Nick Ennis is a rising senior at CU Boulder studying Entrepreneurship with a dual major in Sales and International Business. While originally from Buffalo, New York, Nick loved that CU Boulder was so close to skiing and that he could dive into the wonderful startup ecosystem in Boulder.
Becoming an entrepreneur was not something Nick originally saw himself pursuing. After getting a concussion during his freshman lacrosse season, Nick was restricted to his dorm room. During this time, Nick was able to truly think about what he wanted to do with his life. Nick focused on his entrepreneurial career by attending numerous entrepreneurial-focused events and working for a startup company. Three years later, he is now the Head of Growth at Phood.
Moving Campus Spend Off-Campus
Have you ever wanted to order delivery instead of making a trip to the dining hall? Phood makes this possible! Phood is an API that allows college students to use their meal plan dollars to order food from third-party delivery services. Simply enter your meal card as a new form of payment on a delivery app and order like usual! A meal swipe that is worth $10 can now be used on food that you actually like!
“I am a vegetarian and the dining options have always been limited for me. Phood gives me access to all the options to eat the way that I chose to and I love it.” - Hannah Stone from CU Boulder
Meet the Team
The CEO and founder of Phood is Alex Parmley, a 25-year-old high school graduate from Alabama. After living with friends who went to a local college, he wanted to find a way to avoid a trip to the dining hall and order delivery with his meal card. After three years of development, Alex has built a tool that makes this possible.
Nick Ennis works alongside two other rising seniors at CU Boulder, Jonah Rosen and Harrison Covert, Phood’s business and financial analysts, respectively. Nick thinks very highly of his colleagues,
“They have been able to reduce an average 6-12 month sales process to 6-12 days due to the passion they have for this product and deep understanding of the end-user.”
Jonah and Harrison are the drivers behind the success of Phood and they are actively looking for more like-minded sales individuals and analysts.
COVID Implications
Although the implications of COVID have been mostly negative, Nick and his team have found ways to capitalize their time by reaching out to numerous universities. They’ve even noticed that COVID has sped up their sales process immensely. The team is actively signing schools up and are expecting to launch in Q4 of 2020 at a university in the USA and Canada. By Q1 of 2021, they hope to launch at 10-15 universities. Be sure to keep an eye out for Phood at universities across the country!
Advice for Current Students
Nick Ennis stressed the importance of the individual’s perseverance rather than what is merely on paper such as a transcript. He left students with this piece of advice,
“Keep trying new things and have the confidence in yourself to go out there and do it.”
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