The founders of Dart Dorm, one of two student-run futon rental services at the College, sold the company to a new group of owners Monday, according to co-founder David Fink '11. Students interviewed by The Dartmouth declined to comment on the new founders' final bid.
Michael Saltzman '14, Harrison Hart '14, Michael McLaughlin '14, Trevor Stutz '14, Alex Brown '14, Ethan Portnoy '14, Brett Harrison '14 and Ben Levander '14 purchased the company.
Fink said a contract has been written and will be signed April 1, although Hart said he has not yet seen the agreement.
"I saw a lot of myself in these kids," Fink said. "They're '14s with a lot of energy and ambition these guys are going to be smart and work hard and put the time in."
When looking for the next generation of Dart Dorm owners, the founders searched for students who could take the company to "the next level," co-founder Neel Joshi '11 said.
"We needed people who were excited about the business," Joshi said. "If you're not motivated to move futons for two days, you're not going to get the job done."
Dart Dorm rents 50 futons to students at a reduced price. Fink declined to name the futon supplier located outside of New Hampshire for confidentiality reasons. Dart Dorm was created during the seven founders' sophomore Summer and became operational in Fall 2009, Fink said.
Dart Dorm founders sent out campus-wide e-mails in January notifying students of the opportunity to take over the company. The founders held informational sessions and met with approximately 20 prospective groups, according to Fink. They invited groups that they deemed "legitimate" to submit bids, Fink said.
The eight new owners of Dart Dorm had considered starting their own businesses before the sale of Dart Dorm was announced, Saltzman said.Several members of the group had been interested in entering the futon business, but were unsure if they could do so sucessfully given the two existing companies, according to Levander.
McLaughlin said his lack of business experience motivated him to purchase the company.
"This is a fantastic educational opportunity," he said. "We're going to see the inside and outside of a business there's not that many options in undergraduate education where you get that chance."
The seven founders will "co-run" the company with the new owners until the end of Spring term, according to co-founder Michael Fields '11.
"We want to basically be one team for the rest of the year," he said. "There are things we learned like how to stack futons and how to respond to customer issues that we can teach them. We want them to not make the same mistakes we made."
The founders have been e-mailing with Hart three to five times a day, Hart said.
"They're not just looking at this as a payday to walk away from," Hart said, adding that he expected to remain in communication with the founders over the next several years.
In the future Dart Dorm may expand to include other items besides futons, according to the seven founders.
The company has examined the possibility of offering full-size bed rentals and seasonal affective disorder lamps. The original founders have also discussed franchising Dart Dorm and starting the company at other colleges around the country, according to Joshi.
The new owners said they had not yet considered specific types of expansion.
"There are no specific plans as to how big it will be," Stutz said. "We're going to do more market research and see what the potential of growth is."
Although none of the new owners outlined specific research strategies, McLaughlin said the new group will work "hand in hand with the Dartmouth community."
The founders started Dart Dorm because they saw a "great profit opportunity," Fink said.
During the founders' sophomore Summer, there was only one futon company Evolving Vox on campus, according to Joshi.
"We felt that demand wasn't saturated because they had waitlists, and we felt like we could provide a good service for students," he said. "We've sold out every term we've been in business."
The company has been profitable every term since its founding, according to Joshi.
The group advertised largely through e-mail and word of mouth, while the customer service provided by Dart Dorm's founders also contributed to campus awareness of the company, Joshi said.
"There are regular futon checkups every term where all seven of us will split up and check all of them," Joshi said. "We tighten the screws and do some maintenance and talk to our customers, and I've found that people are really appreciative that we take the time to do that.
Michael Bush '11, Matthew Cable '11, Stephen Greif '11 and Brian Murphy '11 also helped found Dart Dorm.
