What began as a side hustle for two Clemson University seniors has become Undergrads, a full-fledged business spanning five cities in two states.
In early 2017, Chris Dyer and Thomas Mumford decided to make some extra money before graduation by offering their labor services to folks nearby who needed help moving. The pair posted an ad on Craigslist, the jist of which was, "You provide us with a truck, and we'll provide you with affordable, efficient labor."
"People have always given us feedback that they like how [affordable] we are, compared to other moving companies," Dyer said. "All they have to do is rent a U-Haul and hire us."
Dyer said the response was more than they hoped for. As as they began to finish their industrial engineering degrees, the two building a user-friendly platform for requesting users.
The app, he said, is similar to popular ride share platforms in that the customer submits their move information, and it's pushed to the app's network of college students who've signed up to be movers. Then the students get a notification, can apply for the job, are approved and paid all on the platform.
Movers' pay starts at $15 per hour, and moving rates are $45 per mover, per hour.
After graduation in 2018, they both secured full-time jobs out of state and continued running the company on a part-time basis, but Dyer said with an expansion into Greenville and increased demand, it quickly became clear that Undergrads would need to be all or nothing. They chose all.
"We were stretched too thin, so we figured it was time to make a decision," he said. "We went all-in."
By the end of 2019, Dyer said Undergrads had launched in Columbia and was able to expand to Charleston and Charlotte in May and June, respectively. Currently, the company employs 170 college students through the app.
"Charlotte has been one of our best performing markets, which is a bit surprising," Mumford said "We thought it would be more expensive to get into a larger market, especially because of the other, more established options, but competing with them hasn't been an issue."
Mumford said he and Dyer had discussed expanding to potentially employ non-college students but ultimately decided to stick with the original business model.
"We thought about whether we were going to pigeonhole ourselves... But our customers have liked that they know what they're going to get [with the college students] on the other side of that request," Mumford said. "It really helps the consumer to know exactly who will be showing up... and we are busting at the seams with students who want to join."
More recently, Mumford said they're looking to raise between $300,000 and $400,000 in seed funding.
"We'll use that to grow our tech and make it much more robust so that it supports up to 500 users," he said. "And next year, we'll be looking to expand into new markets."
But Undergrads isn't just a moving company. In October, the company is launching its second service, Technology Home Services, where the students will be able to help customers set up home tech items. Dyer said the idea is to cultivate repeat customers.
"Our grand vision is really to be a tech company for home services, powered by students," Dyer said. "Our hope is that [customers] who have used us to move will think of us and know that whatever service we provide you with, you're going to get that reliable college kid to come do it."
