One of the biggest risks a modern student faces is a broken phone or laptop. Jake Hertz and Isaac Roberts are two UR students that have launched a new business to fix this exact need: Campus Tech Repair.
Hertz and Roberts started their business three weeks ago. In those three weeks, they’ve had amazing success. In the first day they had posters up, they received nearly a dozen calls from students. Despite not having backgrounds in business, the two gladly accepted the challenges of starting up such an in-demand service.
Hertz and Roberts experienced such a high demand because of the lack of any other hardware repair service on campus. The IT Center itself only provides software fixes: Hertz surmised that this was because of the increased liabilities faced by repair services. Hertz and Roberts do make customers sign a release of liability, yet they also want to build a higher level of trust.
“Sometimes it’s hard. People say, ‘How can I trust you?’ Really, it’s you trust us or you don’t, it’s the same thing as anything else. ” said Hertz.
This, Hertz noted, was the only real challenge that they expect to face.
Becoming directly affiliated with or sponsored by the school could solve the problem of community trust. Hertz and Roberts have already engaged in conversation with the University toward this end.
“We’re going to try to get a sponsorship with them. We’ve talked with people in the Ain Center for Entrepreneurship in the Simon School,” Hertz said.
The Ain Center for Entrepreneurship seeks to “identify and create new partnerships with students, alumni, local businesses, and nonprofit organizations.”
One program of the Ain Center that the two wish to look into is the “Student Incubator.” Such a move would allow them to develop a more-permanent structure to Campus Tech Repair. The Incubator provides resources such as furnished office space, Wi-Fi, access to conference room, and guidance. Yet, there’s a problem with this.
“The appeal of what we do is that we’re on campus, so we both just work out of our rooms,” Hertz said.
The main selling point of their service is its convenience, as well as the relatively low price. Many students have neither the time nor the means to visit a phone repair service in a store, in addition to the problem of cost. For them, Campus Tech Repair is the desired alternative.
Hertz is optimistic about the future of the business. The two partners dream of expanding the scope of their operation to include more students, and be able to meet all student hardware needs. They’ve even received requests to repair a Playstation, in addition to their specialties of computer and smartphone repair. They believe that with the support of the University, and the community, they could become an integral part of campus services.
