Steve Martocci's cell phone rings.

It's his brother. "Dad's in the hospital. He had a brain aneurism."

Martocci's heart drops. When he finally makes it to the waiting room, his father is in surgery. His family greets him, their spirits low. And now—the wait. Martocci sits. His mind wanders. To the OR. To the days ahead. Hospital waiting rooms have an uncanny way of raising questions:

What's going on in there?

If dad makes it, what happens then?

Our family is here now, but what about tomorrow? How will we stay in touch for emergency news?

He has an idea: GroupMe. It's a simple, free service that lets people communicate in a group via text messages, like a chatroom on cell phones. It's an awkward topic to broach at the moment, and the technology is literally just months old, but it's worth a shot. He explains how GroupMe will help them maintain around-the-clock contact with each other, stay updated on his father's condition, and coordinate hospital visits, all via text messages. He sincerely believes in it. He should, he created it. The family needs no convincing; they form a text group.

Dad pulls through the initial surgery. And, in the days and months ahead, GroupMe performs as Martocci (HS'04) envisioned: beautifully. His uncle, a spinal surgeon at the same hospital where his father is being treated, even uses it to send medical updates from the OR.

Although Martocci cofounded GroupMe to help coordinate music festivals, it proved its merit as a real-life companion. The rest of the country is catching on. GroupMe, less than two years old, is currently valued at around $35 million. That includes a $10 million investment from Khosla Ventures, a venture capitalist firm headed by Vinod Khosla (E'78).

For Martocci, his father's hospital visit highlighted GroupMe's value: "That's when I knew this was a tool for everyone—not just tech geeks. It's so simple, your parents can use it." Happily, that still includes his dad.

—Nicholas Ducassi (A'10)