Young alum, RED inventor launches second company

  Friday, February 27, 2015 2:00 AM
  News

Pittsburg, KS

Patrick Stoddart loathes problems.

But rather than complain about the world’s proverbial road blocks, the 22-year-old Pittsburg State alum devotes his time, energy and intellect into solving them.

“For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to solve problems,” he said. “If there is something that isn’t right or is causing issues, let’s fix it. Don’t ask questions. Don’t ask permission. Find out what you need to do to make it better. That’s always been my philosophy.”

It’s that philosophy that led him, as a teenager, to create RED (Real-time events, delivered), a messaging service that notifies subscribers of upcoming events. The system was among the first to combine text messaging, email alerts and event scheduling, and it quickly became a nationwide success.

While still keeping one eye on RED, Stoddart has recently taken up the fight against another problem: bridging the communication gap between lawmakers and their constituents.

His newest venture, Phone2Action, helps organizations engage supporters and connect them to their local, regional and state elected officials. It’s described as a digital advocacy tool that “makes it easy for advocates to email, patch-through call, Tweet at, and post on the Facebook wall of elected officials.”

Stoddart met the company’s co-founders, Ximena Hartstock and Jeb Ory, while he was working on RED at the Think Big Partners office in Kansas City. 

“I was introduced to them while in Kansas City, and they were looking for someone to help on the technology side,” Stoddart said. “We just happened to be working side by side with each other, and it went from there.”

Phone2Action launched in October 2012 and had its first paying client in January 2013. In July 2013, the three founders moved the company to Washington, D.C.

“Our main focus is advocacy, and Washington is ground zero for political advocacy activity,” Stoddart said.

The trio found success quickly, as their paid clients already include Ford, the Consumer Electronics Association, the American Heart Association and Lyft, a popular ridesharing company that operates in several major cities in the U.S.

Phone2Action has also enjoyed national press attention, as the company has been featured in The New York Times and the Washington Post.

Stoddart, a student in the PSU Kelce College of Business from 2010-2012, credits much of his success to his time as a Gorilla.

“My time as a student in Kelce prepared me to be a leader and how to approach things systematically,” he said. “My tech skills are self-taught, but being at Pitt helped me understand how to be disciplined and how to manage, how to lead.”

What’s next for the young entrepreneur?

“There are always many ideas bouncing around in my mind, but the focus right now is RED and Phone2Action,” he said. “It’s very hard to have two companies, and we’re working hard to grow those two projects.”