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Company Background Video (run time: 13:19)

Company: Spoon University

1. 00:00:13.056 Spoon University is a food media company for young people.

2. 00:00:16.128 So what that means is we're a lot like the Food Network

3. 00:00:18.688 and that we have recipes, restaurant reviews, healthy eating tips, food news all about

4. 00:00:23.552 how food can fit into your life

5. 00:00:25.344 but it's all made by college students and young people on campuses all around the world.

6. 00:00:29.696 So we empower teams of students

7. 00:00:31.744 that work with a student  publication on their campus

8. 00:00:34.048 to come together to form a community, to build a team, and develop skills and then start having the fruits of their labor

9. 00:00:40.448 and their work is seen on an international scale.

10. 00:00:43.520 So Spoon originally got started when Sarah and I were undergrads at Northwestern.  We had moved off-campus for the first time into our

11. 00:00:49.920 apartments

12. 00:00:50.944 and suddenly realized we had to figure out how to feed ourselves

13. 00:00:54.016 and we've been prepared for so many things run our lives except for this really important aspect of

14. 00:00:58.880 college.

15. 00:01:00.416 It was so strange to us because there are so many other students on campus who were probably going through the same thing.

16. 00:01:05.024 We basically wanted to bring everybody together to figure this 

17. 00:01:07.584 this thing out together.

18. 00:01:08.864 There was a ton of food media out there like Food Network, Bon Appetit, all these amazing resources out there

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19. 00:01:15.008 but nothing really for us specifically.

20. 00:01:17.056 You know college students  do not have a lot of time or money or experience or resources and so

21. 00:01:22.176 the best

22. 00:01:23.200 the place to learn was from our peers and from each other. So we wanted to build something to bring everyone together around that

23. 00:01:28.832 we started a publication on campus

24. 00:01:30.624 built the team to about a hundred students. There were  writers, photographers, editors,  videographers

25. 00:01:35.232 marketing people ad sales kind of

26. 00:01:38.304 the whole spectrum.

27. 00:01:39.328 And we started getting emails from other people from other schools who had heard of Spoon

28. 00:01:42.912 and wanted to bring it to their university and so

29. 00:01:45.984 what we realized after launching our first couple of chapters [in our] senior year was that

30. 00:01:50.848 a lot of college students wanted to be entrepreneurial that needed the help to get started

31. 00:01:55.968 and a lot of people are suddenly interested in food. Whether that was just

32. 00:01:59.552 for sustenance to try to feed themselves or it was this new passion that people have they wanted

33. 00:02:04.160 explore

34. 00:02:04.928 and really this idea of bringing people together around the community and

35. 00:02:08.512  having all the content and the experiences are really authentic

36. 00:02:11.584 was

37. 00:02:12.608 really impactful in a way that I think has been done before.

38. 00:02:15.936 So when we graduated we decided to test out over the summer to see if

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39. 00:02:20.800 Spoon was a viable thing that could exist in other universities.

40. 00:02:23.872 Sarah spent the summer teaching herself how to code, building a website that could accommodate these first initial schools

41. 00:02:29.760 and I was going out on campus virtually trying to find other students to start chapters.

42. 00:02:34.368 It was just me and her on the couch in Evanston finishing out our leases

43. 00:02:38.720 and by the end of the summer had a lot of great interest in starting new chapters, the site was launched it was alive

44. 00:02:45.632 and then we knew that moving to New York was going to the best place for media for startups and entrepreneurship and we could build our network here.

45. 00:02:52.800 So we moved to New York

46. 00:02:54.336 spent that first-year kind of just

47. 00:02:56.640 plugging away on our couch building more chapters building more things on the site

48. 00:03:00.736 and it was it was quite a grind I think that looking back on it it was

49. 00:03:06.624

50. 00:03:07.392 difficult although we didn't know how difficult it was going to be and I think that's what allowed us to kind of push through.

51. 00:03:14.560

52. 00:03:15.840 And so we began doing that for about a year we were at about what, 30 campuses

53. 00:03:18.912  maybe and then

54. 00:03:20.448 got into the Tech Stars accelerator program in New York.

