Cowbell Carts, a micro-transportation business spearheaded by two Mississippi State University students, went live on Aug. 17.
During their freshman year, James Moore and Cameron Maddox began working toward opening their own business to give students safe rides to and from the Cotton District. Moore and Maddox, who are both 19 years old and sophomores, operate two six-seat, low speed golf carts.
The idea to open the business first sprung up when Moore was visiting another university.
“I came up with the idea when I was in another college town—Tuscaloosa, actually—that has a completely similar system. They do the same thing there,” Moore said. “So, I really saw how it was valuable to the students and how they enjoyed the service, and I thought it would really work well here for Starkville.”
When Moore, Cowbell Carts’ Chief Operating Officer, went to the Entrepreneurship Center at MSU to present his idea, he was told he would need a team to help him. That’s when he called in Maddox, who was his Phi Delta fraternity brother and an accounting major. Maddox then became the chief financial officer, handling the business’ taxes and financials.
“We make a good team, I think,” Moore said.
Next, the two had many meetings with the Entrepreneurship Center in McCool Hall to ask for advice and get pointed in the right direction.
“Mr. [Jeffrey] Rupp and Mr. [Eric] Hill, they are kind of the two guys in charge here,” Moore said. “From the day I came in here with the idea, they’ve been the ones giving me advice. They’re experience is just incredible.”
Moore said they put them through a program similar to the show “Shark Tank”, where a group of people makes decisions on who gets any grant money and how much. Moore said the “sharks” are either members of bipartisan groups or professors.
“They have stages, so you go and present in front of the board for money,” Maddox said.
The two ended up gaining $2,300 total in grant money from MSU.
“They overcame some hurdles that seemed insurmountable and they did it in a very nice, polite, businesslike manner, and there’s a lesson there,” said Rupp, the Entrepreneurship Center’s director of outreach. “The result is that now they’re up and running as a business. I’m very proud of these guys.”
When the business opened for operation last week, it was just Moore and Maddox driving. They said it was a success and more than 100 people received rides.
“It went really well, I thought,” Moore said. “There’s a lot to learn, but I thought we did really well. We gave a lot of people rides to where they needed to go, a lot of people that probably shouldn’t be driving, which is kind of what we cater to.”
In fact, since they operate out of a bar district, safety is one of Cowbell Carts’ main missions. The carts are equipped with seatbelts and interior lights.
Cowbell Carts operates Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. and all day during football, baseball and basketball games. They are also available to work “special events.”
Their service area includes all of MSU’s campus and surrounding apartments all the way to Main Street. The cost per person, no matter the distance, is $3. To schedule a ride, call 662-242-1626.
Maddox said the service tends to take slightly longer than a car because the cart can only go a maximum of 23 mph, but Moore said the speed limit on the roads they drive usually does not exceed 25 mph. The average time from a dorm to Main Street is about six minutes, depending on the location.
Moore said they hope to expand the business and get more carts in the future because their services are in high demand.
“Right now the biggest problem we’re facing is we have more people calling than we can pick up,” he said. “It’s a great problem to have, but we’ve just got to get more capital to buy another cart.”
Cowbell Carts is currently hiring drivers that are 21 or older, and Moore said drivers must be friendly and talkative. Moore said his goal is to make the ride an experience, rather than an awkward encounter, which so often happens in Ubers.
With many transportation services expanding, such as Uber and Cowbell Cabs, Moore and Maddox remain confident their business will be competitive.
“We might see a little overlap; however, we operate on a niche,” Moore said. “We operate on a very short scale. So, our service area is a lot smaller than what they kind of cater to, and also we believe that we come in cheaper per person. So we’re not too worried about it.”
Maddox said one reason Cowbell Carts can rival services like Uber is because riding in a golf cart is plain fun.
“The reason we feel like we’re competitive is because we offer not only a safe way home, but also a fun way home,” he said. “When you’re going home in a golf cart there is something unique about that.”