Happy Monday!
Welcome back to Founders Feature, a weekly newsletter all about the journeys of young startup founders.
For this week's edition, I interviewed Abidemi Awojuyigbe, founder of Scholist App, a scholarship platform based in the US.
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Here’s what Scholist App is all about:
🏠 The Basics
The Problem:
So many students, especially in the US are looking for different ways to pay for college and avoid getting into too much student debt. Most students aren't even aware of the scholarships out there and a lot of scholarships actually go unused because nobody knew of them in order to apply. Students often also falsely assume that they aren't eligible for certain scholarships.
The Solution:
Scholist App is a scholarship platform designed to help students discover apply and keep track of scholarships. We are trying to make people more aware of the scholarships that are out there encourage them to apply for more scholarships. We also want to spread general awareness about the fact that anyone can get a scholarship.
The Team:
I am a solo founder but I have a small team working with me right now, with people in the areas of sales and outreach, and finance. We're really looking to expand in the tech part of our team soon to allow the platform to grow. My background is in Chemical Engineering and I've just started working as a Pre-Sales Systems Engineer at Dell.
🚀 The Journey
How did you come up with your startup/solution?
I applied to so many scholarships while I was in college, and managed to win around 40-50 scholarships totalling over $100,000. I have also always been the go-to person for all my friends giving advice for scholarship applications and sharing scholarships with them. It's definitely a subject I'm passionate about, especially as a minority student.
Funnily enough, though, the actual idea for Scholist App was created in a single day while preparing for a job interview. As part of the interview, I was supposed to talk about something I was passionate about, and the obvious thing to me was helping people to get scholarships. And within the day I had created the business idea and pitch for what has now become Scholist app. I also got the job!
Now, the goal for Scholist App is to become the one-stop-shop for everything scholarship-related. We don't just want to share the scholarships, but we will also be offering application essay reviews and 1-on-1 coaching among other things.
Why is this the right time for this problem to be solved?
The amount of student debt held by the average college graduate in the US is enormous. Many young people even decide to not go to college because they don't want to take on that financial burden. Alleviating this burden off potential and current students is a problem that should have been solved long ago and is as pressing now as ever.
What is a recent success you are proud of?
I'm really proud about getting into the accelerator program we're currently in. Just like my motto with scholarships, I like to just put myself out there and apply for whatever I can. I applied for the Bridge for Billions Visa accelerator, and to my surprise actually got picked. This was a huge success for such an early-stage business as Scholist because we now have access to so many great mentors and so much support for building the business.
What is a recent challenge you have faced?
Recently, a challenge has been managing my tasks and priorities. Specifically, we've been struggling a bit with the marketing of the business. We weren't fully sure about the process, since we didn't want to get people excited for the App while we were still building it, and they couldn't access it yet, but we also wanted to get the name out there while we were building it. Really this is probably something I am learning and am frustrated about every day, but that's how you grow.
What do you wish you knew before you started and is there anything you would have done differently in hindsight?
I don't have a background in business, so honestly, I wish I had known more about what it means to found a startup. I really started with an idea and a problem I wanted to solve. I had to learn about the financing, growth, marketing, legal stuff, and all the jargon along the way, and I guess I didn't expect there to be that much. These are definitely things I think we should teach students in non-business fields as well. I think it would encourage many more, for example, STEM students, to not be afraid to turn an idea into a business.
🧠 The Lessons
What is the best advice you have been given recently?
As a founder, you need to learn to sell your story. People buy from people, so it's important to work on your pitch and really bring your why to your potential customers or investors.
What advice would you give to other young founders?
If you're passionate about what you're building, people will buy it. Also to actually grow, finding mentors is invaluable. Join accelerator programs and apply to as many grants and pitch competitions as you can. Don't ever sell yourself short thinking you won't get it. Because chances are you will, and the benefits you gain from being part of such a program are huge.
What is the biggest lesson you have learned so far?
Don't overextend yourself. Especially at the start, you as the founder might think you can be the salesperson, marketeer, and tech person all at once. But soon enough you will notice that that is not true and you should really just outsource the tasks that aren't your core skill set. This is especially true when you are a solo founder, and completely relying on yourself at the start. When you reach out to people you will be surprised to see how many people can help you in so many different ways.
✨ The Inspiration
Who inspires you?
I really look up to my mentor. She is also very passionate about helping people and loves helping students grow. She has a full-time job and does all this support work on the side. Seeing her do this makes me think there is no reason I shouldn't be able to do this myself.
What book do you think everyone should read?
Podcast:
How I Built This - NPR
Medium Publication: