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A Different Kind Of Matchmaking: Students set up Web site that aims to link business community to WFU students
Journal Photo by Lauren Carroll
Wake students Tim Griesser (from left), Brett Apter and Ben Comer have teamed up to run their entrepreneurial venture mySavu.com.
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Published: October 31, 2009
Ben Comer and Brett Apter began a new business while the country was in the throes of the recession.
That's a risk that not many people would take.
But these aren't your average entrepreneurs -- Comer and Apter are students at Wake Forest University.
Last January, while the rest of their classmates were kicking back over Christmas break, Comer and Apter returned to campus early, holed up in a dorm room, opened their laptops and started contacting local businesses about the students' new online advertising business, mySavu.com.
"We sold $400 of advertising," Comer said about their first day's effort. "Brett and I are thinking, ‘We're running this out of our dorm room, and there's a recession?' We realized that we had something going on," Comer said.
MySavu tries to connect Wake Forest students with Winston-Salem's business community. The Web site features about 100 businesses, ranging from coffee shops to yoga boutiques to auto-repair shops. Each business's page includes a brief description, contact information, a link to Google Maps, ratings, and in some cases, discounts.
Comer, a junior, is pursuing a major in communications and a minor in entrepreneurship. Apter, a psychology major, is also pursuing a minor in entrepreneurship.
The business started as a project for one of their entrepreneurial classes last fall. The assignment was to come up with a sustainable business.
They started thinking about the habits of students at Wake Forest and realized that beyond a football game or concert, students don't go into the community.
"Brett and I realized that Winston-Salem has a lot to offer but unfortunately, students are not taking advantage of it," Comer said.
With help from their adviser, John Wigodsky, they shaped a business plan.
They put together a focus group and asked students what types of services most interest them, and conducted a survey that drew more than 220 responses.
Comer said that they paid special attention to making the site user-friendly. Businesses are grouped together, and each page includes as much notable information as possible. A person could click to a business's Web site for more information, but most of what a person needs to know about a business is on the mySavu page.
Bren Varner, the program director of the University Center for Entrepreneurship, said that other students have tried to link Winston-Salem businesses and Wake Forest students, but none of those projects were as dynamic as Apter and Comer's.
"They definitely saw a need that existed," Varner said. "Local businesses are very interested in connecting with Wake Forest students, and Brett and Ben did an exceptional job of taking this to the next level and figuring out a way to effectively connect Winston-Salem with students at Wake Forest."
Sensing an opportunity, Comer and Apter decided to turn their classroom project into a real-world venture. The name, mySavu, is a play on the French word savoir, which means, "to know." They shortened the word and added "my" to make it sound personal.
As an incentive for students, faculty and staff members to use the site, they have asked businesses to include some sort of discount, Comer said.
Last spring, a third Wake student, Tim Griesser, joined the team, and over the summer, they added sales representatives. Advertisers can choose from a number of packages. Comer declined to reveal the advertising rate; he also didn't want to say how many visits the site has gotten, but he did say that traffic has grown each month.
Sarah Hummell, who owns Café Roche, a coffee shop on Hawthorne Avenue, said she wants to reach college students because of some of the things her business offers -- caffeine, free wireless Internet and a quiet space away from campus. While researching ways to reach that crowd, she stumbled upon mySavu.
"I was impressed with their presentation," Hummell said. "To me, it was a no-brainer. It wasn't a tough sell."
Comer said that the goal is to build mySavu into a sustainable business -- Apter and Greisser will graduate next year -- and expand to other colleges.
Despite juggling books and balance sheets, Comer said he and his partners still have time to socialize.
"We still have a life," said Comer, who also plays mellophone in the school's marching band. "We're not living under a box."
lo'donnell@wsjournal.com | 727-7420
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