Founder: Sam Chason, 23
Business: Storage Scholars
What it does: Pickup and delivery storage service for college students
Founded: 2017
No. employees: 2 full-time, around 350 seasonal
Website: www.storagescholars.com
Twitter: @ScholarsStorage
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/storage-scholars
Instagram: @storagescholars
As a freshman at Wake Forest, Sam Chason saw the logistical and physical struggle of international and out-of-state students shipping their items back home.
That’s how Chason and his roommate, originally from Ethiopia, got the idea for and founded Storage Scholars in 2017. They designed a pickup and delivery storage service specifically designed for college students: students receive free boxes and packing supplies, pack up their items, and Storage Scholars takes care of the rest – including delivering the items to the students’ new dorms in the fall.
Customers will often recognize those handling their boxes, as Storage Scholars hires students at each university to be movers and campus ambassadors. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Storage Scholars pivoted to be completely contactless in its pickup and delivery.
Storage Scholars utilizes custom-built software to communicate with its customers. It notifies customers every step of the way, giving real-time updates via push notifications and text messages. Clients can upload photos of their items to their accounts and purchase additional insurance for specific items. In addition, Storage Scholars takes detailed inventory that customers can view live anytime.
Starting with just 64 customers in its first year, Storage Scholars has now had 4,000 customers in its lifetime and serves 15 universities across North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Texas. In the previous fiscal year, Storage Scholars brought in just under $1.2 million in sales. From January 2021 to August alone it has made $850,000.
Chason recently has stepped into the residential moving business, launching Moving Scholars back in April. He also owns three student rental properties in Winston-Salem near the Wake Forest campus.
Chason, who graduated in May 2020, anticipates that by spring 2022, Storage Scholars will service around 25 campuses. His goal is to close the geographical map by adding more schools in the South. Chason also plans to add two to three more full-time employees by the end of the year as Storage Scholars continues to grow.
How or where do you like to connect with like-minded innovators?
There are a few places I have met some of my best connections during my time in Winston. Pitch competitions, startup incubator, entrepreneurship classes and at the bar. One of the difficulties of running a business in college is doing something that no one else is doing. I don't mean being an entrepreneur, I mean working. Everyone in college is doing school and having fun, both of which can be full-time jobs. Rarely do you find the people willing to add something else on top of that, but when you do, those are the people you surround yourself with. Through my time taking entrepreneurship classes at Wake Forest, I was connected with Winston Starts, a startup incubator in Winston-Salem that served as my junior year internship in the School of Business as well as the launching pad for continuing Storage Scholars post-graduation. Along the way I was involved in a few pitch competitions where business cards turned into free beers and more open-minded conversations. Overall, you can never know too many people, and my time in Winston has yielded connections ranging from 18-year-old employees to 75-year-old mentors and friends. This city has a deep history of financial success, and its roots can be uncovered oftentimes by the most unlikely of people.
How would you rate the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Triad?
From my experience moving from New York down to North Carolina, people are more generous and genuine. The average person is willing to put their idea aside, give you their full attention and open their entire Rolodex on the assumption that the next person will do the same for them. Their collaborative, pay-it-forward culture is akin to the dichotomy of an Ivy League school where students rip out library textbook pages to slow down the next person, whereas at Wake Forest, in Winston, in the Triad, people are looking to share notes and study guides. The Triad entrepreneurial ecosystem is the same, I have been able to meet a ton of well-connected, knowledgeable, selfless people interested in sharing everything they know. Overall, it is one of the best places to grow a business. You can't beat the cost of living, labor or capital.
What’s one way that it could be better?
Truthfully, I have not tried running my business in a different place, so there is nothing to genuinely compare and contrast the experience with. That being said, I feel my competitive edge comes from my ability to work both smarter and harder than those around me. I am more of the "retire early and often" type of person, looking to grow as fast as possible. I don't feel people have the sense of urgency I do. Everyone works hard and plays hard all at their own pace. I have plenty of fun, but when appropriate. I keep my work and social life as separate as possible and take my time "working" extraordinarily seriously. I can't be bothered with the mid-day drinks, checking out early for golf. I set clear aggressive goals every day and don't stop until my list is fully checked off.
How likely is it you will stay in and grow your business in the Triad?
I went to school here so I am definitely looking to explore other places for both personal desires and to be physically in different geographic locations to offer the personal touch needed to nurture a new market. Winston will always be where this all started and where I made lifelong connections that can't be ignored. With the student storage business, commercial moving company and the college rentals we have found ourselves in, the ties are too heavy for me to ever not call Winston my home.
