AJ Nelson Speaks of clusterFlunk and Other Fun Things

The Idea Behind clusterFlunk

"I guess it all started with some self-realization. We didn't pay attention in class so there must be a tool out there that can help us we thought," AJ Nelson, Co-Founder and CEO of clusterFlunk, explained. "We quickly found there wasn't a social network built around the classroom and connecting people by that thread, and that is where clusterFlunk came from," he said, explaining that like many startups, this social networking and virtual study group platform was born not of an idea, but in response to a need.

Nelson, the August guest of the Business Innovation Zone's Startup Stories, covered a variety of subjects as he shared the experiences he and his partner, Joe Dallago, have accrued since launching a beta version of the site at the University of Iowa in January 2013 and growing University of Iowa student participation to the 75 percent level, while also expanding to 14 more universities this year.

Described as "the way our generation does education," clusterFlunk is an online social networking site built around university classes and intended to remove the social barrier that naturally exists in the lecture hall environment, encouraging students to share notes and work together in a virtual study group. In response to questions from both Colwell and a room of attendees, which included a number of local tech entrepreneurs, investors, and entrepreneurial community supporters, Nelson touched on some common themes.

Event Discussion Topics

Funding

"It seems like fundraising in this area is getting much more straightforward," Colwell observed, noting the successes of Igor, TelePharm and Men's Style Lab who have all recently closed rounds. Nelson concurred, commenting on several rounds of funding successfully achieved by this bootstrapped startup and culminating in the July announcement of $1 million in funding from Lightbank, a venture capital firm founded by the principals of Groupon.

Revealing the secret to the clusterFlunk approach, Nelson shared, "We figured out that it is not about business plans, presentations or introductions and connections; it's about making the correct product and the right people will come to you." Nelson advocated the creation of relationships well before the need for fundraising, noting that the best time to meet people is when you don't need money from them. "You shouldn't be looking for money, money isn't going to help you. It's the people and the product that can take you to the next level that is going to help you," he shared. 

Scaling

Sharing advice given by Dwolla Founder and early clusterFlunk investor, Ben Milne, Nelson discouraged scaling for the purpose of scaling. "There is no reason to scale when you haven't gained traction or hit a tipping point in your first market," Nelson said, explaining that they have developed a recipe for scaling that requires 1 percent plus of each new university to register in the first semester. 

Marketing

Being a social media entity within the unique confines of a college community, clusterFlunk has been successful at growth by eschewing virtually all traditional marketing and utilizing what are becoming the new traditional social media venues. Twitter, Facebook, email and choosing a product name that piques mainstream media interest have all helped clusterFlunk grow vitally. Nelson offered his own formula for growth, G=c+op-mm, or growth equals content plus other people minus marketing messages, arguing that your users voices are much stronger than any marketing message.

"These are the things companies don't talk about," Nelson said with a smile as he shared a number of activities that have helped create buzz and garner attention both in the press and the online community. "We have always acted a lot bigger than we are," he chuckled, citing the time he tweeted an Iowa City CEO that they could not meet until their engineering team returned from Palo Alto, not mentioning that Joe was the whole of the engineering team. The tweet spread, and clusterFlunk's cred grew.

What No One Tells You

As they grow and expand, opening offices in Chicago, clusterFlunk is hiring and experiencing the less glamorous side of startup success. "It's the stuff that no one tells you about that is the hardest, like hiring and management. You think that the money is the hard part and once you have that everything will fall into place, but that's not true at all," he related. He and Colwell both underscored that while it is vogue in startups to disdain structure, when you start to grow, you realize its importance.

Revenue Models

With angel and venture capital at their back from a variety of sources, the discussion eventually turns to potential revenue models and Nelson unabashedly admits he has no idea how the revenue will flow when the time comes. While the answer on the surface may seem flippant the thought process behind it is not. Quoting the philosophy of The Social+Capital Partnership, a tech funding partnership in Palo Alto, clusterFlunk is focused on "Doing social good first and the revenue will follow," building a solid value proposition for its users and growing its user base is pre-requisite to chasing revenue.

Nelson does observe however that while he has no idea what the final model will entail, they have given it much thought to the possibilities and are not unprepared for the day when that becomes an issue. That day is still in the distance as they capture and cultivate the most highly prized consumer demographic.

While it may be true that Nelson and his partner didn't pay attention class at the University, it's equally clear that they've gotten quite an education while there!