DormAid Provides College Services While Empowering Entrepreneurs

Right next to College Boxes and College Pro, DormAid stands as one of the most successful student-run enterprises targeting the college demographic. DormAid currently serves thousands of students at campuses across the country, providing them with professional services such as bedding, grocery delivery, cleaning, laundry and computer services. The company successfully launched at Harvard in 2004, when it was founded by Harvard University students Michael Kopko and Robert Cecot, Princeton University student Matthew Kopko, and Carnegie Mellon University student Shiva Kaul.

Since then the company has been reported on by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, MSNBC, Fox News, and Comedy Central, as well as many other local and national media outlets. Last year, DormAid received entrepreneurial recognition as a finalist in the Global Student Entrepreneurship Awards.

The business model is relatively intuitive, the market potential plain-to-see, so the success has really been a result of execution and well-managed growth. At universities with on-campus service, DormAid trains and employs students as campus representatives (Presidents). Presidents have many roles which include marketing, branding and development and other responsibilities closely related to small business or franchise management. Presidents are faced with almost complete autonomy in making business decisions for DormAid on their campus and for all intensive purposes are running a company. This provides the students with an experience in entrepreneurship very few companies can offer.

The fact that DormAid has successfully implemented a campus representative model is alone an accomplishment. It takes tremendous recruitment initiatives and sound management tactics to ensure quality of services. According to DormAid, the company has entertained requests for venture funding and joint partnerships but continues to be privately held. I'm not sure that Kopko and the rest of the team need funding to scale properly, as they have demonstrated a command of scaling already. Their Board of Advisors also provides them with mentors needed to make good decisions. Partnerships that allow the company to provide more services produced at scale is a probable expansion opportunity moving forward. However, DormAid should focus now on providing its core services to the expansion campuses for FY 2008.

If anyone has any data on number of student employees, annual sales and operating profit, we'd like to know so please comment.