Connect with vetted peer tutors. Designed for university students.

StudBuds is a startup I and four others founded in my first year at the University of Waterloo. As with any small team, we all shared many responsibilities. My primary contributions were creating a seamless user experience, designing graphical elements, and developing marketing strategies.

Purpose + Objective

In January 2016, StudBuds was founded and I took the role of Product Lead. The goal was to improve the tutoring experience for university students. We were frustrated by the mediocre tutoring platforms, marketplaces and posting sites that couldn’t guarantee a reliable experience for the student. We wanted to do better.

We created an online platform where students can easily and securely look for, book, and pay for tutoring sessions with peers. Our first major goal was to become the official tutoring platform with the University of Waterloo.

Approach + My Role

Between January and March we worked day and night to create an MVP (minimum viable product) to release to the public. I was responsible for research, designing the user experience and rapid prototyping. I worked closely with our developer. During this time I designed the interface, created our logo, and established a basic social media presence on Facebook and Instagram.

Our beta-launch date was two months after StudBuds was founded, March 2016, just before exams started. We pre-released the website to potential tutors so by the time students accessed the product they could already begin to book. Two months later, we had accumulated over 7,000 page views, 160 student sign ups and 27 tutor profiles.

Our marketing budget was limited to our own pockets, but we did what we could. My marketing contributions included cold-emailing, pitches in front of lectures, and displaying a banner in high traffic areas. I also acted as producer on a 1-minute promotional video we released on Facebook, which achieved 12,000+ views.

In September 2016 our team of four became five and we focused on a new marketing campaign where we recruited tutor ambassadors. These were hand picked students who represented StudBuds and were guaranteed to give high-quality tutoring. I designed posters for recruiting and company t-shirts to be worn by our ambassadors. I also managed relations with them to keep them happy and informed.

I organized a Lunch & Learn event that we held on campus to bring awareness to company. The talk was hosted by one of our ambassadors and a small panel of students.

At this time we began to put together a series of free info sessions with our ambassadors to bring awareness and help students prepare for midterms. I created a series of posters that were distributed through the university and promoted the events on Facebook. We executed two info sessions that received positive feedback.

In October we hosted a social meant for young entrepreneurs to meet and learn about each other’s projects. The event had a $5 cover and included a dance-floor and bar. I was involved in preparing the space and running the event, which was a success. At this time we had brought aboard our first member of a lower management team and were searching for others.

In January 2017, we were faced with the decision of committing full time to the company or pursuing other opportunities. Without the needed traction to become the official tutoring platform for the University, the team decided it was best to move on.

The beta website remains live at www.studbuds.com