University of Michigan startup Peerstachio is changing the way college students find resources.
Peerstachio is an online community connecting undergraduate students or high schoolers preparing to transition to college with upperclassmen for assistance with classwork or to talk about university life.
During her first year as an international student in the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, Peerstachio founder Scarlett Ong Rui Chern encountered a lack of resources for freshman students. Chern met with over 30 students to understand their academic situation and she quickly realized that those students also faced a similar problem, further validating the problem she was trying to solve. After her initial research, Peerstachio was born.
Chern and co-founder Christian Guillen are graduates of TechTown’s DTX Launch Detroit summer accelerator program, where they won the inaugural $10,000 “GM GO” Award at the DTX Launch Detroit Showcase.
During their time in the DTX Launch Detroit program, they were able to refine their business idea and they currently are piloting their platform this fall with two 300-person prerequisite classes at the University of Michigan.
“Going through this accelerator program, we better understand our target market. Also, we were able to learn from and build great relationships with our cohort members, coaches and mentors who supported and guided us throughout the summer,” says Chern. “Our award is a huge motivation for us to keep going with our startup and grow it to its full potential.”
For now, Peerstachio is focused on academic help, but the Peerstachio team plans to include resources for students to deal with other student life issues such as stress and adapting to new environments in the future.
To learn more about Peerstachio, visit www.peerstachio.com.
To find out more about TechTown’s DTX Launch Detroit program, visit techtowndetroit.org/dtx. Applications for summer 2019 are now open!
