Goucher alumni create lost-and-found campus app

           

K Hirgeto ’24 and Diego Toledo Juarez ’24 have been accepted to Towson University’s StarTUp Accelerator for entrepreneurs. Through the program, the duo will continue to develop Reclaim, a lost-and-found community-based platform they created for campus communities.

Hirgeto and Toledo Juarez began working on the app while in undergrad. As a college student, Hirgeto lost numerous items, he said, “ranging from affordable ones like water bottles and chargers to expensive items such as an iPhone and headphones.” While Hirgeto had no choice but to spend money on an essential like a phone, he pointed out that other things couldn’t be replaced, like a necklace given to him by his family when he moved to the U.S.

Hirgeto realized many of his friends were also struggling with losing items, and more could be done to reunite people with their things. “The existing approach relied on students bringing found items to campus safety, a process that demanded time and effort many students were unwilling to invest amidst their busy schedules,” said Hirgeto.

Hirgeto asked himself, “How could students assist each other in reclaiming lost items without undue inconvenience?” The answer, he said, “lay in creating a community and a platform that aligned with the preferences of students.”

Using his knowledge and experience in software development, Hirgeto spent six months on research and development. He approached Toledo Juarez, who had also struggled with what to do about items he lost—or found—on campus.

Toledo Juarez said he was impressed, and the two formed an LLC in 2022 called NORAD. For the app, which would be NORAD’s first product, Toledo Juarez proposed a reward system with “Unicoins” and “Unipoints.” According to him, “Monthly allocations of Unicoins empowered students to enhance the visibility of their lost items, while the Unipoints earned for finding lost items translated into discounts at local businesses.”

They called the app Reclaim. It’s a “community-based, autonomous platform where students, staff, and faculty collaborate to report and locate lost or found items on campus, streamlining the process and fostering a supportive campus environment,” said Toledo Juarez.

NORAD launched Reclaim at Goucher. “The response was immediate and impactful, with students actively participating in reporting found items, fostering a sense of community responsibility and engagement,” said Toledo Juarez.

Now, Hirgeto and Toledo Juarez will join the sixth cohort of Towson University’s StarTUp accelerator, a highly competitive program that the university says received a record number of applications for this round. A press release put out by Towson University said that “Among the accepted founders are esteemed medical doctors, award winners from prominent national entrepreneurship competitions, Ph.D.s, and a former Baltimore Ravens Super Bowl champion.”

The NORAD co-founders have big plans for the Reclaim app. “A significant goal of our participation in the StarTUp Accelerator is to develop a plan for scaling our operations to other colleges and universities in the local area,” said Toledo Juarez. “We envision creating a network of individually connected campuses that benefit from our innovative lost and found solution. We aim to foster a culture of community and support, where the recovery of lost items becomes the norm rather than the exception.”

They also will seek funding to ensure they can continue to evolve the app to meet the needs of campus communities.

“We are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to join the Towson StarTUp Accelerator program and work side by side with 15 other ventures,” said Toledo Juarez. “We look forward to revolutionizing the landscape of lost and found, transforming it into a seamless and reliable process that will significantly enhance campus life.”