Bridging a Web Gap

David Stinemetze ’06

When David Stinemetze was asked to blog at his former programmer job, he considered using a fake domain name.

“I didn’t want to stick with the boring Example.com or whatever it usually is,” he says. “I decided to create something completely random, and that was WidgetsandBurritos.com.”

Ultimately, he registered the domain name because he liked the way it sounded. A few years later when Stinemetze saw there was a gap in the San Antonio online market that needed to be filled, he decided to break out on his own. And he realized he already had a name for his business. Launched in 2011, Widgets and Burritos offers programming and development efforts to agencies to make their Web products more robust. He doesn’t help to design a website, he says, or to create Web advertising.

“I’m strictly a programmer. I love code; I understand code,” he says. “And I have a lot of partnerships with design companies, PR firms and ad agencies if they need to outsource programming.”

His love of all things code started when he was in middle school and continued into high school. When it was time to focus on a career Stinemetze turned to his hobby and applied to the UTSA computer science program as an undergraduate.

Although his business is mostly a one-man show and keeps him busy, he recently, hired a UTSA graduate to work for him as an intern.

Stinemetze’s advice to those thinking of opening a business is to go for it. “It might be scary,” he says, “but I got some advice from a friend and it pushed me over that cliff, and I’m grateful. Don’t let the fear of failure keep you from trying.”