Meet Marco Ciccone and Riley Parsons, founders and creators of Spree: an application that allows Broncos to connect and buy or sell used items with ease. Marco, a junior finance major with a minor in entrepreneurship, revealed, “The idea is to eliminate the hassle of dealing with strangers and shipping costs. We are making it much easier to sell your used items.”
Marco and Riley first got the idea for Spree in November 2014 because they wanted a way for students to save money and build a community, while also promoting sustainability. Riley, a bioengineering major with minors in both chemistry and entrepreneurship, began coding the app in December. By late February, they had a preliminary version that they began as a small-scale beta test. They then consulted with other software engineers and developers on campus, and added additional key features to the app, such as more categories and in-app messaging. After launching a large beta test, Spree was released to the public on May 31, 2015.
Essentially, once students have downloaded the app, they simply need to create an account using their @scu.edu email address – this ensures that only Santa Clara students will be able to explore each other’s items – and then they have access to all current listings. There are five categories in which users can post items for sale: books, electronics, clothing, tickets, and furniture.
The app has already shown a large amount of success, winning first place in the first annual Santa Clara University Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Business Plan Pitch Competition on May 4. Thirty-one teams made up of members of the Graduate School of Business, Law School, and the three undergraduate schools on campus proposed ideas to a board of faculty. After much deliberation, 6 teams were chosen to compete. Over the course of a month, Marco and Riley worked to perfect their application presentation for the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Business Plan Pitch Committee, and took home a $5,000 prize!
Both Marco and Riley agree that their overall goal for Spree is to improve the lives of students nationwide, beginning with Santa Clara. According to Riley, “We believe that by providing a platform for users to complete transactions within their college networks, they will begin to cultivate a greater sense of community at SCU. We certainly hope that SCU as an institution sees the potential for this, and we hope to collaborate with them in the future.”
Marco and Riley have not given up on perfecting Spree; they have already released a new update on June 4. “Spree still has a long way to go, so we ask everyone to be patient as we work hard to make the app the best it can be,” concluded Marco.
Check it out for yourself here!