A University of South Florida (USF) student created an app for students and residents in the Tampa Bay area to receive deals from local restaurants and barbershops, promoting local businesses while providing discounts for customers.
Nicholas Eisengrein came to Florida to study at USF, and while studying, he worked as a food delivery driver. He noticed most of the orders were not going to students and hypothesized it had to do with many out-of-state students being unfamiliar with what local businesses had to offer.
"I started by creating a newsletter where I reached out to local businesses and if they paid, it would go on the newsletter that was sent to students," Eisengrein said. "I was surprised by the amount of positive feedback from businesses and students."
To continue expanding his goal of accessible discounts, his newsletter transformed into an app called 9Yaps.
"My family was helping fund me and I recently won a pitch competition to help finish the app," Eisengrein said. "With the funds, I hired a team in California that built 90% of what the app is today."
After winning the pitch competition, Eisengrein is looking to expand his team to include other USF students.
9Yaps has been running for about two years and has generated around $17,000 in revenue. There are approximately 100 businesses on the app, 10,000 downloads, and 8,000 users have redeemed deals.
"The app has mainly restaurants and bars, but there are some barbershops and salons. There is a drive-in movie theater on there, but it's mainly about food," Eisengrein said.
While the app has been used primarily by USF students, it is available to anyone looking for discounts at local businesses.
9Yaps is free to download and requires no payment or sign-in to use.
"It's designed as a coupon book. The main goal is to just let people know this is a partnership with these businesses to make sure customers have valid deals," Eisengrein said. "This is a resource backed by the community, it's not about taking information, that's why it's free to use."
Business owners can choose between two plans when signing up: a $24-per-month plan or a $29-per-month plan. The more expensive option includes access to promotional opportunities at USF events.
"I wanted it to be a low monthly cost so businesses can try it out," Eisengrein said. "The next phase is to grow awareness and get more non-student users."
9Yaps is available online and in the app store.
