Georgetown Law grads launch luxury ‘experience marketplace’ app

It’s a well-known fact that Hoya alumni are likely to make it big post-graduation. Statistically speaking, we are the 24th most employable college in the US and our alumni network is ranked 14th in the nation.

What happens when a driven Georgetown alumni meets another driven Hoya in law school? Magic. The kind that you’d only expect our Hogwarts campus to breed.

When it comes to clothing and other material luxury goods, retailers have succeeded in bringing the world’s finest brands to their customers’ fingertips across the world (hello, Net-a-Porter).

Research shows that 72 per cent of Millennials would rather spend their disposable income on experiences, the kind they can share with friends and spread across the social stratosphere. You know, the kind of stuff that’s Snapchat-able and Instagram-able. With this in mind, two Georgetown Grads realized that the luxury experience marketplace is one of the most fragmented industries that forces users to mix and match on various platforms to satisfy their wants and needs.

The few companies that have adapted are only satisfying a small quantity of high-net-worth individuals and neglecting the young professionals, who are prepared to work hard and play even harder. Yes, essentially, the unaddressed target segment is us: young professionals with big dreams and big needs.

Sina Chehrazi (MSB’13 and L’17) and Alexander Yeager (L’17), who met on their first day of Georgetown Law School in August 2014, have come up with a ground-breaking solution that addresses exactly this issue. They are launching Shotclock, a mobile marketplace that provides a platform of luxury experiences at the touch of your fingers. The experiences are packaged and range from travel, lodging, entertainment, and sports. They are presented in a flash-sale format and have an instant payment integration that enables users to split payments with friends.

Explaining their new company mantra, the co-founders told me:“We’re motivated by the fact is that modern life has deprived us of life’s one great luxury: time. Shotclock is attempting to take that deprivation and put it back in its bottle: to create seamless luxury, one experience at a time.”

The MSB readers are probably wondering how the equation is completed: how exactly are the partners benefiting? It’s actually simpler than you’d think. The app basically empowers the partners to both discount where they have excess inventory (i.e. empty private yachts) and “mark-up” for one-of-a-kind experiences (i.e. courtside suites for Justin Bieber). Essentially, it’s a win-win situation.

As with any revolutionizing app, the obstacles are not lacking. “We have absolutely no guarantee of success – but in life sometimes it’s best just to go after something at 100mph. We have done so with Shotclock, and now will see how the market reacts”, said Sina.

The masterminding has relied heavily on balancing the workload on both students. In fact, their most valuable advice to graduating entrepreneurial Hoyas is to find a compatible business partner, one who knows when to take the lead and who is comfortable with confrontation. The best friend doesn’t always make the cut.  Sina said: “I am fortunate to have one who complements the existing skills and interests that I have. If you are thinking of starting a business, I would focus on who you would want to start it with, not just who your best friend is.”

The providers of convenient luxury have already built an impressive list of exclusive affiliates throughout the Greater New York Area and are in the final phase of preparation impending the launch on Feb 24, 2016.

The app is already downloadable on the Apple Store and the Sina and Alexander are planning on adding one or two members from the Georgetown community to the team as interns or longer-term members (just because we know Hoyas are the best breed).

Starting a company while at Law School isn’t the most conventional of paths to take. As the founder of Zeeba at Georgetown University, Sina had already experienced the ups-and-downs of starting a business whilst taking classes. Despite the inevitable pessimism he perceived from friends and family, he craved that thrilling experience once again and found the right person to take that journey with.

He insists on there being no “right” way to do things. In his words, “The transition from college to young professional life can be a challenge. Looking at my friends’ experiences over the last three years, the one’s who are happiest are definitely those who were less occupied with trying to fit a mainstream mold.”

Whilst this article has (hopefully) made you hit a momentary pause on your J. P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs job applications, you should also take a second to appreciate the timed opportunity we have for risk-taking in this stage of our lives. Georgetown teaches us to care about our G.P.A. and to visit the career center regularly to ensure we are on the “right” path, but it also teaches us to think independently and to follow the dreams that will never again be as tangible as they are in this moment.

If a young entrepreneur’s advice is anything to go by: “The same way you’ll never get your four years of college back, you’ll never get your four years of life after college back – it’s a special time to explore your interests”. #HoyaSaxa