Onboy

Anthony Zhang saw a clear gap in the on-demand food delivery market. While giants like GrubHub and Postmates were spreading themselves thin across sprawling cities with low-density customers, Anthony realized college campuses were the opposite: incredibly high-density populations with natural viral potential. "We think the high density and the natural virality of the college market is a great place to start," he told Nathan Latka. Rather than compete head-to-head with established players covering entire metropolitan areas, Onboy would own the niche.

Onboy's model was deceptively elegant. Instead of hiring external drivers, the company recruited college students themselves as "envoys"—delivery workers who could navigate campus on foot, skateboard, or bike. This solved multiple problems at once: the envoys knew the campus intimately, didn't need to search for parking, and could bypass restaurant lines through exclusive partnerships. The app would show restaurant menus exactly as they appeared in-store, with a flat $3 delivery fee (paid to the envoy) and no markups. Revenue came from restaurant partnerships: Onboy took 20% of each order value, while restaurants got direct access to thousands of hungry students—their primary market anyway.

Anthony's go-to-market strategy was surgical. Rather than trying to acquire random students, he targeted high-leverage groups: freshman dorms (where word spreads fastest), fraternities and sororities, athletic teams ("athletes do eat a lot"), and large student organizations. These groups represented roughly 80% of a campus's student body. But the real growth engine was viral: "Just imagine you're in a crowded lecture hall with 300 kids and the guy next to you gets a burrito delivered right to his seat." Built-in virality in a confined space. Within months, Onboy had processed just under 10,000 orders across USC and LA campuses.

The metrics told the story. Average order size was $16—enough for two people—which aligned perfectly with Onboy's social ordering feature that let friends split payments. The $3 delivery fee, which seemed high in isolation, felt like "a real steal" when you were late-night studying and craving food. Speed mattered too: by keeping delivery radius small and using student couriers, Onboy cut average delivery time to roughly half that of competitors like GrubHub. The unit economics were tight—the company was paying college students $20,000–$30,000 per month to deliver—but the model worked. Growth was explosive: 45% month-over-month since January.

At the time of this interview, Onboy was doing just over $10,000 in monthly revenue ($120,000 annualized), with 4,000+ paying customers and nearly 10,000 orders processed. Anthony, just 20 years old, had already pitched Mark Cuban and survivor producer Mark Burnett in front of his school and been funded $100,000 on the spot. He was part of the 500 Startups batch in Mountain View, prepping for demo day. The company had been named "coolest college startup in America" by Inc magazine. Anthony's advice to his younger self—and to the audience—was to stay humble, keep learning, and keep reaching out to people he admired.