It started when former Penn student and current Harvard University junior Dhruv Singh wanted a classmate's opinion on his Penn econ homework.
Frustrated because he couldn't find an online group where he could complain and solicit his classmates for help, Singh decided to do something about it: He created his own.
What began as a simple online forum for discussion grew into what is now PennOpen.com, a Web site that offers everything from class discussion to forums where you can find someone to borrow a sweater from. It's like Craigslist.com for Penn.
The site is divided into four categories: Open-Market, Open-Classroom, Open-Party and Open-Events. Each category is then further divided by topic so students can easily browse for what they're looking for.
For some, that could mean buying textbooks or furniture. Users can also search for the weekend's happening parties and find a piano tutor or even a ride to Target, for a cost negotiated between the parties involved.
Similar sites have popped up on college campuses around the country. For example, the Daily Jolt - founded at Brown University and Amherst College - gives students school-specific news and discussion forums.
But Singh thought Penn needed a site of its own. He started work last year.
He approached his classmate and good friend, College and Engineering junior Vishrut Arya, to create a partnership for the project. The two spent the summer writing the code for the Web site, creating marketing strategies and, finally, launching the site at the beginning of the school year.
"Penn was pretty disconnected between the four [undergraduate] schools," Singh said. "We thought it would be cool to have one system where people could come together to find what they needed."
The site was introduced just in time for new student orientation and featured a Freshman Pack page designed to educate freshmen about the true nature of college life.
The Pack included a fraternity map and details on how to transfer into the Wharton School or an over-enrolled class.
Though the site has only been in use for about two weeks, there are already 200 registered users, and about 1,000 people have visited the site, Singh said.
The site is free to join and open to anyone with a Penn e-mail address, although users don't have to identify themselves by their real names. Its creators have no plans to sell advertising on the site as of yet.
They say PennOpen will be useful both for students who want to discuss their comparative literature papers or for those who want to borrow DVDs.
"The site can be used for anything," Arya said. "I posted a request for some milk, and the next day someone brought it to my door. In return I gave her a few bucks."
The milk-deliverer was Wharton sophomore Christine Cheng, who found out about the site from Facebook.com's Newsfeed feature. Some of her friends had joined the PennOpen Facebook group, so she decided to check out the site for herself.
"I saw Vishrut's post, and I had to go to Fresh Grocer anyway, so I brought him the milk," Cheng said. "I'm definitely going to use the site to sell my books and also post if I ever need a ride to Costco to go stock up."
Though the site is currently fully functioning, Arya acknowledges a need to further develop it in order to cater to Penn students' needs.
The pair also came up with an interesting marketing strategy. Instead of relying solely on flyering the Quadrangle - which they did, zealously - the pair also used the simplest form of communication they could think of: word-of-mouth.
"We told all of our friends about the site," Singh said. "They told all of their friends, and now we have a Facebook group with 130 members. It can only get bigger."
