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Suffice to say, launch was pretty exciting. There are still a ton of milestones to reach, but nevertheless, it seems like Walamu is getting a good amount of attention. Getting in the university paper is the next step, but before that I’m hoping to garner some attention simply by flyering and word of mouth to get a sort of foundation going to the site. My intern and I have been doing an excellent job so far of getting the word out. Personally, having gone dorm to dorm and door to door slipping flyers under people’s doors, I must say I’m also having fun meeting new people and getting to know my potential customers in such a personal way. It’s always good to find people that are genuinely interested in what you’re doing and I’m certainly focusing on running Walamu in a way which I can connect with my market, whereas other companies trying to do the same thing might simply see students as customers.
I’ll keep everyone posted on Walamu. Thanks for all the support so far by everyone.
P.S. Check out our contest winner’s site here.
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Rohail,
Great site. One question. Are you ever going to allow people to register without a email address that ends in .edu? I think that is excluding a lot of people, myself included.
Thanks Aaron. To answer your question– We don’t ever expect to open up the site to anyone without a .edu email address. Part of the site’s value comes from it’s exclusivity for college students. Plus by only allowing .edu’s we can be pretty sure people who are signing up are people from on campus as opposed to people from outside the college community. I am working on a demo account, however, so non-college folks can check out the site in full view.
Rohail,
Walamu looks good. I was trying to sign-up too and wasn’t able to because I didn’t see my former college in the list (I’m a recent graduate with several used textbooks remaining). Are you just going to offer this service to Rutgers students? If not, you should have an option to add a new college that is not already in the list.
Also, I don’t know if I completely agree with the .edu email account. All college students should have a .edu account, but a lot of them (at least at my former college) prefer to use their personal account and don’t check their .edu as often as they should. One other thing to think about is the .edu reasoning. Yes, it is a pretty sure way to be sure people are on campus, but a ton of college’s still let their former students keep their .edu email address. The demo account is a good idea.
Nonetheless, great work on the site and best of luck spreading the word.
Thanks Matt. Right now we’re only open to Rutgers students, but are looking to expand college by college. I think it’s best to grow organically.
You’re right, I’m sure most students prefer to use their personal e-mail accounts as opposed to their .edu, but the only time they will use their .edu is to confirm their account so it won’t be a repetitive thing. As for the fact that many alumni still have .edu e-mail addresses, it’s still a safer bet to have an alumni being able to create an account than some random Joe.
Thanks for the input Matt, I’ll let you know how it goes
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