App Connects Hikers
By Kelly Saunders
July 12, 2024

Shantee Enitencio Quinn ’24 and Daniel Aguayo ’24 noticed a problem: finding someone to hike with was hard. If a hiker is single, doesn’t have outdoorsy family or friends, is looking for a challenge, or is just starting the hobby, it can be difficult to connect with fellow hikers. Thus began the idea for TrekAR (pronounced trekker), a mobile app to bring hikers together.
With the app, users can find and filter trails by distance, difficulty, rating, etc. Once they’ve chosen a desired trail, the user enters a date, time, age, and gender preferences, and the app matches them with other hikers who have passed a required background check.
TrekAR began in JBU’s Innovation Launch Lab class but was not Enitencio and Aguayo’s first product idea. They pivoted twice before landing on TrekAR and later added Llewellyn Gentle ’24 to the team to handle financials.
JBU’s business program takes an innovative approach to entrepreneurship, requiring every student to prepare both a business plan and a lean canvas, which obliges students to test their product early and often before worrying about securing significant financing.
Enitencio, Aguayo, and Gentle turned to the JBU and Northwest Arkansas community for input and found open arms. JBU alumna Lea Hart ’21, an outdoor influencer who organizes hikes for women, gathered feedback from her followers. JBU graphic design students designed TrekAR graphics, and English students proofread proposals. The team also collaborated with Startup Junkie, a business management consultant in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and the Greenhouse Outdoor Recreation Program (GORP), an incubator program in NWA for outdoor startups. Business professors Eva Fast, D.B.A., and Randall Waldron, Ph.D., and engineering professor Chaz Miller, Ph.D., provided feedback along the way.
“It’s amazing how the JBU network works. People are just willing to help you,” said Enitencio.
The team had to pivot once again on the way to the 2024 Governor’s Cup Business Plan competition, scrapping their presentation the day before it was due when they decided it wasn’t good enough. The team pulled a near all-nighter to redo their presentation from scratch.
“We finished our presentation about an hour before it was due, but we were much more pleased with how it turned out after restarting it,” said Gentle. “If you had told us a week before that we’d have to do that, we’d be like, ‘There’s no way. No way that’s possible.’ But we did it.”
Though they did not advance, judges selected TrekAR as one of the top six Growth and Technology Division finalists.
“The competition was hard this year,” said Enitencio, “but I’m very proud of the way we represented JBU, the final product, and the presentation we gave to the judges.”
“I’m really proud of this team in particular,” said Fast, who taught the Innovation Launch Lab class. “They had to pivot in a very significant way. They were so resilient; their team spirit and confidence carried them through.”
The next step for the TrekAR team is to compete at the ACBSP School of Thought Entrepreneurial Competition in late June. Winning the competition would be more than a resume builder, as the prize money could provide the funding needed for TrekAR’s development.
While many class projects come to a close when the year ends, Aguayo and the team know they have something worthwhile and continue looking for funding opportunities.
“Everybody we talked to about the project and the app says, ‘This sounds amazing, how can I get my hands on something like this?’” said Aguayo. “That’s just further validation that this is a good idea, and it is something that would be successful.”