Combine what you love with what you're good at, throw in some good friends who share your vision and you may just have the recipe for a successful business enterprise.

College friends Barry Crell, BE '92, Joe del Tufo, AS '89, and Matt Urban, AS '91, were big music fans with dreams of being involved in their own business. Today, they are reaping rewards for their hard work and business savvy.

Their company, Mobius New Media, offers a range of media presentation services to its clients, including web page design, logo design, video production, kiosk design, graphic design and music industry specialties.

It's been just four years since the three came together, launching their business after independent successful careers. Del Tufo and Urban had been doing freelance work, developing CD-ROMs before they were a popular medium. Crell had worked as a financial planner.

Hatching a detailed business plan, the three set goals and began to get name recognition for their creation of websites for area bands.

Their first web site--for a group called Grey Eye Glances--garnered a million and a half hits. As their business started to gain momentum, the friends incorporated in 1996, quickly reaching their goal of working full-time and running a company that represented work they love.

Part of their success came from delineating jobs. Del Tufo is a writer, programmer and graphic designer at Mobius, while Urban handles video production and graphic design. As for Crell, he is the "business whiz," handling the marketing, accounting and public relations as well as some digital photography and digital audio recording. The trio employs four others at its Wilmington, Del., office and works with independent contractors on some projects.

"We are definitely ahead of where we expected to be, and a lot of that is based on the relationships that we've built," explains Crell. "We like making things work and going the extra mile for our clients to remind them that there's a reason they chose us."

It hasn't hurt that a little luck's been thrown their way, either. Selected to create a screen saver by Broughton International, which brought the Nicholas and Alexandria exhibit to Wilmington's Riverfront Arts Center last year, the Mobius team soon found itself working on a video as well as print advertising.

To date, Mobius has worked for the Delaware Small Business Development Center, the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce, DuPont, Mercury Records and MTV. Much of the Delaware work, says Crell, stemmed from an early and successful job they did with the Winterthur Museum on its web site and interactive kiosks.

Initially, the core of their work was web site design. Their own site features the range of their clients and their own design capabilities, from the floral, romantic design of the Winterthur Museum site to the nautical details of a Pot-Nets Communities site to harder-edge design representing regional bands.

While Mobius New Media has found success in the blend of multimedia services they've put together, they're already on the cutting edge of something new.

The company has forged a partnership with a local Internet software provider called Magpage to broadcast live concerts--via the Internet.

From the web site they've created, known as Studio M, viewers have the opportunity to see bands on a local or regional level, Crell says. The site has rebroadcast internationally recognized bands, but it mainly features up-and-coming independent groups. The venture is gaining popularity, Crell says, and may prove to be their most popular and lucrative endeavor to date.

"There's always surprises," says Crell of the fast-paced diversity that has defined their business. "It's a roller coaster ride, and I wouldn't change that for anything."

-Christi Milligan

Visit Mobius New Media at <www.mobiusnm.com> or <www.studiomlive.com>.