FF 009: How To Leverage Your Connections To Grow Your Business with Sarah Schupp, Founder & CEO @ University Parent

Sarah Schupp is the CEO and founder of UniversityParent. UniversityParent is the #1 site for college parents to find everything they need to help their children succeed. The company, which began with a single print guide for the University of Colorado Boulder, now prints parent guides for more than two hundred colleges, features information for 3,000 colleges and universities on its website, and distributes a weekly e-newsletter. In May 2014, UniversityParent celebrated its 10th anniversary and was named to the Mercury100, BizWest’s ranking of the 100 Fastest-Growing Private Companies in Boulder Valley. Sarah has been named one of Inc. Magazine's Top 30 Entrepreneurs Under 30, Businessweek's top 25 Entrepreneurs under 25, and one of the Denver Business Journal's Top Women Under 40. She’s been named a "Player to Watch" by the Gates Foundation, and was recognized by the White House and the United Nations as one of the country's top young entrepreneurs. In Today's Show You Will Learn: How the idea for UniversityParent came about? How did Sarah manage to juggle a growing business with a University degree? How individuals can leverage their university network to grow their business? How important is it for entrepreneurs to be surrounded by like minded entrepreneurs? In what circumstances should founders confide and not confide in their team? How does Sarah as a leader show her support for her team? How has Sarah found the fundraising process and what would Sarah change if she could start over? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Harry's Fave Book: The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz Sarah's Fave Book: The Alchemist by Paolo Coehlo Sarah's Fave Newsletter or Blog: Think With Google As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Sarah on Twitter here!

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Harry Stebbings?

  It's our favourite day of the week here at the 20 Minute VC. Yes, it's Founder's Friday and this Founder's Friday is incredibly special as we welcome Sarah Shup to the show. Sarah is the CEO and founder of University Parent, which is the number one site for college parents to find everything they need to help their children succeed. The company, which began with a single print guide, now features over 3,000 colleges and universities on its website and distributes an amazing weekly e-newsletter. In May 2014, University Parent celebrated its 10th anniversary and was named to the Mercury 100, Bizwest's ranking of the 100 fastest-growing private companies in Boulder,

• 0:42Harry Stebbings?

  and Sarah herself has numerous accolades, including Inc. Magazine's Top 30 Entrepreneurs Under 30, Business Week's Top 25 Entrepreneurs Under 25. She's also been named a Player to Watch by the Gates Foundation and was recognised by the White House and the United Nations as one of the country's top young entrepreneurs. And talking of incredible founders, I've spoken to numerous incredible founders, as you've heard from listening to the previous Founder's Friday episodes, and the one challenge that all founders seem to face is the prospect of hiring. Well, that doesn't need to be the case anymore. Simply head on over to www.hiringscreen.com, where you can build a profile of your ideal

• 1:25Harry Stebbings?

  candidate with the preferences and metrics that are required for the job, and then Hiring Screen will analyse all the candidates and prioritise them according to their amazing Blink algorithm. Head on over to www.hiringscreen.com to check this out. But without further ado, ladies and gents, it's time to welcome the incredible Sarah Shup, CEO and founder at University Parent.

• 1:54Speaker 01

  You have now arrived at your destination.

• 1:57Harry Stebbings?

  Sarah, welcome to Founders Friday. I'm so thrilled to have you on the show.

• 2:02Speaker 02

  Thanks so much for having me.

• 2:03Harry Stebbings?

  And I'd like to say a special thank you to Elizabeth Kraus at Merger Lane for making the intro. But I'd love to kick off today's show by hearing a little about you, Sarah, and University Parent and its origins.

• 2:15Speaker 02

  Sure. So I live in Boulder, Colorado, married. I've got two little kids that are ages one and three. And I just love being part of the Boulder entrepreneurial ecosystem. It's an amazing place to be an entrepreneur. And I'm sure Elizabeth told you the same thing. Yeah, just to tell you a little bit about University Parent and how we got started. So University Parent is the place for parents to find connection, support and information. And I really started the business because I realized there was a giant opportunity to really serve families, starting in high school,

• 2:52Speaker 02

  all the way through to college graduation and help them understand how to best support their sons and daughters all the way through higher education. And I'd gotten the idea because I was really involved at CU and I was the senior class president. And I learned that, you know, one of the biggest drivers in helping students be successful is really having a great, great support system. And often, parents can provide that support for students, but they just don't know how. And so a lot of times, parents get a really bad reputation. People call them helicopter parents. And, you know, it's my theory that they, they all have great intentions. They just aren't quite sure how to channel their energy to be constructive.

