For the past four years, the student-created discount card LegendsCard has provided University students with their “key to VIP treatment at your favorite local businesses,” according to its website.
Business junior Josh Katzman has been the company’s CEO since 2013. Last week, he hosted the unveiling of the physical card’s fourth iteration.
“People just love them,” he said, adding that he feels the cards add a special air of exclusivity and cool. The company branded its newest card to resemble a matte-black ace of spades.
A LegendsCard costs $20 and comes with a free mobile app. The company currently pairs with 37 Ann Arbor businesses to provide clients with discounts. These locations include Charley’s, Frita Batidos and Bivouac, among others.
Cardholders must renew their LegendsCard membership annually. Katzman has ordered 500 cards each year for the last two years, and he said he has sold out of his supply both times.
Selling the cards, he explained, is often reliant upon word of mouth. The company promoted its 2014 launch on its Facebook page, culminating with a “block party” at Zaragon Place. Katzman estimated that 200 people were in attendance.
With regard to signing local businesses on to give students deals, Katzman said it’s a matter of initiative. He noted this was most evident this summer when the company expanded to include Indiana University.
Indiana University sophomore Dylan Reider volunteered to stay at school two weeks after finals to build LegendsCard’s brand and bring on businesses in Bloomington.
“We want to continue to expand, just as Michigan has in the last several years,” Reider said.
Reider said he met with more than 70 business owners in that two-week span, ultimately signing 10 of them. Since then, he has partnered with five more.
“He went out and he signed clients,” Katzman said. “That’s what it’s all about. That’s the overarching theme of the whole ‘college entrepreneurship’ thing. It doesn’t have to be the craziest idea in the world, but it’s really just about naturally taking initiative.”
At the moment, campus representatives at three other schools are in the fledgling stages, working on expanding LegendsCard to their respective communities: Claremont McKenna College, the University of Maryland and the University of Southern California.