CAL economics alumnus co-founds storage service company aimed at college students
College Cubbies launched while co-founders Corbin Yates and Dawson Gregg were students. Now the business is on track to expand across California and Arizona.
Corbin Yates was ready to embark on a football career at San Diego State University, but when injuries sidelined his plan, he found a new focus and career path.
It was summer 2024, when Yates transferred to SDSU as an economics major. He connected with his friend, electrical engineering student Dawson Gregg, who had a small residential moving company – College Dudes Doin’ Moves.
Yates joined Gregg’s moving team, but the business model was about to change.
“I saw people moving out of SDSU residence halls and I thought to myself: ‘I can do this for you,’” Gregg said. He saw a new opportunity in these high-density traffic points on campus.
Yates and Gregg along with two other partners, Ryan Carney and Shawheen Ghazavat formed College Cubbies in 2025 to solve the student moving and storage problem. They created a valet storage and shipping service catering specifically to college students.
How it works: the College Cubbies team delivers five boxes to students in their dorms, gives them one week to pack, then the team picks up those boxes and trucks them to a warehouse for storage over the summer or a semester. At the beginning of the next semester, the team delivers items back to the students at their desired location.
“During finals, it becomes a super easy solution for them to reserve online and have everything taken care of, with excellent customer service,” Gregg said.
“We hold a 5.0-star rating on Google and haven't lost a single item,” Yates added.
In their first year, while Yates and Gregg were still students, they served 67 customers. But, once they began working with SDSU’s Zip Launchpad, a startup incubator, they were able to refine their ideas and expand their vision with the help of mentors and advisors. Last season their customer base rose to 450 students from SDSU, UCSD, and USD with $300K in revenue.
“I have unending gratitude. We would not be where we are without Zip Launchpad,” Gregg said. The environment allows the co-founders (who both graduated in May 2026) to continually network with mentors while also using other center resources like office space and computers.
They have hired more than 50 SDSU student employees. “And, that number just keeps going up and up and up because we do have marketing students who are doing marketing for us right now as well — so that number just keeps climbing up every week,” Yates said.
They plan to grow the moving and storage model into 22 schools across California and Arizona.
Yates works Monday through Sunday to clock in about 55-60 hours a week. The business ramps up at the end of each semester and especially leading into summer when students move out of dorms or apartments.
With an economics degree, Yates found a gateway to entrepreneruship, but when he thinks back to his childhood, he said, “You know, I never thought I'd be running my own business. And, I definitely didn't think I'd be running my own business of moving boxes.”