• 3:34Harry Stebbings?

  And so does University Parent allow them to have a kind of tutorial towards that?

• 3:39Speaker 02

  We do. We really do it through content. So we've developed tons and tons of content to help families navigate the college adventure. And we've tackled all kinds of things, both from a first-person mom perspective, as well as from a higher education administrator and even faculty perspective.

• 3:59Harry Stebbings?

  And you started the business as a first-time entrepreneur in college. How did you handle the workload at the time?

• 4:07Speaker 02

  Well, uh, I actually started it so the summer before my senior year, so it was kind of like a summer job. And, uh, you know, I, so I, I didn't really know what I was getting into, but I had the whole summer to kind of try things out.

• 4:20Harry Stebbings?

  Did you plan it to be a long-term venture at the time?

• 4:23Speaker 02

  Not really. No, I was actually just trying to make some money over the summer.

• 4:29Speaker 02

  Yeah, so when I, when I did that, I realized that there was this incredible opportunity because I found that. You know, the parents really loved the product that we produced, the colleges really loved the product. And the businesses that were advertising with us also were so excited because they'd never had a chance to really reach this audience before. And parents are really the biggest influencer in student spending. And so to have access to them through, you know, something that wasn't just the school was really powerful.

• 4:59Harry Stebbings?

  And when you look back now, is there anything you would have done differently if you'd had that time again, starting the business?

• 5:06Speaker 02

  Millions of things. So, uh, you know, I think one of the, the biggest things I would have done differently at the beginning. Um, was really to, uh, to, to start building our, our digital side faster. Um, and also more intentionally. So, you know, just like most companies, we also had a website. But it wasn't really the core of the business. Um, and I wish that, you know, I, I had started there rather than starting with the print side.

• 5:37Harry Stebbings?

  And did you do the website yourself?

• 5:40Speaker 02

  I did, yes.

• 5:41Harry Stebbings?

  How did you learn to code? It was always an interesting point for me personally.

• 5:46Speaker 02

  Uh, well, I wasn't really, I mean, I was using really basic HTML. I wasn't doing any kind of serious coding. Um, and just kind of pulled together different tools that were available. I mean, it's certainly much easier to make a site that looks decent these days than it was, that was then. Um, but yeah, just, just tried to, tried to use tools that were available and, um. Yeah, just did some very basic HTML, so nothing fancy.

• 6:12Harry Stebbings?

  And it's also fair to say that you've done an amazing job in, in leveraging your university experience to build the business that you have. What tips or advice would you give to others maybe looking to leverage their university experience? And alumni network to further their business?

• 6:28Speaker 02

  Yeah, I I think it's really important to pay close attention, um whether really you're in university or not, to the environment that you're in and the challenges and opportunities that you see around you. And just think through, you know, what what gets you really excited or what gets you really fired up? And that also feels fixable. And then just to start talking to people, because that was one of the things that was so great in my experience was, you know, I think being in university is one of the best places to start a business because you have, you have access to so many um of your peers as well as, you know, professionals at the college that can really help you think through your idea and uh and really, you know, flush it out

• 7:12Speaker 02

  before you actually go do it. Um and it's also a really great environment to fail. You know, it's everyone there is there to learn and so there's a lot of um a lot of flexibility and a lot of willingness to to take risks. And the other thing too that I always tell entrepreneurs is, you know, it's really easy to being to, in college, to be willing to uh risk everything when you don't really have anything at that point. Right, I was like.

• 7:39Harry Stebbings?

  Absolutely, yeah. So with University Parent, did you come up with the idea and then tell everyone about it to test their thoughts?

