Frustration with student lets led to business idea

WHILE struggling to find accommodation during a Cardiff student’s university days, a business idea was born.

Such was his frustration, Jack Jenkins bought the internet domain name University Cribs – although at the time there was no clear business plan.

“It wasn’t the right time to launch the company, both in terms of experience and our marketing processes,” says Jack.

“My housemates and I had really struggled with finding good accommodation.

“We had walked around 10-20 different letting agents, searched loads of websites and it had been time-consuming and stressful to organise.

“I guess I just realised that there was a real opportunity to fix the problems that existed.”

It was while studying in Cardiff that Jack met fellow entrepreneur Daniel Jeffreys. The pair ran an events and marketing business, employing 600 part-time staff across nine towns and cities, but it all ended when a big global company took them to court over the name of their business.

“You learn strong lessons from failure,” says Jack.

He then moved into financial services and Dan started work on another events and marketing business with Christian Samuel – who would eventually become the third member of the University Cribs team when it launched last November.

Christian had never been university, having left school at 16.

And while his peers played in parks, he was buying and selling antique pots at the age of 12.

With the return of the investment running into thousands of pounds, there was no looking back for the young entrepreneur.

Dan and Christian’s student marketing agency, which runs student events in more than 46 cities across the UK, has data and reach on social media platforms that provides the bedrock for University Cribs.

The business has now made it into the Startups.co.uk and AXA Business Insurance annual list of the UK’s 100 most promising new businesses.

In previous years, the Startups 100 has predicted the success of huge brand names such as Deliveroo and Notonthehighstreet.com.

The idea of University Cribs is to offer a dedicated service to students looking for a home, connecting them with reputable estate agents.

“The business was started for a number of reasons,” says Jack.

“The first was a clear opportunity to disrupt the student accommodation market, as founders we had experienced the problems ourselves.

“There is a clear lack of transparency and the process is convoluted, being made up of both online and offline features and there was a lack of attention from other portals for students.

“Our aim was to innovate in this space and through the use of technology not only simplify the student search but also the time-consuming letting agents processes being carried out.”

University Cribs is now active in more than 25 UK cities and towns.

“There are 64 UK student cities and our aim is to have a really good stock of properties for students in all of those cities before the new academic year starts in September,” says Jack.

“It’s a hard ask and quick expansion but I’m confident with the team we have in place we can crack it.”

There are already discussions for possible expansion overseas in future.

Meanwhile, when asked if he has snapped up any other domain names ripe to be turned into a business venture, Jack laughs.

“I have a few but nothing in the pipeline yet,” he said. “There is enough on my plate with University Cribs currently to keep me occupied.”