When Sharon Cantwell bought a home in Park City five years ago, she worried about whether she’d have to change her high-tech, fully-wired lifestyle.
Not only was she pleased to find a high quality AT&T network, but quickly realized how many smart phone applications (apps) enhanced her mountain lifestyle. They helped her measure how far she’d cycled, how much powder was on the slopes, what the best-rated restaurants were and what Sundance movies to see.
So naturally, when she couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a hair appointment, she looked to an app for help.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t one. In fact, under the “Beauty” category in the iTunes store she found make-up tips and pictures of bikini models.
So she made her own.
This wasn’t a stretch. Cantwell spent 20 years in the high-tech industry, most recently with Motorola. She had so much fun creating her app, Beauty Minder, Cantwell made it her full-time career. She now runs Outside Ventures and creates apps to enhance the mountain lifestyle. She’s also open to working with area businesses to localize her existing apps or create new ones.
Technology is one of Park City’s fastest growing sectors, and Cantwell said she’s excited to be a part of it.
Beauty Minder sells for $1.99 and does a lot more than tell her when her last hair appointment was. The home page has icons for every type of beauty treatment, and the app works as a health, beauty and fitness calendar to remind her of every appointment and goal.
She can access contact information, set reminders, view her spending history, call and email the salons and studios, and find new places with a map.
The spring 2010 issue of InStyle magazine called it one of their “favorite new beauty apps.”
With her first effort a success, an app instantly came to mind when her husband asked her to come along on a fishing trip.
The Fishing Organizer, available for $4.99, helps plan a fishing trip and share important information with friends. In addition to a “to do” checklist, she can obtain destination and guide information, record her casts, take photos, journal her experiences and get weather information.
If friends want to know who is going, she can send around a list. If they want to know what to bring, she can email all her suggestions. If they want to know where she had success on the river, she can send them a map and a photograph of where she caught fish.
Coming soon is The Hunting Organizer, she said.
Her small team has a few more ideas on the docket, and she’s willing to chat with Park City people about new ideas.
“I’m open minded in developing the direction we’re headed,” she said.
Cantwell said Park City is the ideal place for this business because of all the savvy people who find ways to make a living in paradise. If a smart phone can make living or working here easier, she wants to help create the application.
Sharon Cantwell
Outside Ventures LLC
435-658-5298