GoStudeo is a platform for small businesses to find student video creators who can create their video content.
the homepage of GoStudeo
The Opportunity
Students – From talking to UT Radio/Television/Film students/professors, I’ve found that their degree program focuses purely on big production process. Freelancing, however, is not taught, despite it being a poignant way for RTF students to simultaneously build their skill while making money.
Small Businesses – Video is the most engaging web and mobile content mediums. Small businesses, who are already strapped for cash, lack the capital to fund large marketing production.
GoStudeo – A marketplace allowing student freelancers and small businesses to find each other. UT students can find local freelancing work and can use their GoStudeo profiles as their personal work portfolio. Small businesses can have video projects made for a fraction of the cost.
My Process
1. Choosing a name:
2. Building a landing page. I used Instapage to create and A/B test two different landing pages.
3. Pitching the business to local small businesses in Austin and RTF students at UT. I’ll admit this is the part where I really struggled. I was emailing about 25 businesses a day, custom tailoring each email with content strategies for their particular business, to little avail. On the student side, I tried joining every RTF organization and facebook group I knew of (despite my crippling social anxiety!!!).
4. Building out the platform. Getting an MVP was the priority – I knew people on both sides of my marketplace were interested, now I needed a minimum viable product. Being already familiar with wordpress.org, I then looked into WordPress themes on ThemeForest that most closely matched my business model. I spent weeks customizing this theme (looking back, this was definitely not worth it).
The Result
GoStudeo worked with 4 local businesses and 2 student content creators. We garnered 3x more engagement to our client’s social platforms.