(Photo above: Jim and Lisa at a company event | photo by Casa Bay Photography)
Woman owned Binary Star Systems offers a wide range of services including graphic design, content marketing, social media management and software and mobile app development. The company works directly with entrepreneurs to help take businesses or ideas to the next level of success.
Owners Lisa and Jim Sipe have an extensive background in business and the services they offer. This characteristic is what distinguishes Binary Star Systems because rather than simply consulting and advising clients they can actually do the work to develop a company or idea.
Lisa is majority owner and serves as the creative and marketing director. With over 16 years experience she specializes in branding, website design and social media marketing. She is passionate about working with entrepreneurs and taking businesses to the next level.
Jim is the software development director and uses technology to find solutions to problems businesses confront. 15 years experience in the field allows him to help make business processes faster, easier, more efficient and productive.
Together their goal is to “take a small to medium business to the next level and help it to grow in a much faster way.” With their combined skills and knowledge Lisa and Jim can help resolve any issue a company is having.
Binary Star Systems is also focused on creating the next generation of mobile apps. The unfortunate side-effect of cell phones is a disconnect where “people spend most of their time looking down at their mobile devices and are completely separated from their current environment.” Binary Star Systems aims to improve that flaw by creating apps that help people engage. Rather than posting photos or a status these apps encourage people to work together, make memories and create something.
Binary Star Systems newest app is FoodFu which officially launched in late July. The app is an experimental game where users host cooking competitions like the TV show Top Chef at home in their kitchens.
Two contestants are allowed 45 minutes to prepare a dish and afterward two judges taste and rate based on predetermined criteria. FoodFu tallies the results and a winner is determined. The app is designed to disappear in the background while the participants interact and make memories.
Lisa and Jim are reaching out to local restaurants to host FoodFu tournaments between chefs. There are plans to add details and a more substantial reward system to the app. They are continuing to learn from market advertising so it can reach its full potential. Evidence of their ability to offer great services to their clients is exhibited by the way they manage their own company and products. They were recently selected to pitch FoodFu as finalists in the Summer of Apps: Eating & Drinking competition sponsored by Appcircus and Google.
Although they are currently focused on FoodFu there are some plans in place for the next app. It is a spin-off of FoodFu and has the tentative name of “DrinkFu” with the same concept but for home mixologists to create their own masterful cocktails in ten minute battles.
Another experimental app that may be coming in the future is called Bubble Jot. It is based on the game of telephone and allows several people to tell a shared story. If someone is trying to piece together their family history they can use the app to compile a comprehensive history.
These experimental apps bring people together to connect and share experiences which is a direct reflection of the way Lisa and Jim run their company. In their professional careers they gained experience and observed other companies mistakes which taught them how to run their business properly.
In 2003 Lisa and Jim started Star Dot Star, LLC to utilize their combined skills and assist other companies. In 2010 they put Star Dot Star on the back-burner to join long-time client Champion Medical Technologies to help take their small tissue tracking business to a corporation. Although Star Dot Star continued with select clients and small projects Lisa and Jim were focused on their new endeavor.
Four years later in 2014 the duo left to focus on their own business once again. They felt a need to return to their entrepreneurial spirit and were admittedly getting burnt out on the semi-corporate world. They now had a wider range of skills and a catalog of ideas for mobile apps.
They moved from Arizona to Bend and changed the name to Binary Star Systems. Although they initially moved to Bend for the mountain biking and trail running the economy picked up and it became the ideal tech center for their business. With their corporate experiences and passion for hiking and the outdoors, Lisa and Jim have created a work environment with balance between work and play. They model their business to fit with the spirit of Bend and their apps reflect the social and entrepreneurial energy of their business and the town they call home.
Lisa Sipe
Binary Star Systems
lisa@binarystarsystems.com
480-326-2109
