TappMob, a student-run tech start-up launched a year ago by Eva Sasson, Barnard ’14 and Justin Mardjuki, Wharton ’14 has a clear mission: to make convenient apps “for college students, by college students.”
TappBooks, the first and latest product in TappMob’s new wave of apps, launched this September at twelve schools including the University of Arizona, Trinity College, Stanford, and UC Santa Barbara. Harnessing the power of college social networks, TappBooks allows students to buy, sell, and swap textbooks with fellow students on their campus by utilizing Facebook. With the download of this free app, users are able to view all available and desired textbooks in their network; a straightforward “matches” screen displays which of their Facebook friends are buying and/or selling similar textbooks.
The goal of Tappbooks is to both simplify the textbook swapping process as well as address the universally burdensome expense of buying new textbooks at the start of each semester. As a company that prides itself on both its fully college student team and target demographic, TappMob is driven to design apps that team members themselves would want to use. “Because we’re a completely student-run company, we know better than anyone else what students want and need. I think it’s unique that we’re recognizing problems that we have to deal with ourselves,” says Grace Kim, Vice President of Marketing and Columbia College ‘15.
The team, or rather, the “mob,” consists of fourteen students from Barnard, Columbia, UPenn, Stanford, and UC Berkeley and has recently added fifteen new members as “campus founders” to lead the launch of new apps at colleges and universities across the country.
CEO and Co-Founder, Eva Sasson, Barnard ’14 is particularly passionate about the collegiate aspect of TappMob. “The student environment of our team allows us to be creative, to really work with one another and learn from each other. This is our first experience directing a startup; we are learning as we go from each other and our experiences.”
Be sure to check out TappBooks, coming soon to Android and the web, (http://bit.ly/PP7R09) and get ready for more apps coming soon to your campus!