By Megha Lakha
It’s rare to hear about three high school students who have built their own app. Well, seniors Aydin Aly Ajani and Cheng Kai Duan, along with junior Judd Ebert, will soon be launching Axent, an app that uses AI to help consumers shop more efficiently.
Cheng Kai said that he and Aydin had always wanted to start a business together, and their senior project offered them an opportunity to do so.
They first needed to come up with the app’s purpose. “We kind of brainstormed with golf, watches, wallets, and book-related apps,” Aydin said. “We decided to make an app related to retail to help people figure out what they want to buy faster, so it’s almost like flashcards because you can swipe what you like and dislike.”
The trio said they’re focusing on shoe retail for the time being, but have plans to expand. “When people swipe through, it trains the AI to give you recommendations based on your likes,” Cheng Kai explained.
Judd, Cheng Kai, and Aydin decided to collaborate because all three of them were in Post-AP Computer Science. Cheng Kai said Judd was an especially beneficial addition to the group because he is more skilled. “Yeah, I would just say I have a different skillset,” Judd added.
It took them roughly three months to set up their app, starting in January. As Aydin explained their process, some fans came up and asked for photos with the group. I assumed their “fans” were due to their growing popularity on social media. Aydin said, “We’re on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, and we try to post every day.” Their support from students is unwavering.
Marketing is a big aspect of launching their app. “We’re just trying to consistently get out some type of content, either marketing the app, doing fun challenges, just getting people interested before we launch the app, so that when it does come, then people will download it,” Aydin said.
Cheng Kai said that their high-production videos take a lot of time to produce. “Those will be the days in life that are more editing involved, and then we have the quick videos which we can record,” Judd said. His video will be posted soon.
The inspiration for the app was to “be the middleman between the company itself and the consumer,” as Aydin put it.
The group wants an easier way for customers to find what they want to buy from manufacturers. “In theory, if our algorithm works well, it’ll be super quick,” Cheng Kai said. “That should lead to more sales overall because we help Nike generate sales, then they can give us a commission.” He also explained how a lot of companies have affiliate programs, so it’s “a win-win for all parties.”
Moreover, Aydin said that they “knew AI was the next big thing and we didn’t know what that would look like for our app.” Aydin compared Axent to how the Instagram and TikTok feeds have an algorithm that caters specific content depending on the person, so they “wanted to do that for products and hope to expand it to all lines of fashion.”
Axent will soon be launching on iOS and Android. Judd said he had to “do a lot of research about launching Axent, and it will take a minute to get out on the App Store.”
Ultimately, they have had to teach themselves a lot through this process. “I have to say I’ve learned a lot over the past few months about programming and working as a team,” Aydin said.
He pointed out that none of them knew how to do what they were doing.“We’re learning as we go,” Cheng Kai said. “Honestly, I think that’s the best way to do it,” he said.
“Jumping deep in this sort of thing, you just kind of submerge yourself,” Aydin said, “and figure out that you learned so much.”
