We just came across a really interesting new startup. ScholarsAd is a college-based student to student marketplace. Sure, there is Craigslist, but that is inherently sketchy. ScholarsAd takes all of this sketchiness out of buying and selling unused goods. We had a chance to ask the ScholarsAd Team a few questions about their marketplace:
ScholarsAd
What is ScholarsAd?
ScholarsAd is the online student to student advertising market place where university attendees can buy/sell/promote any goods, services, or events at their specific university. ScholarsAd is the safest and most efficient alternative to perform these actions as the current methods (Facebook, craigslist, poster boards, etc.) are either unsafe, outdated, or just not designed specifically for college students. At ScholarsAd we give college students the opportunity to “Buy it Quicker – Sell it Safer” all at their specific university.
Who is your target user?
We target college students at individual universities. Each university will have their own specific page in order for students to access our service they must have an “.edu” email for the school that we have launched at to ensure their privacy and security.
Why did you build ScholarsAd?
ScholarsAd was developed to give students a centralized hub for everything that is going on at their university campus. From school announcements, products that their peers are looking to buy and sell, or roommates for off campus living, ScholarsAd will have it. Until now there has not been
a great way for students to sell their couch, offer a Dj service, promote greek life or a community service event, etc. and we want to fill that void.
What makes ScholarsAd Unique?
What will differentiates this site from its competition is, its interface, its unique targeting to college students, the organization and layout of posts, internal social network that enables easy and fast user communication, ability to subscribe and follow certain users and categories, completely customizable notification system, our iOS and Android app, and complete security and privacy for all users.
Tell us your founding story. Was there an “ah ha” moment?
The idea was born when founder Alex Jekowsky walked past a large bulletin board while touring a University in February 2013. The board was cluttered with flyers and the information so jumbled, it was nearly just about impossible to digest all of the information. Alex sought to create a platform where students can effectively use an online pinboard for students to reach all their peers within their specific college or university community, through a user friendly, fun, and clean interface called PinboardU. Since then, the idea has developed into not just a virtual pinboard, but the centralized hub for everything “university” related with a plethora of other features.
Tell us about the founders and their backgrounds.
Alexander Jekowsky, 19, is the one and only founder of ScholarsAd. Born in Tiburon, CA he has always had a mind for turning a passion into a business. Since the age of 12 he’s been an entrepreneur, starting a highly profitable baseball tutoring and coaching company where he ran camps, clinics, group lessons, and private lessons and became one of the premier coaches around the Tiburon and Marin County Area. He also found a love for psychology, specifically organizational behavior, to understand more why happiness in life, but specifically the workplace, is so critically important but at many times very illusive. He is an incoming sophomore at Chapman University studying Business Administration with an emphasis in Entrepreneurship.
What’s next? What do your short-term goals look like?
We are just completing our second round of funding in order to finish our mobile app development and design and once completed, our next goal is to launch successfully at two universities that we are planning to launch at. We also plan to grow our number of brand ambassadors at those schools as well.
