Persistence & Pushing Through with Upperclassmen.co
James Schiff, Founder of Upperclassman.co, describes building his company from the ground up and highlights the invaluable resources he gained from his first LA TechDay experience.
What was the greatest hurdle you faced while building your company?
The biggest hurdle has been identifying our company's direction. By this I mean it is very easy to get off track when people give suggestions of different directions we could take the business. For example, although we currently charge families of prospective students on a per call basis, we debating selling our services to universities. This became a challenge because we kept trying to help the current student, the parents of prospective students, the prospective students and the universities. This greatly over complicated things and left us going in circles.
What did you find out that you didn't know when you started the company?
What hard work really feels like. Working for other companies, we had experienced "hard work" and putting in what seemed like a lot of effort, but none of that can compare to what we have had to do for UpperClassmen.co. It is amazing how time flies by when we are working on a pitch, presentation or just editing our website, and still none of it ever seems to be enough. 24hrs in a day really feels like nothing when you have to do so many different things just to keep a company from failing.
What specific tactics led you to the path to success?
Not sure if I would call it a tactic, but certainly persistence is what we can credit for any success we have experienced as a company. There have been many times, after a bad presentation, after getting poor feedback on surveys, after getting rejected by people in the industry, that Kyle and myself have wanted to give up. But thankfully neither one of us will let the other do so and we keep pushing through. When it comes to business, it seems like everything goes wrong all at the same time, but we always find a way to stay persistent and never give up.
What resources did Upperclassmen.co gain at LA TechDay?
LA TechDay was the first major startup event Kyle and I had ever taken part in. With freshly printed banner and candy bowl in toe, we made our way to our table. Unsure what to expect, we set up our table and waited for the event to begin.
What proceeded was nothing short of amazing. Thanks to the TechDayLA team placing us in an amazing area, we had non stop foot traffic with incredibly interested patrons. Kyle and I pitched UpperClassmen.co easily over 500 times and quickly ran out of business cards and flyers.
From investors to insanely inquisitive 11yr olds, we received amazing feedback and support for our business. We even managed to get interested college students on board to become UpperClassmen Mentors!
All in all it was an amazing event that was worth every penny of the price to participate. Even the other companies presenting were keen to make meaningful connections. Thanks to all the networking done at the event we have met companies that will become hugely valuable as we grow and mature as a business.
To quote our COO Kyle Demmin as we headed home, "I would do that event again in a heartbeat and if anyone I know is starting a business, I will 100% recommend they sign up. No better way to get feedback than getting in front of that many people."