Carlos Cheung, MSB’13

Have you ever wanted someone to just bring you Sweetgreen, while you were doing work in Lau? Or maybe, needed a couple people to help you carry your boxes to Corp Storage? Well, thanks to Carlos Cheung getting what you want may be as simple as uploading your request to zaarly.com. 

Although an entrepreneur in his own right, Carlos, a junior in the MSB majoring in Finance and minoring in Chinese and Computer Science, did not start Zaarly.  He was lucky enough to get involved in it through an advisor.  “I got involved with Zaarly through my advisor for my startup. He said it would be a great startup experience and he was kind of helping out as well. I looked them up and read a bit about them, I thought it was an awesome concept and decided to join” recalls Carlos.  Now Carlos is the Georgetown “Campus CEO.”  It’s different than a brand ambassador as Carlos is responsible for building his own team and given a budget he gets to allocate himself.  “It’s almost as if I am in charge of a Zaarly (Georgetown) franchise.”

So for all of us who are unsure what exactly Zaarly is, Carlos breaks it down.  To start, the word Zaarly is derived from the word “bazaar,” to capture the idea that the company wants to create a place where people can trade, exchange, and sell things easily.  The Zaarly founders took the last part of bazaar and added the “ly” so that the word can be used as a verb.  “Zaarly is basically like reverse Craiglist meets eBay. It is a platform for you to post things that you are willing to buy, but you name your own price and when you want it by (Realtime). People around the area (location-based) can see your post and provide you the good or service. You don’t need an iPhone or Android…and you can easily use it at www.zaarly.com.” explains Carlos.  Sounds like an amazing idea, but why should Georgetown students Zaarly? Students should Zaarly because it’ll make their life easier.  If students use it then it can become a major marketplace to barter for school necessities: refrigerators, text-books, bikes, TV, speakers, etc.  Also, it’s an easy way for students to make some quick cash on the side by fulfilling orders.”

Basically, Zaarly sounds like a college student’s dream: a way to get stuff faster and the possibility to make quick cash.  Haven’t Zaarly-ed yet? Don’t worry it’s already a proven success.  “I zaarly-ed for a surf board and surf buddy when I was back home in San Francisco. I had probably 7 responses within 4 days. I ended up finally picking a person who was available on the day I wanted to go. Met up, they brought two boards, and we surfed. $20 dollars to borrow a board and surf with someone–beats renting” tell Carlos. 

Looking to get involved? Carlos explains how you can be a part of the Zaarly phenomena: “Go to www.zaarly.com and sign up, that’s one way or contact me anytime: cc653@georgetown.edu, I’m open for questions, interest, advice, etc.”