An innovative new app aims to redefine how UChicago students interact with their campus community. By using CampusConnect, set to launch sometime during January, a student can arrange a quick coffee delivery, find academic tutoring, buy second-hand textbooks or network with like-minded individuals.
Co-founders Joseph Massabni and Abhiraj Paliwal, both fourth-years in the College, said the app will combine the benefits of a campus-specific gig economy along with social, pre-professional and economic networking opportunities.
The mobile app will soft-launch this month, with an official launch to follow in March. Massabni and Paliwal said they are enthusiastic about the app’s potential to become a vital part of the College experience.
The app will be similar in functionality to the job features of LinkedIn and the service features of Facebook Marketplace, but is tailored to the unique experiences and needs of UChicago students. It is essentially a one-stop shop for all things related to UChicago life.
“Because we are exclusive to UChicago, we can have communities exclusive to you, like campus-specific research opportunities,” Massabni said. “So let’s say you want to do research with a specific professor and a specific department that’s something really unique to UChicago. You could find that connection on this app much easier than you’d be able to on Facebook or LinkedIn.”
The idea for the app stemmed from a project in a cross-listed undergraduate course in UChicago’s Booth School of Business called “Building the New Venture.” A group including Massabni and Paliwal, as well as undergraduate students Roshini Balan and Savon Watson, took the course together during the summer quarter of their second year and developed an early prototype.
At the end of the class, the group presented their concept to venture capital professionals and received unanimous feedback that CampusConnect was onto something big. This pushed Massabni and Paliwal to take CampusConnect as far as it could go, developing a prototype in the fall of 2022—a gig-economy website that notified users on their phones when someone submitted a request.
After finalizing the prototype website in January of this year, the duo began to build their testing group at the beginning of February. To bring users to test their website, they put up flyers around campus, did campus-wide giveaways, and set up advertising stalls. They created a testing group of 89 students, and each user has requested to be added to the pre-launch list of the final site and app.
Massabni and Paliwal have worked diligently to engage with students and spread the word about their app across campus, from giving out Red Bull drinks to emceeing promotional events outside of Regenstein Library. Their most successful promotion was offering free coffee, delivered directly to students at the libraries across campus.
The launch in winter quarter will include 15+ RSOs and nearly 200 users. They will also be promoting the functions and capabilities of the app around campus.
As excitement builds for the launch of an app, the founders hope it will change the way UChicago students connect, with both emphasizing the value of pursuing new ideas.
“I think you really just have to start, no matter what skills you have, or no matter where you’re at right now, I think you just have to give it your full effort. We worked really hard to create a website prototype and learned a lot from that,” said Massabni.
“Honestly, just do it and commit to it,” added Paliwal. “If you genuinely think your idea has legs, do everything you can to get it out there and don’t be dissuaded by whatever hardships or obstacles you may face; there’s always a way around it.”
The website and app’s sign-up process is available to both students and faculty, and is open to anyone with a UChicago email.