Mike Turner: Independence is Bliss

2006 University of Illinois alum, Mike Turner, is well on his way to being a successful business owner. Turner, who graduated with a BS in Aerospace Engineering, has been to two Cozad competitions with great venture ideas.

His first competition in 2006 was with Mobile Immersion, a venture creating motion sensor gloves for gaming applications. His second Cozad was in 2007 with Realmware Corporation, founded by Dan Moorehead. Realmware is a venture that constructed a tool to make it easier for regular people to create their own video games.

Though Turner helped the company get off the ground after Cozad, he moved on with his own ideas. He said that he was itching to start a company of his own- one that he could claim and that would give him his independence.

So, Turner decided to found his own game development firm that would provide contract game development services and that would also create its own massively multiplayer games. To date, the company, Bitfold, is making an impressive amount of revenue. According to Turner, they are getting close to releasing their first massively multiplayer game. “So, if it does well,” Turner said, “we will be in the money and moving on to making tons of other great games.”

Although he has spent the last three years investing all his time and earnings back into his company, Turner does still have a social life. He still has time to party, date, see his family and friends and go on religious explorations. What he loves most about being his own boss is that he has the freedom to live life exactly how he wants and go to work exactly when he wants.

As Bitfold becomes more successful, Turner is also accumulating more money and time to travel. He travels around the world for both business and pleasure, which he says is so much better than spending 40 hours a week in a windowless cubicle like many of his fellow U of I graduates are currently doing.

Turner says that his time at U of I really helped him prepare for his recent successes. He stated that Brian Lilly of the Technology Entrepreneur Center is a “hard-nosed, to the point entrepreneur who can give you the guidance you need and will tell you in plain English what’s wrong and right with your venture.”

The extra-curriculars offered at U of I were a great way for Turner to explore professional and personal interests. He thinks it was definitely an excellent launching point into life and into his career.