App By Finance Students Tackles Chores with Profitable Incentives

When friends Lili Demm and Jack Sardina were freshmen at Nova Southeastern University, they quickly realized college life was more than just classes and exams. Adjusting to independent living for the first time, the two often felt overwhelmed.

“I remember sitting in my room, swamped with laundry, dishes, and deadlines,” said Lili, a Huizenga Business Innovation Academy (HBIA) member and Farquhar Honors College student. “That’s when Jack asked, ‘What if there was an app where college students could help each other with tasks — for money?’”

That concept evolved into CampusRun, a student-to-student task platform where “posters” submit chores and errands, and “runners” can earn money by carrying out those tasks. From picking up food to cleaning rooms to assembling furniture and laundry help, CampusRun was designed to ease the lives of busy students and give other students a flexible way to make money, Lili says.

Once the two hatched the idea, they sought the support of the HBIA, which helped them fine-tune their business model. They also partnered with the NSU Law Clinic, where professors and students helped them build a strong foundation, such as drafting operating agreements, terms of service, employment contracts, and privacy policies.

“They really helped us build a legal moat around our business,” said Jack, also an HBIA member and student at the H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship. “They cared deeply about our success and helped us navigate the parts of business we didn’t even know we needed yet.”

With support from the Alan B. Levan | NSU Broward Center of Innovation’s Incubator Program, the pair gained access to mentors, pitch training, and entrepreneurial workshops. Their added knowledge paid off when they received grant funding from the HBIA Pitch Competition in spring 2024. The money allowed them to hire a professional development team based in the Brickell neighborhood in Miami which built out the app for iPhones.

CampusRun officially launched in fall 2024 and had more than 200 users by year’s end. The app operates on a familiar model — CampusRun collects a 20 percent service fee from runners, which is significantly lower than mainstream platforms such as Uber or DoorDash, which often collect 50 percent or more.

To promote their platform, Lili and Jack have used hands-on grassroots marketing.

“We’ve held events with on-campus businesses and handed out free samples to encourage downloads,” Lili said. “We’ve walked students through the app, gaining users one by one.”

Lili, the current Miss Brickell USA, is competing in Miss Florida 2025. She has been using her competition platform to raise additional awareness about CampusRun, as well.

To ensure trust in the app, Lili and Jack established background checks, worked with campus IT on email verification, and implemented ratings and review systems to ensure safe, high-quality interactions. They also added referral programs and voucher incentives and are constantly tweaking the app based on student feedback.

“One of the things we’ve worked on is quality control,” Lili said. “Vetting who is on the platform is highly important.”

Next steps are to expand the app into other South Florida schools, including the University of Miami, Florida Atlantic University, Florida International University, and Lynn University, while also preparing for national growth.

Jack has a philosophy when it comes to entrepreneurship: “Crawl, then walk, then run.”

“We were at the crawl stage — starting at our school, listening to feedback, fixing bugs, and making improvements,” he said. “Now, we are at the walk stage, heading to eMerge Americas – Florida’s largest tech conference – where we’ll pitch, network with schools and investors, and plan to expand throughout South Florida. By the end of this year, we hope to be running and dominating nationally.”

With their passion for innovation, teamwork, and helping others, Lili and Jack are determined to make CampusRun not just a successful app, but a student-powered movement and long-term business endeavor. The duo will graduate with finance degrees this semester.

“We’re very committed to CampusRun,” Lili said. “We want it to be our full-time job when we graduate in May.”