue, and it was just me and two college friends,” John said.  He loved the idea of starting his company.  When he graduated college he then decided to focus on his company and not pursue medical school. Because he was able to dedicate all of his time to his company, Decision Desk was successful.

 

Cleveland Institute of Music was the first school that Decision Desk started helping students apply for. Now the company services lots more schools and has grown to thirteen full time employees.  John plans to extend the company to seventeen employees by year end.

 

John and his associates found a better way for colleges to provide applications for their arts programs.  Their program makes the application process more efficient and less costly. They realized schools were inefficient at managing their application processes and wanted a better way to do it. Decision Desk also provides an easier way for students to add videos to their applications.

Right now, John has identified schools outside of the US as being complicated. Because of this, they have not tried to grow their business internationally although it is easier to do business now than it was a few years ago all thanks to the internet.

 

John wants his startup company to grow even more but not take over his life, like he has seen other companies do to their executives. John advises potential business owners not be afraid to start their own business projects. He told us it helps to reinforce what you learned at school and what you are good at. John’s advice for students is to stay passionate about what you like to do.

While interviewing John Knific we learned more about his company Decisions Desk, a bit about his personal life and were given advice for the future. Although starting a business may be difficult once a person stays disciplined and remains passionate there is no reason they cannot be successful. John said, “Growing a company is harder than starting it. Ideas can come easily; getting them started is the hard part.”