Waterville startups focus on college experience
Courtesy / Central Maine Growth Council
Josh Kim received a Maine Technology Institute software development grant for his startup Sklaza, an online marketplace for the inexpensive sale of items only needed by college students.
Two Waterville startups received software development grants from the Maine Technology Institute to support their expansions across Maine’s college campuses.
Easy Eats received $10,000 and Sklaza received $5,000. Both were founded by Colby College students. East Eats provides food delivery and Sklaza provides the sale of furniture, books, and other college necessities, according to a news release.
The grants are designed to address challenges in the startups’ growth.
Easy Eats
Easy Eats, founded by Christian Krohg and Katharine Dougherty, is an app-based food delivery service platform that delivers college students’ orders to their dorm doors.
By employing college students who have access to campus dormitories as delivery drivers, Easy Eats offers a more convenient option to traditional delivery services, the founders say. Relaunched in early 2020, the app has logged over 1,000 orders and 5,000 downloads.
“Not only does Easy Eats fulfill a demand for an easier delivery experience, but it also represents an opportunity to improve the connection between Colby students and Waterville-area restaurants,” Dougherty said in the release. “With the MTI funding, we look forward to making technical improvements based on customer feedback, scaling our efforts, and bringing these benefits to students and restaurateurs all across Maine.”
Sklaza
Sklaza, a name derived from “school plaza,” is an online marketplace devoted exclusively to college students and the inexpensive sale of “IONS,” or “items only needed by students."
Founded by Josh Kim, the marketplace encourages recycling and environmental sustainability. Sklaza also allows students to avoid public marketplaces that, while marketed to college audiences, allow non-student sellers to post items unrelated to student needs.
Launched in February 2020 on the Colby campus, Sklaza has logged over $10,000 in transactions and over 800 student users.
“I’m really excited to use the MTI funding to bring Sklaza to my next college campuses in the fall,” Kim said in the release. “After the resoundingly positive response I received from the Colby community, I knew that college students everywhere need to have an online marketplace just for them.”
Competitive success
Both startups have experienced degrees of financial and promotional success within Maine’s entrepreneur ecosystem.
Easy Eats was a finalist in Greenlight Maine’s Collegiate Challenge pitch competition and was a recent winner of the February Little Gig competition, a preliminary round to the Big Gig at Orono’s UpStart Center for Entrepreneurship.
Sklaza was a semifinalist in Greenlight Maine’s Collegiate Challenge, and Kim has made additional TV appearances.
Both are located in downtown Waterville at Bricks Coworking & Innovation Space and are seeking additional team members. Easy Eats is hiring a full-time software developer, and Sklaza’s Kim is seeking a partner who is a college student with web development expertise.
Tech growth
“Technology and innovation is a key area of growth for downtown Waterville and the mid-Maine region, and the success of Easy Eats and Sklaza is both a testament to their founders’ hard work and to the support of incredibly dynamic partners including MTI, Bricks Coworking & Innovation Space and Colby College,” Garvan Donegan, director of planning and economic development at Central Maine Growth Council, said in the release.
“The funding, infrastructure, education, and tech talent provided by these partners have been essential to building an innovation hub that attracts entrepreneurs and serves as their launching pad.”
Krohg and Kim were among the participants in 2019’s Summer Startup, a pilot program put together by entrepreneur Nick Rimsa, and R.J. Anzelc, owner of Bricks Coworking and Innovation Space. Rimsa and Anzelc were 2019 Mainebiz Next honorees.
Bricks started Summer Startup last year as a collaborative incubator to provide college students with formal training, entrepreneurial speakers and events, and active sessions with mentors and local industry experts.
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