ST. JOHN’S, NL — Some College of the North Atlantic (CNA) alumni are hoping to add to their squad – TxtSquad, that is.
The tech start-up is owned, operated, and founded all by instructors and alum of CNA.
Josh Taylor, Software Development instructor at the college’s Prince Philip Drive (PPD) campus, says TxtSquad is hoping to make team communication as effective and easy as simply sending a text.
The TxtSquad crew: Tim Bonnell, Mike Power, Josh Taylor, and Rainey Cromwell. The tech start-up is owned, operated, and founded all by instructors and alum of CNA.
“TxtSquad is a team texting system that allows organizations to engage with those who matter most,” he said. “We help organizations boost engagement and make communication more accessible.”
Taylor, along with Tim Bonnell, a graduate of the Software Development (Co-op) program (previously Programmer Analyst program), started the tech-savvy business in 2017.
“I was Tim’s Instructor,” said Taylor, who is the company’s CEO. “We connected after he had been working for a year at another start-up and wanted to do something new. It was a very lucky coincidence. He’s been invaluable to our team.”
Rounding out the TxtSquad team is Rainey Cromwell, who graduated from the Graphic Design program, and fulfils that role with the company. Michael Power, also a graduate of the Programmer Analyst Program, is TxtSquad’s Software Developer. Both graduated from CNA in 2020.
“They have been fantastic additions to our team, and both are a credit to their respective programs,” said Taylor.
Together, they are working on delivering state-of-the-art technology to their clients. Their goal is to make two-way automated communication more accessible, natural, and responsive so that organizations can increase its engagement with large numbers of people at one time.
“TxtSquad is a cloud-based messaging platform that sends messages over SMS,’ Taylor explained, adding that there are two primary apps: a web-based app that can be used on any computer or device, and an iPhone and Android smartphone app.
Taylor, who is originally from Grand Falls-Windsor, says he had a “light bulb moment” in 2018 while working on a software project with Bonnell.
“We were having challenges getting users inside the company to engage with the platform we were building so we introduced text messaging notifications. It changed engagement immediately so we were looking to integrate a more robust texting tool and couldn’t find one that suited us.”
So, they built
TxtSquad instead.
“Texting is the lowest barrier to communication we have, and it’s not being used enough by organizations,” Taylor said. “Apps and emails just don’t get the engagement. So that’s our mission: helping organizations engage. We are excited for the future!”
For more information about CNA's School of Business and Information Technology programs, visit
www.cna.nl.ca.
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Media contact:
Ryanne McIsaac
Content Specialist
College of the North Atlantic
709-643-7870
Ryanne.mcisaac@cna.nl.ca