Some notes I took to prep for a meeting with Chris. He was one of the more ingrained start-up people in the Triangle, specifically Durham. A nice guy who is very generous with his time.

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Give overview of where we are.

What are your thoughts on our product being seasonal?

Given its seasonality, what do you see as possible monetization strategies?

Should we be worrying about monetization at all right now, and if so given our stats, do ads seem like a viable monetization strategy? We might average at around 10,000 sessions for UNC per month, with a 20 minute session duration.

Is it the right time to start looking for funding?

Should we consider incubators?

My notes on what he said:

He said we had really good numbers. Better than a lot more who come in.

Said should start looking into talking to investors about what they want to see from us.

Really need to work out a direction for where we can take it to be a money maker. Think broadly such as about making money on something bigger.

Said she can just say "sorry just business" and reneg the offer. Last minute. Don't think they wouldn't do the same to her if their stock went down.

He said he could meet with Tara and me when she's in town.

Said we really need to spend time thinking about the business part.

$25,000 checks from investors.

He said it’s good to work those business muscles now because we’d have to handle them eventually on whatever we do next.

Told me I’m not unique in feeling terrible when looking at jobs. He felt the same way too.

Pitch it as “we have the mindshare of 1 million students 2-3 times a year, what can you do with that”? Sell them something, etc.

Or go down the road of “we have all this data, who can we sell it to. Employers would love that data. Advertise their jobs to students”.

Said we shouldn’t be focusing so much on product, more on business part right now. 50%-50% at minimum.