Entrepreneurship is alive and well at Trinity. Seniors Nick Sortor and John Clere have created a product that acts as an amplifying sound system and a phone case at the same time. The case amplifies whatever someone is listening to so they can clearly hear it. Apple and other companies have expressed interest in the invention.

“Since your case is always on your phone, your speaker is always with you, and sound level would never be a problem again,” Sortor said.

Sortor and Clere have known each other for a few years. They started talking about this product about a year ago. Clere said his engineering skills mesh well with Sortor’s entrepreneurship.

Clere said, “I do all the engineering for the most part, and Nick does all the business stuff. We’re both very good at what we do. Not to brag, but we work very efficiently with each other.”

Sortor said this idea came to him while he was listening to music in his bedroom late one night. The music on his phone wasn’t loud enough, and the quality was awful, Sortor explained.

Sortor owns an iHome but said plugging into it prevents him from using his phone the way he wants to. Of iHomes, Sortor said they are “obsolete and louder than you will ever need it to be.”

Sortor said this venture has been a learning process.  “All of this was learning for both of us,” he said. “I knew the basic process, but I had never done it before.”

The whole process for developing the product was not a short one, by any means.

“First of all, we had to make sure we could develop a mechanism that was small enough, compact enough to fit inside a case that wasn’t too bulky,” Sortor said. “If the case is too bulky, nobody wants it.”

They bought hundreds of different components to test to make sure the sound quality was good and to make the case as thin as possible.   

After months of trying, they found that it was impossible to get enough power from the phone to get raise the volume adequately, so they switched to an amplifying system within the case itself. It took a year of sending designs to different manufacturers before the product was finalized and good to go.

Sortor previously worked with Apple helping design apps and other products, so he did not have much trouble making contacts. Other companies also seem interested in their product, along with multiple news agencies such as CNN.

“We got into some companies because I knew people,” Sortor said, “and others we were already affiliated with.”

Will their product be a hit? Sortor said,  “Being that (music) is a really big industry and given the price amount, I think that it can be a huge product nationally.”

Clere is also confident about the product. He said,  “I have no doubt it will be successful simply because it is such a fantastic idea and a well-executed idea. If we play our cards right, this venture will be very exciting, and we’ll really have a lot to give to the world. That’s really what we want.”

Sortor and Clere pointed out the uniqueness of their invention.  “You can go anywhere in the world, to any retailer, and find nothing even similar to this.”

They estimated this product will go worldwide and make a couple million dollars within the first year. Sortor said, “Oh absolutely, we are expanding to Europe and Asia within the first few months.”

A number of Trinity students said they were “stoked” about the product and plan to become customers.

Junior Will Liter said, “I listen to music for at least two to four hours almost every day, so this new case gets me very excited. It’s exactly what music lovers need for their phone. I am for sure going to buy one when this comes out.”

Senior Nick Sortor talks about his and John Clere’s phone case amplifier.  Video by Patrick Schmitt.