Student’s business brings school pride to front lawns
Friday, July 26, 2024
By Charly Haley and Pat Vasquez-Cunningham
Keegan Masser likes to jokingly say he gets paid to “vandalize” other people’s property.
The Carlson School senior, double-majoring in Accounting and Finance, runs his own business painting logos on people’s yards.
“YardLogo is a service for grad parties where I will come to somebody’s house before the party and paint their college logo on their lawn,” Masser says. “For example, for a student going to the University of Minnesota, I would show up and I would paint the big M on the lawn.”
“It’s a really great way to showcase your school pride. Good for pictures, good for grad cards, and really to vibrantly announce where you’re going to be going next year,” he adds.
Masser started YardLogo as a senior in high school. He’s always enjoyed doodling sports logos in notebooks, but the idea to start a business came from his mom. They had seen a painted lawn at a grad party when Masser was 14, and then the next year, his mom asked him to paint a yard logo for his sister’s graduation.
Student Profile - Keegan Masser, CEO of YardLogo
Masser talks about why he likes painting logos and how his Carlson School education helped him grow his business.
From painting that first logo, the idea for Masser’s business began to take shape. He hit a snag during the COVID-19 pandemic—no grad parties. “But then I started my senior year, and I had a lot of friends graduating, and the business really snowballed,” he says. “Now, the last couple of years, it’s getting so much bigger.”
Masser says his education from the Carlson School has contributed to that business growth.
“Carlson has been very impactful,” he says. “In particular, learning about business strategy was great and really helped me set a focus to try and figure out how I can make this business a little bit better.” He has also asked professors directly for advice on improving his business.
As YardLogo continues to grow, Masser is painting more and more college logos—but it’s not hard to guess which one is still his favorite.
“I grew up a huge Minnesota sports fan in my entire life, going to football games, going to Gopher hockey. I absolutely loved it,” he says.
“It was kind of a perfect deal to go to Carlson,” Masser adds. “I wanted to go to the U, and Carlson is a great school, so it’s a win-win.”