Almost everyone's heard about the reluctant date, the person that's asked out and agrees only because they feel bad for the other person.

The reluctant businessperson, however, is more of a rarity. But if Jeff Cole and Brandon Smith, co-founders of iConcertCal, were asked out by any of the 130,000 users who have downloaded their software, they would probably accept, reluctantly.

That's because they could care less about business. The two electrical engineers, one a UW graduate and the other a UW graduate student, simply enjoy writing code. In fact, that's how iConcertCal was born. Smith said he was just "messing around one weekend" when he created the program two summers ago.

"I created it for myself, and Jeff ended up seeing it and wanted to post it online for our friends to use," Smith said. "I put our info on [isuethis.com], and from there, it started hitting all these blogs all over. [It] grew out of control from there."

iConcertCal is a plug-in that uses the iTunes music library to tell music fans when the bands in their music library are coming to town. It is available for both Windows and Mac OS X.

The software was virtually an overnight success.

"It was entirely overwhelming," Smith said. "I knew I didn't like business, and this completely solidified it in my mind. I was so unhappy when we were talking to these companies about money."

After being named "download of the day" by lifehacker.com, a Web site that recommends software downloads and other Web sites that help people save time, iConcertCal received 9,000 hits, and it's been "absolutely crazy" ever since, the creators said.

Soon Smith and Cole were featured on the front page of digg.com, a user-driven social content site, due to a high number of user hits. The two were then contacted by potential business partners. For example, JamBase offered to let iConcertCal, which draws data from four databases in the United States and one from the U.K., use its database. The program has since been a featured download on Apple.com in February, and the creators have been subjects for articles in SPIN Magazine, Esquire magazine and GQ magazine, to name a few.

Today, the program averages between 500 and 1,000 downloads per day, while the creators receive 10-15 e-mails daily from various fans and companies interested in buying the program. One of the most unusual e-mails Cole said he received was from an Indonesian businessman who wanted to buy the rights to the program. Cole said he remains unsure as to whether or not the e-mail was a joke.

For now, the duo has no plans to sell their program. Both Cole and Smith have other careers, which limit the amount of time they can spend enhancing their program or fixing any bugs that may come up. Smith works full time as an audio engineer at Neural Audio in Kirkland, and Cole is focusing on finishing his graduate degree.

Despite other commitments, the creators want to put out the best product possible. Smith is working on a feature that would allow users to view their friends' shows and see which ones they plan on attending.

They've gotten a few hundred dollars from donations, but besides that, iConcertCal has been a total labor of love. Cole said be believes if they charged users, people wouldn't buy it.

Money, however, has never been a huge concern for the creators, who said turning down the first offer to sell was a relief.

"This company happened to me and Brandon, not the other way around," Cole said. "We went back and forth on if we should sell it, but we never did it for the money anyways, so let's not lose control ... not yet anyway."

Reach reporter Erin Hicks at news@thedaily.washington.edu.