Roostoo
Fall 2019
When Edward, the founder, came to RISE looking for help getting his business off the ground Roostoo was a very early stage startup operating out of the USC incubator, Blackstone Launchpad. Edward is from China and had just graduated from USC. He needed to make this work... and fast so that he could apply for a work visa and remain in the US.
When he sought out RISE, Roostoo was still in the Beta format and was an app that showed all of the crypto arbitrages between different exchanges. While this is a really cool money making opportunity and interesting project, we had a difficult time seeing it as a successful long-term business. My engagement team at RISE gave them the idea and advice to become an educational platform for cryptocurrencies and block chain technology. Apart from Reddit subs there isn't a conventional way to learn about cryptocurrencies.
With this new direction in mind, we started looking to obtain partnerships exchanges such as Coinbase and with hackathons, crypto clubs, and other players in the industry that Roostoo could add value for. We also helped design the new app front-end with UI/UX feedback.
Highkey
Spring 2020
Highkey is a social events application that specializes in college life. They congregate all of the parties or events in one place on a college campus and have had a massive growth rate with over half of the USC population signed up.
The semester with Highkey was filled with uncertainty due to the COVID-19 crisis. As an app with the social events space as their main avenue for business, it has been tough to sustain the growth that they were having before this crisis happened. Now with more and more colleges opting for online classes this fall, navigating this pandemic has become the primary area of focus for Highkey.
In the beginning of the semester, I met with Vili, the founder and discussed goals for the company such as growing to more colleges across the company, pivoting to handle all aspects of student life including recruitment for internships and jobs, obtaining partnerships with venues to attract more of the college demographic, and providing an end to end party package that deals with set up, security, music, alcohol, and attendance. As the engagement manager of my team at RISE, I led the process of hiring a Chief Product Officer for them and began working closely with him to define the product and the market fit. The pandemic has made it difficult to say the least with this business model, but we hope to position ourselves at the forefront of redefining social events in this uncertain age.