We recently connected with Lili Demm and have shared our conversation below.

Lili, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

The idea for CampusRun came to life during the first month of our freshman year at Nova Southeastern University. My bestfriend Jack and I were sitting in my dorm, stressed and overwhelmed. We were so broke, juggling classes, responsibilities, and campus life, and we both felt like there just weren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done. Jack jokingly said, “Imagine if there was an app where students could do each other’s laundry,” and I stopped and said —“What if there was an app where students could help each other with ANYTHING?” That moment sparked something real. We looked at each other and realized we might actually be onto something.

What made us believe CampusRun was worthwhile was how many people we asked about it. We talked to classmates, friends, and even professors, asking them “Would you use an app to post tasks and have another college student complete them?” The response was always the same: “I would!” People were excited because it solved a very real problem – college students are busy and broke. CampusRun provides a simple, secure solution for students to interchange between getting tasks done and earning money, and also getting help with their tasks and reducing stress.

What’s unique about CampusRun is how we’re solving the problem. No one else is doing this in a way that’s secure, trustworthy, and professionally built, targeting one school at a time to ensure quality. The platform is designed specifically around the needs of students and built on trust and support within campus communities.

What truly sets us apart, though, is our perspective. Jack and I are college students ourselves. We understand what it’s like to be stressed, broke, and looking for help. We know firsthand what college students want and need because we live it every day. CampusRun isn’t just another app – it’s a solution built FOR students, BY students, and that’s what excites us the most.

Lili, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Lili Demm, and I’m a college student at Nova Southeastern University (NSU), where I co-founded CampusRun with my best friend, Jack Sardina. I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit, whether it was selling lemonade, running my handmade jewelry business, or now launching a tech platform. I love diving into new industries, meeting new people, facing challenges, and learning along the way.

CampusRun is a social marketplace platform where college students and the local community can post tasks – anything from room cleans, laundry, food runs, errands, assembling furniture, etc – and college students complete those tasks to earn money. It connects the broke college students with the busy college student/community member.

CampusRun started as a far-fetched dream during our freshman year. It came from a problem we were facing ourselves: we were broke, busy, and overwhelmed. We needed a way to help students, including ourselves, to earn money while also helping others save time. CampusRun makes life easier for students who need tasks done, while supporting those who need an extra source of income.

I’m most proud of the persistence and growth it took to bring CampusRun to life. There were countless all-nighters and sleepless nights, lots of research into how to start an LLC, get a trademark, etc. We tried to bootstrap and hire developers through Fiverr, but quickly found that language and time differences were challenging. We learned to network, pitch, answer questions on the spot, etc, which was scary as very young 18-year olds. We had to work with our professors and skip classes to attend incubator programs, travel to tech conferences, network, etc. When we first launched, there were many technical issues, like being blocked from emailing students at NSU because we were “unrecognized senders”, so we worked with the NSU IT department to get whitelisted. It’s small things like this where having a team and being persistent paid off. We even had an early pivot in our strategy – originally we were only for college students to post and complete tasks, but now the local community can post because they have more financial freedom to pay for tasks, are more willing to support local students, and are generally busier.

For anyone reading this, what I want you to know about CampusRun is that it’s more than an app – it’s a resource and a support system for students who need a little extra help or income. We’re passionate about creating a platform that makes life easier, connects people, and allows students to earn while they learn.

Thank you for taking the time to learn about us and our journey. This is just the beginning, and I can’t wait to see how CampusRun grows and continues to make an impact!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

One of the most challenging moments in my journey came during the first semester of my Sophomore year (about a year ago). I had to undergo an emergency oral operation—not once, but twice in the span of 4 days. The procedure seriously affected my health and left me out of school for two weeks, missing classes, falling behind on material, and feeling completely overwhelmed. On top of it all, as soon as my two-week recovery ended, finals week began, and immediately after, I had to start an intensive incubator program for CampusRun at the Alan B. Levan | NSU Broward Center of Innovation.

It was a lot happening at once, but I refused to let it hold me back. As soon as I started healing and feeling better, I pushed myself to catch up. I pulled all-nighters, taught myself everything I missed, and studied relentlessly to get back on track, all while bleeding from the mouth and taking breaks to go clean my stitches and eat only liquids. I not only managed to ace my finals, but I also hit the ground running with the incubator program, giving it everything I had to ensure CampusRun would succeed.

This experience taught me that resilience isn’t just about getting through the hard times—it’s about showing up stronger, even when it feels impossible. I learned to lean into challenges, trust my ability to bounce back, and stay focused on the bigger picture. That semester tested me, but it also proved that I can handle whatever comes my way.

How’d you meet your business partner?

Jack and I met through the Huizenga Business Innovation Academy (HBIA) at NSU, a unique program that allows us to graduate in three years by taking extra classes per semester and summer classes. On the very first day of our bootcamp we crossed paths and immediately felt a friendship spark. We both wanted something more out of life, and it was clear that we shared a similar mindset, thought in unique ways, and had already explored interesting side hustles in high school.

From that day on, we became great friends, building a strong foundation of trust, mutual respect, and an understanding of each other’s work ethic and character. That connection naturally grew into a best-friendship, and a business partnership. Here we are now, three years later, still best friends and CoFounders of CampusRun.

What makes our partnership even more special is that we genuinely enjoy working together. Whether we’re attending events, pitching our business, or traveling for opportunities, we always have a smile on our faces and have fun along the way. I think that energy and positivity have carried us through every challenge we’ve faced and is a big reason why our partnership works so well. The business is all about the team!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.campusrun.app/
• Instagram: campusrun.app
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lilyanademerdjieva/
• Other: My personal Instagram: @lili_demm