Behind Northeast Harbor’s Pine Tree Market is not where you’d expect to find the origins of some of the software behind the Olympic Games. But as of this year, 4A Tracy Road is home to New Start Mobile, a software development company whose clients include national teams for the United States, Canada, and Australia, among other regional and provincial athletic associations.

Mount Desert resident Pete Cuffari is partner and lead project developer at the company, which creates products ranging from sport-specific training resources to event management tools. Their content is based on the American Development Model, a teaching framework that promotes healthy and age-appropriate athletic development.

As a tech company, New Start Mobile brings an adaptive model of business to Northeast Harbor’s village district, one well-suited for remote work and an evolving market. “With software,” shares Pete, “it doesn’t matter what the subject is: when you focus on an industry, you can build understanding about the market and what customers need.”

Last spring, the company was preparing for the 2020 Toyko Olympics when the pandemic prompted the suspension of live events and conferences. As the sector scrambled to reboot, New Start Mobile helped its clients find new ways of generating revenue, including remote training for coaches and extra benefits for members. With the Games back on schedule for 2021, they’re enhancing their product lineup with more options for digital learning, in-app purchases, and sponsorship opportunities.

Currently, three of New Start Mobile’s five employees live on Mount Desert Island or elsewhere in Maine, where they focus on product design, testing, and development. The company’s support and management team operate remotely from Pennsylvania and Colorado. Eventually, Pete says, the company hopes to attract developers to the area with Maine’s high quality of living and lower costs than San Francisco, Austin, and Boston. At present, he notes, not many people around here build software, although he hopes that will change with recent investments from the Maine Technology Institute and Northeastern University’s Roux Institute in Portland.

In the meantime, we’re excited to welcome New Start Mobile to the village district and to Northeast Harbor’s year-round workforce. We’re also eager for Pete to join Mount Desert’s Broadband Committee, where his expertise will help to improve connections from Pretty Marsh to Otter Creek, supporting the island’s digital future.