It’s not every day that one says no to a full-time job at Goldman Sachs – but that’s precisely what Travis Montaque did.
The 22-year-old University of Miami senior decided that, after graduation, he would continue to be the CEO of his own company, Splyst, LLC., a platform for discovering, organizing, and sharing interests that revolutionizes how people use information on the web. Montaque describes Splyst as an “emotion engine” that has a mission “to eliminate the noise of the web by matching information with the people who are interested in it.”
Montaque founded the technology company in his sophomore year, while majoring in finance in the School of Business. It has since grown into a multimillion-dollar business and will be rolling out a mobile app in May, with a desktop site to follow.
Montaque is a Pembroke Pines native who attended Everglades High School in Miramar. During his years at UM, he was the founding president of the UM Economics Club, vice chairman of the Dean’s Undergraduate Advisory Board and a Titan on the School of Business’ prestigious Hyperion Council, which offers consultations on operations and strategy for businesses in disadvantaged communities. He was also a Bermont Carlin Scholar and an investment banking analyst intern at Barclays Capital and an intern at Trivest. In the spring of 2014, Montaque was tapped into Iron Arrow, the highest honor attainable at the University. He has also earned membership in both Mortar Board and Omicron Delta Kappa honor societies.
Montague said that of all the on-campus activities he was involved with at UM, the one that meant the most was founding the Economics Club. “Bringing together a group of students who are concerned about what’s going on in the world, growing it and seeing it thrive after I’m gone – that’s my way of leaving my mark on the campus, my legacy I guess.”
His activism and leadership garnered him an invitation to speak about entrepreneurship as a solution to the global problem of youth unemployment at the ninth Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting in 2013. “The Blackstone Group asked the LaunchPad to pick one student entrepreneur, out of all the schools that have LaunchPad, to be considered to speak at CGI,” Montaque said. “They asked me if I was interested, I was interviewed by a Blackstone Group executive down here, and was selected. So I went to New York!”
Montaque said he managed to do all of this, and graduate with a high GPA, through time management. “You have to decide what your priorities are, and be very organized, or it won’t work,” he said. “It really requires a lot of effort and enthusiasm to make all of this balance – work and school, school and social – but it can be done.”
Annette Gallagher can be reached at 305-284-1121; Barbara Gutierrez at 3015-284-3205.
University of Miami
Coral Gables, FL 33124
305-284-2211