When The Signal first sat down with sophomore interactive multimedia major Kyle McCabe, he was simply a College student with a backpack full of condoms and a dream.
Now, just a few months later, the young entrepreneur’s brain child, CondAm, a condom delivery service for on-campus students, has been featured in 30 to 40 different articles and radio shows across the United States, as well as in the U.K. branch of Cosmopolitan magazine and in a Dublin newspaper. McCabe has even been interviewed on Playboy Radio, and the Associated Press plans to bring a news crew to the College to film him while he does deliveries. Not bad for a door-to-door condom salesman.
For those who remain unaware of the business, the concept is simple. Students who live on campus and find themselves in need of a condom can go to CondAm’s website, condam.net, and fill out the order form. Within minutes, McCabe will show up with the ordered condoms in tow.
The condoms available for purchase are Trojans, Lifestyles (a non-latex brand of condoms) and Glydes (a vegan brand). Glyde and Lifestyle, two Australian condom brands, contacted McCabe after hearing about the business, with Lifestyle offering to donate the first shipment of condoms. Trojan, a brand that McCabe has used since starting the business, has yet to reach out.
“Every news outfit I’m like, yeah, I use Trojans. They don’t need my publicity, but I am giving it to them,” McCabe said in an interview.
Trojan isn’t the only organization associated with CondAm that has neglected to associate itself with the company. The College, according to McCabe, has done little to show their support of the venture, and in fact has barely acknowledged it. Although Dr. John C. Laughton, dean of the School of Arts & Communication, has retweeted a few of CondAm’s tweets, McCabe said that’s been all the recognition he’s received.
“I’m getting a lot of publicity for the College. I thought they would acknowledge it,” he said.
However, this lack of recognition hasn’t slowed down CondAm. McCabe estimates that he receives 30 to 40 orders a weekend, a jump from the 15 he reported having in The Signal’s first interview. He has also met with a lawyer to look over the waiver all customers must sign that protects CondAm and McCabe from any liabilities that go with the use of their product. This waiver is no longer the only thing standing between him and a potential lawsuit, however, as CondAm is now a state-registered limited liability company.
The extra precaution is necessary, as McCabe has ambitious plans for the company.
“If the success keeps growing and we start franchising, I think every college has a need for this,” he said about CondAm, mentioning that he was looking to expand to nearby Rider University.
With expansion comes costs, however, and McCabe admits to being in personal debt because of the venture. He purchases the condoms himself, and of course must pay for meetings with his lawyer, the copyright of the logo and webhosting fees, among other expenses.
There is also, of course, the workload to consider. Besides a few volunteers, some of whom used the job to gain credit for a Women’s and Gender Studies class, McCabe is still both the face of and the muscle behind CondAm, doing the vast brunt of the work himself. However, he has no regrets about starting up the business.
“At like two or three a.m. and I’m sitting with my girlfriend and I get a call … it’s a little hard to get up and go full speed. But I know if I get a call there’s kids in need … I’m happy to do it,” McCabe said.
