When Andrew Bikash and Ben Grossman arrived at the University of Rhode Island, they were surprised at how much in common they had with their peers.
They all had the entrepreneurial drive, the desire to make money and find side hustles.
Seeing this, the two freshmen teamed up and developed the app KANU so their fellow students could turn their ideas into reality.
Pronounced “can you,” the app is a peer-to-peer marketplace that helps students find side gigs, launch businesses, sell products and complete any other transaction in what the two co-founders call the “campus economy.”
“Students are taking their interests and essentially launching it on the platform,” Bikash told Rhode Island Inno. “Our goal is to build up the campus community and give students the opportunity to make their college experience better by earning money, getting a real job by discovering random opportunities around campus and connecting with students in a new way.”
The app is strictly for students, and communication is intended to occur between students at the same campus — not across two different campuses.
“Our goal is to build up the campus community and give students the opportunity to make their college experience better."
KANU-based transactions since its URI launch include a laundry pick-up service, a damage-tracking business for students with landlords, a gas delivery service and a desperate late-night search at the library for a calculus tutor.
“The post variety is infinite and it’s very open to any idea that a student entrepreneur has,” said Bikash.
Bikash and Grossman initially began developing the app during their freshman year two years ago, and they released a first version of the software in the app store in the spring of 2019. Since that time, the duo has regularly collected feedback from advisers and about 350 of the app's users.
Thus far, the community has been impressed.
Recently, Grossman and Bikash took home top honors for their oral presentation on KANU at URI’s 2019 Showcase of Undergraduate Research, Scholarly and Creative Works, which featured the work of 58 students across 27 unique majors.
Grossman and Bikash were also recently named to Rhode Island Inno’s “Inno Under 25” list and a recipient of the Inno on Fire award.
The company plans to launch a new version of the app this spring, which will incorporate new features to make the software run smoother. And, besides unveiling KANU's next iteration, Bikash said the company would ask focus mostly on brand building as opposed to revenue — at least for the time being.
