The site's creator hopes to also bring the service to Columbus and Cincinnati.
For Marcus Yeagle, a 30-second pitch at the Ohio University Innovation Center’s Startup Weekend turned into a win, and then a company.
Instead of scouring campus bulletin boards and Facebook posts for subleasing opportunities, OU students will soon be able to go to one website for all of their off-campus housing needs.
Yeagle, a junior studying computer science, created sublit, an online platform for students seeking persons who want to sublease their space and those looking for subleasing opportunities. After winning at Startup Weekend Athens in March 2015 with the initial idea for the website, Yeagle and his team have been pushing forward to launch the site. Yeagle said he hopes to have the site fully functioning before the end of April.
Chris Delwiche, a senior studying engineering, handles the sales of the company, Yeagle said.
Bringing students from other schools to the website is part of what Delwiche does for the website.
“We’re really trying to work with internship departments and things like that,” Yeagle added.
When Yeagle and his team won the weekend’s Innovation Center challenge, they received office space in the Innovation Center for six months, a marketing package that allowed them to design a logo and other small prizes to give the company a jump start.
“Basically, we want to make it as easy as possible (for) students that have co-ops or internships or just going home for the summer … that want to sublease those places,” Yeagle said.
The final site is still waiting for approval to launch from Braintree, a PayPal affiliate that Yeagle is using for the online payment method for anyone looking to sublease a property. Still, Yeagle and his team have about 50 early sign-ups awaiting the site.
Those early sign-ups are split evenly between students looking to list and students that are looking to rent, Yeagle said.
“The site is up, you can sign up early with your email and you can get on a contact list right now,” Yeagle said.
When the site is fully functioning, it will be free for users to list and look at subleasing opportunities. They’ll also be able to use a private messaging system to communicate with the lessee and person looking for housing.
“The only way you’ll be charged anything is when you do a payment transaction,” Yeagle said.
When that payment is made, Yeagle and his team collect a five percent fee.
“We’ve also played around with the idea of having sponsored listings,” Yeagle said.
By paying a little more, those posting their apartments for lease can manage how far up on the website their listing is, increasing the chance of it being chosen by those looking at the site, Yeagle said.
Yeagle has two additional OU students helping him with sublit, including Alexander McEvoy, who is the digital media and marketing director for The Post. McEvoy has helped Yeagle with social media and marketing relations, Yeagle said.
Yeagle added that he hopes to expand to the Columbus and Cincinnati areas, along with partnering with internship companies to help bring more users to the site.
The team of four has stuck to advertising around campus and through a few Facebook ad campaigns to get the word out about sublit.
“The idea is to try to get a soft launch here in Athens, feel out the site, work out the bugs,” Yeagle said.
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