Big & Mini

The looming effects of social isolation and loneliness are detrimental. Loneliness has the equivalent health toll of smoking 15 cigarettes a day and can affect more than one-third of American adults. This phenomenon has only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced people to quarantine safely at home, shut down non-essential businesses, and redefined navigating public spaces.

When classes were abruptly transitioned to an online format and quarantine restrictions were in full-swing earlier this April, UT sophomore Aditi Merchant, with co-founders Allen Zhou and Anthony Zhou began working on their company, Big & Mini. Big & Mini is a platform designed to bridge the gap and form a connection between two generations confronted with different dilemmas.

“We really wanted to get college students a way to find a mentor,” Aditi said. “Simultaneously, we saw a lot of reports coming out about older adults and seniors who are in senior living communities not being able to go out, get groceries, and just generally feeling really isolated. And we wanted to do something to help with that aspect as well.”

Recognizing these two on-going issues, Aditi and her co-founders engineered a solution that would address the need for mentorship and curb the prevalent trend of loneliness.

“It was kind of a combination of those two things: wanting a way to allow college students like us to find a mentor, and then also wanting seniors basically to have someone to talk to and turn to when they're in an isolated situation,” Aditi said.

With a mission in mind, Aditi and her team set out to work, making cold calls to assisted living homes and sending out emails seeking guidance from UT faculty. The team already had some established connections with retirement homes from volunteering in high school, but it was the mentorship of UT faculty Dr. Karen Fingerman that helped put Big & Mini on the map.

“She kind of put us in the eyes of a lot of older adults that she worked with pretty regularly as well as some of the students at the university. We just posted like a lot of various channels,” Aditi said.

Aditi shared that the initial plan for Big & Mini evolved into something much larger.

“We went into thinking if we could help maybe a dozen people, we would be happy,” Merchant said. “We started out with a single page website with a Google form. It was super basic.”

From this straightforward Google form, interest in Big & Mini gained traction, and the co-founders realized the project had long-term potential.

“Social isolation, loneliness--those are problems that have existed long beyond the pandemic, and will exist once the pandemic ends as well,” Merchant said. “We really just wanted this to turn into a platform that will hopefully have long-lasting implications.”

Aditi admitted that while there weren’t any qualms about launching the service, the common fears set in once interest in Big & Mini gained momentum.

“We wanted to make sure we were creating the most positive impact that we could,” Aditi shared. “That's when we started thinking ‘how do we make this something sustainable so some people can continue using this and have this as a resource whenever they need it?”

The explosive growth of Big & Mini defied expectations. With over 1500 users from all 50 states and 22 countries, it’s safe to say Big & Mini has achieved global outreach. The company has roots local to Austin, and Aditi wants to ensure Big & Mini is accessible to users who may need it most.

“Just last week we started to work with a retirement community in Alabama. We're working with schools in Hawaii and Michigan, and like DC all over the place,” Aditi said. “We're pretty open to doing it wherever people are open to having us.”

Big & Mini’s unpredicted boom made the three co-founders reevaluate the time and effort needed to make their company successful and long lasting. The three devised roles, at first unintentionally. Aditi took on the business side of things, handling deals and outreach, while her co-founders tackled gauging their big-picture mission of social impact and technical upkeep with the company’s software development.

“Everyone's skill sets are very well aligned, we kind of cover all the bases needed for a successful startup,” Aditi disclosed. But at the same time, it's definitely been a lot of work, especially since all three of us have no business background.”

Aditi shared that balance is one of the most difficult aspects of pursuing an entrepreneurial endeavor. While maintaining a start-up as students is difficult with balancing other obligations, the impact of the company makes it worth it. Though none of the founding members have formally studied entrepreneurship, Aditi shared that the launching Big & Mini has been “a tremendous learning experience”.

“I think it's also just really shown us that you can succeed as an entrepreneur, regardless of what your background is or what skill set you have,” Aditi revealed. “I think a lot of times we're put into a society where all the entrepreneurs that you see are (perceived as) this stereotype.”

The biggest tip Aditi has for student entrepreneurs is to take the first step and seek out mentorship.

“There's always this notion of ‘Is it worth the time and effort? What if this fails?’. It's kind of a nagging thought at the back of your mind. I think, a lot of times, like the hardest part of starting a company is getting to that first point of making it come to life.” If you want to learn more about Big & Mini, check out their website https://bigandmini.org/ or instagram page @bigandmini_ !