55. 00:03:23.776 That was really turning point for us because suddenly we were a little bit of investment we had  other people who

56. 00:03:30.176 we're validating what we were doing

57. 00:03:31.200 and that program kind of really help us

58. 00:03:33.760 set on this trajectory towards where we are today.

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59. 00:03:41.952 So the monetization model for Spoon is to be able to connect brands into our audience in an authentic way.

60. 00:03:47.840 So what traditionally media companies have done the past is try to reach scale try to get

61. 00:03:52.192 millions  [and] millions of people on their site so they can monetize with against banner ads that brands wanted to put their creative against.

62. 00:03:59.104 You very much see that the industry is moving away from that. So rather than going that route work completely ignoring the banner ad

63. 00:04:06.016 monetization route saying we want to build more authentic experiences. We want to have this engagement in this life deeper connection with the students that

64. 00:04:12.416 already trust us.

65. 00:04:13.440 So the way that we're connecting brands into that is through sponsored content.

66. 00:04:17.280 So working with

67. 00:04:18.303 a company

68. 00:04:19.071 understanding what their needs are, what their pain points are, what values they want to communicate

69. 00:04:23.679 and then  pairing them with students who have

70. 00:04:25.471  been top

71. 00:04:27.263 contributors for a while and saying okay let's bring this brand to life let's communicate

72. 00:04:31.615 they want to communicate

73. 00:04:33.919 in a college student voice.

74. 00:04:34.687 So that could be on content on the site, video, even 

75. 00:04:38.527 it even extends into social media. So a lot of brands are also wondering how do we reach this audience in social media

76. 00:04:43.647 as it's not native to them at all. 

77. 00:04:45.439 So we can also create authentic content

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78. 00:04:47.231 whether it's on Snapchat or Instagram or promoting things across Facebook

79. 00:04:51.071 and charge brands to be able to have access our community but also kind of in the consulting way of understanding how people are using

80. 00:04:58.495 these platforms. And then we are also able to activate events and experiential 

81. 00:05:02.335 campagins  on campus as well.

82. 00:05:05.407 So for a lot of like

83. 00:05:06.687 food companies, specifically with a CPG there is a lot of product

84. 00:05:09.759 they want to get into the hands of the right people

85. 00:05:11.807 and so are you able to connect them similarly with our network of students to be able to throw

86. 00:05:16.415 events around a  product on campus or some sort of activity

87. 00:05:19.487 that is beneficial for the campus in the chapter themselves that is also beneficial for the brand.

88. 00:05:26.143 Another thing that we're actually exploring is this whole idea around

89. 00:05:29.215 consumer insights and understanding behavior.

90. 00:05:32.543 College students are looking for kind of a black box

91. 00:05:34.591 for a lot of companies and so  we can

92. 00:05:38.175 help connect them with 

93. 00:05:39.711 our students whether it's in focus groups or surveys or

94. 00:05:43.039 your product testing things like this and there's a lot of opportunity kind of 

95. 00:05:47.391 as a side revenue stream to be able to explore

96. 00:05:50.463 and helping

97. 00:05:51.487 big companies understand really what young people want and what they're thinking and what their preferences are.

98. 00:06:01.471 So our community team is kind of where it all started and our first fire was

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Andrea

99. 00:06:06.335 who actually work with us at Northwestern.

100. 00:06:09.663 She came on to basically 

101. 00:06:10.687 help us launch

102. 00:06:11.711 new chapters at

103. 00:06:12.735 universities and maintain them and grow them and help all the

104. 00:06:15.551 student be successful. So it really starts at the community team.

105. 00:06:18.367 Right now we have 4 Community Managers

106. 00:06:20.927 and one is responsibility  for growth so getting new people

107. 00:06:24.767 interested in Spoon, getting their chapter is up and running and getting them launched.

108. 00:06:28.351 Then we have three Community Engagement Managers

109. 00:06:30.655 who are responsible for maintaining all the chapters we already have launched, helping them solve problems, helping them grow helping them

110. 00:06:37.055 be as successful as possible.

