Riparian - The Rivers School

jobs would continuously scroll (“almost
like a stock ticker,” he says.)
For Nguyen, entrepreneurship was not
a career path he expected to pursue. His
family, immigrants from Vietnam, has a
history of starting new businesses ranging
from restaurants to computer service providers,
but Nguyen didn’t even take an economics
class until his senior year at Williams.
Now, he finds himself in the enviable
position of running around the east Coast
pitching the site to interested investors.
The 23-year-old attributes his success
partly to the freedom afforded by being
Search
tiM GEary ’02
as a finance student at the university of
Colorado at Boulder, Tim Geary ’02
was frequently hungry. As a member of the
school’s hockey team, he quickly realized
the inconvenient fact that practices often
took place during dining hall hours. Forced
to eat off-campus, he found his food expenses
skyrocket as he paid out-of-pocket
on top of his college’s dining plan.
Soon enough, though, he discovered
Boulder’s Flatiron meal plan, a program involving
a pre-paid “debit card” that could
be used at area restaurants. He was struck
by the simplicity and practicality of the system,
and upon moving to Boston after
graduation, realized the potential for the
idea elsewhere. “Given that the model
worked in Boulder with 35,000 students,”
he says, “we figured it would simply take
off in Boston,” which has more than
200,000.
In the fall of 2007, after a year of doing
market research and meeting with local
restaurateurs, Geary and business partner
Marcie Peterson launched Boston Bucks
with an umbrella of 55 participating food
establishments in Allston, Cambridge, and
young and willing to work long hours. His
dedication also stems from past work experience,
including a gig during his Rivers
days as a door-to-door salesman for Cutco
knives. “Those jobs helped me learn that
you have to hustle in any business,” he says.
“It’s the only way to sell your product.”
Nguyen fondly recalls his time at Rivers,
where he was involved in founding the tech
club and doing cross-country. “Teachers
like Coach Paluseo instilled in me a strong
work ethic,” he says, “and taught me to
view my challenges as marathons rather
than sprints.”
Bucking the Dining-Hall Trend
downtown Boston. The program, which offers
a variety of different plans ranging
from three meals a week (“The Supplemental”)
to eighteen (“The Starving Student”),
is now accepted in a steady stable of 150 locally-owned
restaurants in the area.
The program is straight-forward for
parents and students and a guaranteed
money-maker for restaurants, Geary states.
Boston Bucks earns its profit by taking a
modest cut of students’ purchases, with no
monthly fees asked of restaurants. “If they
don’t get business, we don’t get business,”
he says. “It’s a no-risk proposition.”
Geary credits the Web with helping
Boston Bucks find its legs. “[The Internet]
“Thai was a really bright, hard-working
kid—a wonderful guy to have on the team,”
says Paluseo. “He listened carefully and
was able to see beyond the present to where
his education could take him in the future.
He took himself seriously at Rivers as both
a student and an athlete.”
For budding business people, Nguyen
waxes wise on the importance of commitment.
“ultimately, the most valuable advice
is to not give up or get discouraged,” he
says. “everyone dreams of being the next
Facebook, but a website is always a work in
progress. It’s constantly changing.” ■
is the backbone of what we do,” Geary says.
“All I need is a laptop and a wireless Internet
card, and we can run this company.”
Geary and Peterson coordinate interactive
marketing efforts through social networking
sites, utilizing Twitter and offering
financial incentives to customers who recommend
the program to friends through
Facebook.
The company’s success stems largely
from referrals, with a customer base of
1,000 that Geary hopes to increase to 5,000
by 2010 by working more closely with student
groups around Boston. The program
also offers special savings throughout the
school year, including a rotating 10% discount
at select restaurants.
Geary has played a more secondary
role in the company since becoming president
of Weld Power, a generator company
in Auburn. He says that he counts his blessings
every day that he started Boston Bucks
when he did. “I don’t know if I would be
able to launch it in this climate,” he says.
“During a recession, investors want sure
things.”
“With that said,” he continues, with a
smile, “people will always have to eat.” ■
Fall 2009 • Riparian • 5