NuvaBox provides adulting hack

Recent UW-Milwaukee grad Sam Keehan was already a CEO before donning his cap and gown.

Keehan founded NuvaBox, a subscription box service for young adults leaving home for the first time, in 2023, as a senior project. It is now his full-time pursuit.

“When I moved out of my parents’ house and into an apartment, my living standard dropped, to be honest,” Keehan recalled. “My mom did a great job raising me and my siblings, so I couldn’t believe it. I knew I should be better than this. I think it was just because I didn’t have the access to the things I needed to live the comfortable lifestyle that I did with my parents.”

Each time he returned to the family home for a visit, Keehan’s mom gave him a care package filled with cleaning supplies and other household basics. Before long, shelves that were once bare began to fill up with essentials like dish towels and toilet bowl cleaner.

And soon, his apartment began to feel more like a home.

Keehan knew his experience was not a unique one, so he put the wheels in motion to address this common problem.

Then, solopreneur hit the ground running.

NuvaBox is in the current cohort of gBETA and Keehan is eager to attend SubSummit, the nation’s largest gathering of businesses in the subscription and membership industry.

“We’ve got all our events lined up. We’re really excited to talk to everyone and learn from people about how they went through the process when they were at my stage of business,” he said.

Keehan has partnered with his alma mater to beta test his subscription box.

“We are going to have 100 freshmen at UWM go through our beta test. We will provide them with nine boxes- one a month. Then we will get their feedback on what worked and what didn’t to formulate our business structure,” he said.

As the bootstrapped company prepares for its beta launch in September, Keehan is considering investor options.

In the future, NuvaBox plans to offer the boxes at a target cost of $40 per unit, with discounted pricing for customers who subscribe to semester-long and school year-long plans.

To follow the growth of this pre-revenue company, connect with NuvaBox here.