111. 00:06:38.591 There really the core of where it all begins.

112. 00:06:41.407 We also have our Editorial Team. So

113. 00:06:43.711  we have 3 editors right now they're responsible for basically

114. 00:06:47.551 coaching the writers on campus and making sure

115. 00:06:49.855 the quality of the content that we're putting out on the site is super high

116. 00:06:53.439 and so you know

117. 00:06:54.719 after the community team of writers, editors

118. 00:06:57.791 photographers, the editoral team

119. 00:06:59.071 helps them guide them through the process and help 

120. 00:07:02.143 train them for future jobs and internships.

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121. 00:07:04.703 We also have

122. 00:07:06.495 our video team

123. 00:07:07.519 so we have kind of a split video strategy right now.  We have a couple people who are focused on like HQ videos

124. 00:07:14.431 just the stuff that we produce in-house. It's basically a lot of testing different formats, testing different ideas

125. 00:07:19.295 and being able to have a controlled

126. 00:07:21.343 Video Production Studio here that we can learn a lot and then be able to help students be successful in their creating videos.

127. 00:07:27.743 They also have on the Production Manager who's responsible for overseeing our

128. 00:07:31.839 video programs. So for right now in about 40

129. 00:07:34.143 video contributors at

130. 00:07:35.167 different universities

131. 00:07:36.191 and he makes sure that

132. 00:07:37.727 similar to the editors of the community managers everyone has all the information there is successful as possible

133. 00:07:43.359 and if they feel super empowered to

134. 00:07:45.151 make amazing work.

135. 00:07:46.175 Then we have our marketing

136. 00:07:48.479 social media team that's like slowly growing.

137. 00:07:52.575 We have Rachel who is our Social Media Editor who

138. 00:07:55.391 was actually an editor-in-chief on one of our campus is it at University of Illinois so we like to let's keep people in the family.

139. 00:08:03.839 But we have social media on many channels all the ways that we

140. 00:08:05.631 take the content that all of our members are creating and get out there in the world how people appreciate their work.

141. 00:08:11.263 So that's everything  from social media to email

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142. 00:08:13.823 to different partners that we work with

143. 00:08:17.407 both content and social side.

144. 00:08:18.943 And then we have our sales team,

145. 00:08:21.503 what is brand new,

146. 00:08:22.271 this is how we're going to be

147. 00:08:24.319 intergrating brands

148. 00:08:25.343 into this

149. 00:08:26.111 whole conversation.

150. 00:08:27.135 So a lot of

151. 00:08:27.903 companies specifically food companies, but a lot of companies in general

152. 00:08:31.487 are having a hard time reaching

153. 00:08:33.535 this audience and because

154. 00:08:35.327 we have this amazing network of students and this amazing community

155. 00:08:38.143 we're able to integrate these brands authentically into that conversation. So we have a sales team now who is

156. 00:08:43.519 working on finding the best brands  we want to work with the kind of represent our values that our students would be like to be excited about and trying to find that connection to build 

157. 00:08:51.455 value for both our community and also the brands themselves.

158. 00:08:58.111 One challenge that I

159. 00:09:00.415 that I face is

160. 00:09:02.207 in

161. 00:09:03.487 delegating

162. 00:09:04.767 responsibility. I think that

163. 00:09:06.559 when you're starting a company

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164. 00:09:08.351 from the very beginning, it's you doing

165. 00:09:10.911 all of the things that wearing all the hats

166. 00:09:15.775 and being 

167. 00:09:16.799 like

168. 00:09:17.567 working in a growing company an entirely different skill set

169. 00:09:20.383 it entails not doing any not doing that hands-on work but

170. 00:09:25.247 empowering other people to do that work and finding people who can and

171. 00:09:28.575 and making sure that they feel capable of doing all the things that they need to do and that they have no roadblocks.

172. 00:09:33.951 Which is a really great skill but it's

173. 00:09:35.743 very different skill than doing everything yourself.

174. 00:09:38.303 And I think that transition is really it is a funny transition for a lot of startup founders to make

175. 00:09:43.679 and one that I've definitely struggled with for a little bit.

