When Arshad Chowdhury ’98 was working as an investment banker a few years ago, he noticed that many of his sleep-deprived colleagues were in need of a nap. Desperate for a few minutes of sleep, Chowdhury and his coworkers found creative places to catch a few winks.

“We were tired a lot of the time, and found ourselves taking naps in the bathroom stalls, where our boss couldn’t see us,” he said. “At that point, I was willing to pay anything to nap with some dignity.”

And so the idea for MetroNaps was born. The company, founded in 2003 by Chowdhury and Christopher Lindholst ’97, provides workers with places to take daytime naps.

With two locations in New York City, one in the Empire State Building and the other in the heart of the financial district, MetroNaps attracts professionals who are willing to pay for a little rest.

For fourteen dollars per nap, the MetroNaps locations offer darkened rooms with luxurious sleeping pods that have been designed specifically to provide comfort and privacy. Nappers are woken with gentle vibrations, as the pod slowly rises into the upright position.

But the history of MetroNaps goes back further than 2003. Chowdhury and Lindholst became friends at Wesleyan through their involvement in the Mystical Seven, a secret society. During college, the two often talked about starting a business together. Both Chowdhury and Lindholst found their Wesleyan education aided them in their entrepreneurial endeavors.

“Despite Wesleyan’s reputation as a school from which a lot of teachers and journalists come from, there are a lot of businesspeople coming from Wesleyan,” Chowdhury said.

After graduating from Wesleyan, Chowdhury attended business school at Carnegie Mellon University, while Lindholst went to Columbia Business School.

Chowdhury found that the skills he had learned at Wesleyan set him apart from his peers in business school, many of whom had gone to engineering schools.

“There was one other Wesleyan student at [Carnegie Mellon] with me, and I think what separated us from other students was our ability to write and communicate,” he said.

Chowdhury also cited the school’s emphasis on creativity and innovation as something that helped him in his entrepreneurial pursuits.

“I think that Wesleyan, being so forward thinking, is a source of new trends,” he said.

In business school, Chowdhury tested models based on his ideas for a napping business.

After coming up with a business concept, Chowdhury asked Lindholst, now a health economist, to join him. As a health economist, Linholdst understood the importance and demand for naps in the workplace.

“When I brought the idea [of Metronaps] to Christopher, he was primed to help me. As a health economist, he saw the benefits of napping facilities,” he said.

Now, according to Chowdhury, things are going well for the growing business. Since the napping market is very new, the company hasn’t faced many barriers to entry, except cultural ones.

“The only real barriers are cultural,” Chowdhury said. “It’s challenging to get businesses to accept napping in the workplace.”

Lately, the sleeping pods have been selling very well, though Chowdhury and Lindholst are still looking forward to opening more MetroNaps centers like the two in New York.

The Savannah College of Arts and Design, located in Savannah, Georgia, recently bought four sleeping pods for its students.

Chowdhury and Lindholst are excited about their vision of MetroNaps and hope to watch their business blossom in the next few years.

“I see MetroNaps centers being a fixture in every city,” Chowdhury said.