A new app pioneered by Davidson students hit the App Store this fall: ZIP Campus, a rideshare service exclusive to the College where students can get paid to drive their classmates. ZIP functions similarly to other rideshare apps like Uber or Lyft, but looks to set itself apart through a lack of fees and greater trust and familiarity with drivers.
Cillian Hallinan ’28, Isaiah Dinar ’28 and Daulet Berdikulov ’28 founded the app. Dinar came up with the idea last year after giving a friend a ride and charging him half the price of an Uber.
“It [was] $50 for a maybe 20-minute drive, so I offered to do it for $25—half the price,” Dinar said. “We realized there’s no reason for this much discrepancy between what people will drive for and what people will order a ride for.”
This focus on affordability combined with an orientation around safety. The founders referenced the story of a friend ordering an Uber back from a bar, only to have the driver cancel the ride last minute.
“We spoke to a friend of ours who ordered an Uber back from a bar, and when the driver arrived, he canceled the ride, but she didn’t see the cancellation and got in the car. Once she realized that there was no longer a ride, so no one knew where she was, and she was just in the car with this random guy, she understandably freaked out,” Hallinan said. “We felt there has to be a better alternative to Uber or Lyft where students can trust their drivers. The idea of getting into a random car with a random old dude is just not safe.”
Familiarity with student drivers on a campus as small as Davidson assuaged some riders’ concerns over the risks of getting in a car with a stranger.
“The Honor Code was another safety feature, knowing that everyone driving had signed and followed it was anxiety relieving. It also seemed advantageous for the driver because they got the full sum of money, not just a portion like Uber and Lyft,” Nithali Petsch ‘29 said.
Once the trio of entrepreneurs generated the initial idea for the app, they looked to Davidson’s Jay Hurt Hub for Innovation and Entrepreneurship for funding. They received a $1,000 grant from the Hurt Hub’s Try It Fund to build a pilot version. Then, they competed for $5,000 from the Nisbet Venture Fund at the Hurt Hub.
Hallinan, Dinar and Berdikulov surveyed dozens of Davidson students on their ideal product design, sifted through Uber and Lyft legal filings to understand the rideshare industry and cold emailed attorneys asking for advice. Finally, they incorporated those findings into a presentation for a collection of alumni business leaders explaining why they should win the funding. The efforts were successful: ZIP won the grant, giving them financial flexibility to develop their app.
“When you’re building something yourself, it’s hard to see how good it is. And so we went into it being like we’re cooked—there’s no way we win this, especially as freshmen. But looking back, I think we did a really good job,” Hallinan said.
The trio spent the summer writing code in conjunction with a student programmer, developing a legally compliant terms of service and securing approval from Apple and Google to have ZIP available for download in their respective mobile stores. As they returned to school, they pivoted to increasing students’ awareness of their emerging app. ZIP focused early efforts on “Wildcat Wednesdays”—where students flock off campus to New Korner Pub and often find themselves hankering for fast food afterwards—setting up a limited release on Sept. 10 and a full launch on Oct. 8.
“The experience of riding ZIP was great: quick and simple,” Ben Butler ’28 said. “It’s a good alternative to Uber because of the price and the comfort you have with a Davidson student driver.”
While the founders are pleased with the initial rollout, logging 35 unique riders and a 2.3-minute average wait time, they said that their early weeks of operation ran into conflicts with on-campus Wednesday social events such as Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s Lawn Party and Warner Hall Eating House’s Crush Party. With fewer on-campus events in upcoming weeks, ZIP staff anticipates setting records.
To meet this demand, the founders recruited drivers like Kathryn Kuznetsov ’28, Julien Ernoul ’28 and Brayden Hawk ’28. Benefits like direct pay without fees, scheduling flexibility and the social atmosphere of driving classmates attracted drivers to work for ZIP.
“I decided to become a driver because I liked the idea of what they were trying to create and it seemed like a pretty simple job to be a driver. Also, it is an excellent chance to just be social and meet new people around campus,” Hawk said. “My driving experience so far has been amazing. It has been an easy process and I haven’t had any technical difficulties on their app yet.”
Hallinan, Dinar and Berdikulov want to bring the app to other campuses, but for now they remain focused on fine-tuning it within Davidson.
“At the end of the day, if I graduate and take on a full-time job in something that’s not ZIP and all I’ve made is a transportation service for students at Davidson that everyone loves, that’s a win,” Hallinan said.