176. 00:09:46.495 One of the things that I think is really exciting is

177. 00:09:48.799 when  I was in Journalism School

178. 00:09:51.103 in college and I was told often

179. 00:09:53.663 about the end of media and how media business models just don't work and

180. 00:09:59.039 someone needs to figure out this problem and I think that we're in an industry that

181. 00:10:03.135 is going to need to figure out if it is it's going to be decided  it's own idenity and future so it's really exciting time to be in this industry.

182. 00:10:11.839 The other thing is I think that we have a really

183. 00:10:14.911 innovative way of approaching this problem

184. 00:10:17.471 because there are a lot of contributor networks like

185. 00:10:20.031 Huffington Post

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186. 00:10:21.823 and other media  companies that take advantage of contributor networks but ours is so different because it's really turning

187. 00:10:28.223 that hole

188. 00:10:29.247 process onto it's head.

189. 00:10:30.783 So instead of us having a contributor network

190. 00:10:33.343 full of people that

191. 00:10:34.623 feels a little bit like it's taking advantage of all this free labor

192. 00:10:37.695 we're an educational platform to help these students

193. 00:10:40.255 develop their skills that gives them a platform to be seen on a larger scale than they ever could have been seen otherwise.

194. 00:10:46.143 It's all about

195. 00:10:48.191 personal development as opposed to

196. 00:10:50.495 content production

197. 00:10:51.519 and I think that's a really important distinction that makes

198. 00:10:54.591 are system at it's core fundamentally different than a lot of companies that look like us.

199. 00:11:00.223 And that priority in structure

200. 00:11:03.039 affects everything that you do here

201. 00:11:05.343 and that affect the choices that we make with how we interact with the students

202. 00:11:09.695 and how we pitch story ideas and how we help them set goals

203. 00:11:14.047 and how we like

204. 00:11:16.607 incentivize them and try to reward their success

205. 00:11:20.447 so I think that's a core part of what we do that I think is awesome.

206. 00:11:28.895 So here are the strategic vision for the next year is being able the next couple months actually to test out a couple different thing to be a

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207. 00:11:35.295 able to have

208. 00:11:36.063 at least a few theories on how we should move forward.

209. 00:11:38.623 So we know that we want to continue to expand to more campus and we've really gotten that process down.

210. 00:11:43.999 So campus expansion is a big priority over the next year.

211. 00:11:47.839 A few things that we are testing and we do want to expand is our video program so right now it's kind of a closed program

212. 00:11:54.239 40 students that flucuates from semester to sememster but

213. 00:11:58.847 as people are starting to see video become way more prevalent in media

214. 00:12:02.687 there's a lot of interest in creating the stuff too so we want to be able to provide the tools to students to be able to create video if they never have

215. 00:12:09.087 and have it be seen by millions of people.  So trying to figure out exactly how we're going to expand and scale our video program is a big priority.

216. 00:12:16.511 We're also really interested in testing out

217. 00:12:19.583 what's Spoon could look like in cities after college.

218. 00:12:22.655 So we have a lot of students are graduating from our chapters who still want to be connected they still want to participate in Spoon somehow

219. 00:12:28.799 so this summer we're going to be testing

220. 00:12:31.103 what could this community look like you when you're  working full-time

221. 00:12:34.431 in a new city trying to explore in a similar way but kind of different life stage.

222. 00:12:39.807 We will also be experimenting more with the sales side of things. So

223. 00:12:44.671 really trying to figure out how we can drive the most value to brand's, how we can really be creative

224. 00:12:50.047 and provide products that no other media companies offers

225. 00:12:53.887 and then also to constantly checking with her students and saying

226. 00:12:57.215 trying to figure out did you like his campaign?  how do you feel about this brand now? that what kind of impact or actually making with

227. 00:13:03.103 companies that we're working with

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228. 00:13:04.639 and how can we better that experience for all of our members all of our audience and also the brands we want to work with, too.

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Company Background Video (run time: 13:19)
Company: Spoon University