Outhand was created by Foothill College Electrical Engineering major James Zhao, 21, who had already established two companies in China before immigrating to the United States. His personal frustration in assimilating to the Bay Area led to the creation of Outhand.

The premise is to create a place on the Internet where students can help students save time and money.  It is also a single site where students’ college needs are consolidated.

“The goal of Outhand is for students to be able to help each other, to create a social network in our school,” said Cynthia Ouandji, 17, biochemistry major and Outhand representative at De Anza.

Outhand focuses on classified sections and provides a place for students to keep up-to-date on classes, clubs and events.

“When I purchased a book online from my friend, I didn’t need to wait two weeks like I would have to if I ordered a book from Amazon,” said Outhand content officer Ian Lai, 19, architecture major at Foothill. “It’s transparent — I can see the deal. It’s safe and I can be sure that the deal or the product itself isn’t faulty. However we’ve progressed to the extent where we don’t just want to just sell and buy. We want to move ahead and push forward with the socializing aspect of it with the integrated club functions and the class functions.”

Eighteen months in its infancy, Outhand currently has a toehold in Foothill and De Anza Colleges with plans to expand to other local colleges, such as Mission College, West Valley College and Stanford University.

Currently, the program is being tested. Alex Claydon, 21, business major and Outhand representative at De Anza, said, the organizers are getting “an idea of how it’s evolving” in the area, so they can see where they want to take it.

The Outhand team plans to use the experience gained locally to grow the business and expand the company’s reach. The goal is to create a system that can be deployed at new schools to efficiently incorporate the schools into the Outhand website and get students involved.

Claydon said students at De Anza can benefit from Outhand’s centralization of features and services. The website has a different section for each college or university, allowing users to find a variety of information and services that are relevant to themselves.

Outhand’s model is especially convenient for students who plan on transferring. Once students learn how to use Outhand, they can continue using it at their new schools without worrying about learning a new interface.

The Outhand team is planning on offering a mobile app and deals to students in the future. 

“We’re trying to reach out to the local businesses, to make some good deals for students,” said Zhao. “They go to restaurants and get some discounts from those restaurants.”

De Anza students can learn more about Outhand by visiting their website at www.outhand.com, where they can connect to the Outhand Facebook page and Twitter feed.