In the two times I have been to Alpha Delta fraternity since coming to Dartmouth, my senses were awakened to sights, sounds and smells I had never known (or necessarily wanted to know) existed. Yet, my senses must not have been fully alert. What I did not observe during my first moments at AD was the air of creativity and entrepreneurship that runs rampant throughout the house. The AD brotherhood is, I have recently discovered, bursting with ideas, initiative and ambition, as members have begun their own startups.
It seems as though student startup ideas for improving Dartmouth and the world beyond are limitless, and new companies are constantly emerging on campus. Yet the source of many of these businesses can often be traced back to one place: 9 East Wheelock Street. The question on my mind is — what about AD stimulates such an air of entrepreneurship?
AD brotherhood chair Chris Jung ’14 said he hadn’t noticed the abundance of AD companies until compiling a report as part of his position this term. After talking to his brothers about updates on their lives, he added an entire entrepreneurial section to the report, highlighting the startups and ideas that blossomed within AD.
AD members and entrepreneurs have multiple ideas about the entrepreneurial spirit that thrives within their house.
“I think the pungent fumes from our basement do something to our brain chemistry that makes us much more entrepreneurial and risk-taking,” Brian Joseff ’14, member of AD with a startup in the works, joked.
Kidding aside, Joseff actually attributed the trend to brothers being disillusioned by corporate recruiting, as well as the intellectual side of many within the house.
Other brothers credited the trend to individual characteristics.
“We’re just an adventurous group,” Gabe Stauber ’15 said. “I mean, there’s nothing more to say. We’re a very talented bunch, we’re ambitious, we’ve got great values. Just great all-around guys. We’re really looking to improve ourselves.”
Stauber co-founded both Squeaky Cleaners, which cleans student dorm rooms, and Alpha Dinners, a catering service.
AD member Grant Mortell ’16 agreed, saying brothers aim to get involved on campus and commit to making their ideas come to life.
The sheer volume of AD businesses has generated an environment of inventiveness within the house.
Jung is currently working on a startup with Bryan Crampton ’17 and Mike Urbach ’14, a fellow AD member. The team is making a mobile app called Tether, which allows Dartmouth students to connect more easily across dining halls and social spaces. Urbach and Jung have worked on the idea for over a year, and Crampton recently joined to develop the iOS app, do all the tech support.
Jung said that Tether was “born out of an observation,” as he noticed students often had to guess where to go for food and social events. Tether helps “crowdsource” information so that students can learn about a location’s atmosphere — be it a dining hall or a fraternity basement — before arriving. For instance, instead of texting friends about the lines at Collis, students could learn from Tether users that there was no chance of grabbing pasta that night.
With four months until graduation, Jung and Urbach are working against the clock.
“If it’s successful, then we would like to pursue it further, but if it’s not successful, then we’ve learned a lot working through it,” Jung said. “Either way, it’s a win-win for us. Both of us would really like to pursue it as far as we can.”
Another recent start-up is Joseff’s People and Stuff, a website he is forming with Peter Loomis ’17 to simplify two processes: buying and selling used goods and buying from local merchants. The website is also “game-ified,” so people can earn points from their interactions, Joseff said.
“A lot of environmentalists will say, ‘This is an outrage, the amount that Americans consume,’” he said. “The idea is not to get rid of consumerism, but to modify it so that it’s more sustainable and less impactful.”
Graduation is also on the horizon for Joseff, who plans to pursue People and Stuff for at least six months after leaving Dartmouth to see where it goes.
The startup is currently tailored to Dartmouth, featuring a sweeping panorama of campus as its homepage, but Joseff hopes that it will eventually expand nationally.
Other AD brothers have taken up startups in a less serious way. Stauber, for instance, said he got involved with his student businesses, for which he cooks and cleans, to make some extra cash.
“It was just a good way to make money,” Stauber said. “Every college student needs money.”
A better-known student startup is DartDorm, which has been renting futons to students since 2006 and has had a waitlist every term. A group of seven sophomores and one freshman currently runs the company, which was started by members of the Class of 2011. Though two of the sophomores are AD brothers, they were unaffiliated when they initially signed on, and the other owners are unaffiliated or affiliated elsewhere, Mortell said.
DartDorm’s owners are expanding their collection and have already increased their stock by 30 percent since last spring.
Perhaps AD is more than meets the eye (or nose). To be quite honest, we could all learn a lesson from their initiative and willingness to improve campus.
Jung advised entrepreneurs not to be “afraid to go for it,” adding that students should take advantage of on campus resources, such as the Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Society, of which he is a member.
“You’re getting really invaluable experience by pursuing an idea, learning how to work through it, problem solving,” Jung said. “Either you’ll find success through it, or you’ll learn really valuable skills and learn about yourself in the process.”
