Who we are
We're a team that spans the lifecycle of software development. From strategy to design and development, to marketing and growth. We come from varied backgrounds and experiences which means we know how to navigate your world. We use this knowledge to bring insight to every project, in every industry.
The majority of us live in West Michigan, with a handful of team members in other parts of the country. No matter where you’re based, we’re pros at working and collaborating with people in all time zones.
How we work
We partner with you, building the team that's right for the situation or problem at hand. We’re driven to help you achieve your end goal which means we’re going to:
- get hands-on
- ask tough questions
- test your assumptions
Our goal is to leverage our experience to build you the best digital product possible. From strategy, to prototypes, to apps that run for years, we can do it all. We build beautiful consumer-facing apps, and robust APIs that work behind the scenes. Our team works with you, and we're here for your success.
Our People
Brianna Onken
Office Manager
Brianna graduated from Marylhurst University with her Bachelor’s degree in English Literature, with a focus on creative writing. She has been working in an administrative role for 10 years.
In her free time Brianna likes to write, watch movies, listen to music, go camping, read, go dancing, bake, and spend time with family and friends.
Brianna was born and raised in Oregon and moved to Michigan in 2015. She lives with her husband, Ben and furbaby, Dakota.
Chris Gaffney
Developer
This Michigan native brings a plethora of experience in event-driven programming and hardware integration systems. He’s also responsible for driving forward our product, Dead Man’s Snitch.
Chris Rittersdorf
Developer
Chis has been interested in computers and programming since owning his first NES as a child. At Collective Idea, his expertise is in web and mobile development.
Arduino Programming in Vim
Daniel Morrison
Founder
Daniel founded Collective Idea in 2005 to put a name to his growing and already full-time freelance work. He works hard writing code, teaching, and mentoring.
Darron Schall
Developer
Darron got his internet start on crayola.com building both the website (SQL Server, ColdFusion), and Flash games (starting with Flash 4, then Flash 5 when ActionScript was first introduced). He’s been a lead software engineer, CTO, startup founder, and many roles in between.
Let's make Twirp and Protobufs easier with Ruby
David Genord II
Developer
David has been building websites since 8th grade. After working to integrate third-party automotive data with internal systems, he now brings his vast and wide knowledge to Collective Idea.
Guillermo Rangel
Developer
Guillermo is user experience focused developer. His interest in programming was sparked after writing his first program on a TI-83 calculator back in high school. At Collective Idea, Guillermo leverages his passion for making things better through code to create awesome software.
Matt Slack
Front-End Developer
Long a secret weapon at Collective Idea, Matt has been involved with Collective Idea projects since the beginning. He’s our resident web front-end master (webmaster?) who can knock out CSS and HTML faster than you can think.
Fun with SVG: CSS background-blend-mode Fallback
Victor Sirotek
Creative Director
Victor is both a manager of expectations and a designer of experiences for Collective Idea. He’s enjoyed leading projects, designing apps, and creating thoughtful experiences since 2002.
