Entrepreneur Interview: Stuart Schultz of GradSpot

The following is an interview with entrepreneur Stuart Schultz, the founder of Gradspot. You can think of Gradspot as a resource hub for recent college graduates. The interview dives into his experience starting Gradspot, challenges Stuart faced, his business model, how he's growing his start-up, advice, and long term plans. (Shoot me an email if you'd like to do an interview with College Mogul.) Enjoy...

1. What inspired you to start Gradspot?

When I was transitioning from college to the real world, I, for the first time, recognized that I didn't have any safety nets around me and there weren't any specific resources that could help me tackle issues that I ran into - and I don't mean, how to find an apartment, I mean, how, as a recent grad, with not much income and no credit, can I find an apartment? As I took a step back, I became even more surprised that even though millions of people are transitioning each year, no one is sharing their experiences nor the tips and tricks that they picked up. So, I built Gradspot.com to fill this need - we want Gradspot.com to both be a place you can turn to find out how to approach issues you confront in life after college as well as a place where you can share your experiences with people going through similar ones. We started developing the concept about two years ago (April 2007).

2. What is the Gradspot pitch?     

Gradspot is the resource for soon-to-be and recent grads making the transition to life after college. We approach the transition not from the perspective of a talking head, but instead as your older brother or sister who's been through it before (that's because many of our writers are twentsomething's themselves who have been through all of it before). We cover topics that range from finding your first job, to surviving your first day on the job, getting health insurance, moving in with roommates, managing your student debt, and more. We do all this on our website, which is completely free and provides over 100 "Survival Guides" on the most common issues facing people as they leave school and become more independent. We also have a book, "Gradspot.com's Guide to Life After College," which we sell on Amazon.com and also customize for schools and organizations who use it as a gift or orientation tool. Finally, we offer workshops on any of the topics covered on our website.

3. What are some challenges (either when you started or now) that you've had to tackle?

The main challenge we've faced is pretty common to any startup with limited resources and capital: marketing. At this point we've got a suite of products and tools we're extremely proud of, so our main focus is getting the word out to all of the people who we think can benefit from Gradspot. We're pursuing a grassroots marketing campaign by building relationships with schools, answering questions on Twitter, speaking with companies that hire recent grads, and pursuing a lot of other avenues. However, we recognize that building a content-based company--and then making it profitable--is a marathon not a sprint, so it's definitely imperative to have a lot of patience.

4. What is your business model? Are you profitable?

Selling books, hosting workshops for colleges and corporations, and producing revenue generated through advertising and sponsorship on our website. We are open-minded and always on the lookout for new and innovative strategies for monetization (in fact, both workshops and book customization are two revenue streams that we fell into other than planned). Recently, we had our first profitable month, which was an exciting milestone. As I mentioned before, patience is key, and the money doesn't come overnight.

5. What are your long term plans for the site?

We'd like to be the first port of call for every single college student in the country making the transition. You've got to dream big, right? But at very least, our plan is to be a clearing house for all things related to getting settled in the real world. In other words, we're more than happy to link to other sites if we think they cover a particular topic very well already (e.g., industry profiles on Vault.com) because there's no need to reinvent the wheel, but we want continue to build an online portal where soon-to-be and recent grads will be guaranteed to get the best, most relevant information to this challenging (but also fun) stage in life.

We also plan to expand our local content on the site, beginning this summer with New York City and then moving on to other US cities popular with recent grads. The content will include things like local real-estate listings, a job board, and reviews of businesses and services relevant to people who are relocating.

6. How are you growing your business?

Relationships. With our content proven, we are leveraging current relationships and constantly seeking new ones. In addition to college career centers and alumni offices, we reach out to corporations that hire lots of recent grads, companies looking to market to this demographic, blogs, and anyone else who we think we can create synergies with . Recently, we attended our first major conference as a company -- the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) conference in Las Vegas. It was an incredibly valuable to get off the phones and meet people in person. I'd definitely recommend tracking down conferences and trade shows related to the product your creating. Bring samples, stamina, and your best "networking smile."

7. Who is your favorite entrepreneur?

I don't know that I have a favorite entrepreneur, but I'm a huge fan of a few: (1) Sir Richard Branson because of his infinite imagination and ability to sell; (2) Steve Jobs because of his ability to understand what the customer wants, his conviction, and his ability to juggle two billion dollar organizations at the same time; and (3) 50 Cent because who else can turn nine bullet wounds first into a rap career, then a licensing deal with Vitamin Water (and the nerves to take equity versus cash), and then selling it all?!??!

8. Have you discovered any tools that are helpful that other entrepreneurs can use?

Yes. A $10 bill. There's nothing more helpful to an entrepreneur than taking a fellow entrepreneur out to lunch and learning from their mistakes and bouncing ideas off of them. As new as you product may be, I promise someone has had to sell their own product in the same way you'll have to sell yours and knows how to succeed. Don't waste time reinventing the wheel; building your business is time-consuming enough.

9. What advice can you provide to anyone looking to start a venture?

Make sure you have an actual business model (ie. a concrete way to make money), a real marketing plan (ie. you can't build it an expect them to come), and get ready to spend a lot of $10 bills (see answer to best tool an entrepreneur can use).

10. Anything else that's interesting you'd like to add...

What better time is there than now to start a business? The world's economy has fallen out from underneath itself. That just means that less people will be starting companies (because they'll be scared) which in turn means less competition. It also means that whichever ventures succeed today will be the mega companies of tomorrow. Finally, if you're an entrepreneur (or want to be), and still in school, start a venture. You have zero opportunity cost (it's not like you have to leave a job to start one). And don't forget, the company doesn't have to be the next google. People have made lots of money on campus laundry delivery services and dollar stores.