• 7:48Speaker 02

  Yes, I did. So um the the place where it really came from is I was talking to one of the administrators at the university and he was expressing his frustration that, you know, parents were calling the school and asking the same questions over and over again. And he I said, well, why don't you just produce something that you can give to parents so that they're not calling you and asking the same thing if they're all seriously asking the same questions? And he said, well, that's a great idea, but I don't have any money to be able to put something like that together. Uh just because their budgets are so slim. And I said, well, that's no problem, you know, why don't I, I'll create it, I'll build it as a business and then I'll sell advertising as a way to fund it if you will provide me with all the content and then also hand it to parents.

• 8:34Speaker 02

  So it was one of those kind of perfect moments where I saw an opportunity and he had an ex, he had expressed a problem that, you know, I'd already been thinking about.

• 8:44Harry Stebbings?

  And then you've also got this fantastic network of well-connected entrepreneurs around you. How have you done that? Is that through being in Boulder? Uh, if so, how important is location? And what tips would you give to others for surrounding themselves with like-minded entrepreneurial people?

• 9:02Speaker 02

  Yeah, good question. Um, I think that being-

• 9:03Harry Stebbings?

  Quite a loaded question that.

• 9:05Speaker 02

  Yeah, several parts, right? So feel free to ask me the second thing if I forget to answer it.

• 9:10Harry Stebbings?

  Sure, we'll do.

• 9:12Speaker 02

  Yeah, so I think that being in Boulder really was a big part of it for me. Um. You know, I didn't grow up here and I had just moved here for school. And so I did have, uh, you know, the good fortune of getting to know a lot of people when I was in college. Uh, and also having some really incredible entrepreneur speakers come to our classes. Um, the other thing about Boulder that is really unique is that it's a really open community. Um, it's, everyone is almost all, you know, willing to, e- everyone's really helpful with each other. And it, it's, um, it's one of those places that feels really small, but is also, you know, decent size. So there is this kind of small-town, um, connectedness that everyone has.

• 9:55Speaker 02

  Um, and it also doesn't feel competitive. You know, I think a lot of places like on either coast can feel like only one of us can win. And it feels in Boulder like everyone wants everyone to win. You know, it feels very, um, very supportive. Um, and then in terms of just like, you know, surrounding myself with other good entrepreneurs, you know, I think that, um, of course, you get a lot of energy from being around other people that excite you and believe the things that you do, but also challenge you and inspire you. And, and so I think it's really important to, um, to, to always identify who those people are in your life and be intentional about spending time with them.

• 10:40Speaker 02

  And I always find that anytime I'm struggling with something or feeling down, um, you know, the first thing I can do is, you know, call one of these people that I know will, um, will just inspire me and, and get me excited again and just by being around them. So I, I feel very fortunate to, to be in a community like that.

• 11:01Harry Stebbings?

  And would you suggest to other founders that if they're not in a particularly entrepreneurial community, they should think about moving?

• 11:10Speaker 02

  Uh, that's a tough call. Um, uh, you know, I think in a lot of ways, being in an entrepreneurial community makes life a whole lot easier. Um, because being an entrepreneur is so hard and there are so many ups and so many downs. And, you know, you're, it's very lonely when you're the entrepreneur because you can't share everything that's going on with your team. Um, and so to be able to have a network of peers readily available for, for an in-person meeting. I do think has tremendous power, um, to help you keep going and, you know, get to that next point. Um, and of course you can have a great virtual network, but, um, for me, it's just not the same.

• 11:53Speaker 02

  You know, having a call with someone is great, but it's just not like spending time with them in person.

• 11:59Harry Stebbings?

  And you said there about kind of the, the struggles maybe of not confiding in your team. We, in what circumstances would you not confide in your team? Uh, in, I don't, I don't know if you've read Ben Horowitz's latest book, The Hard Thing About Hard Things.

• 12:14Speaker 02

  No, I haven't. I've read that film.

• 12:16Harry Stebbings?

  Uh, it's a unbelievable book, but he, he says that as CEO of one of his companies. He always, he can, learned to confide in his team and it kind of spread the burden. As a founder, do you, do you feel quite loaded then if you don't spread this burden? And, and why would you maybe not?

• 12:36Speaker 02

  Good question. Yeah. Sounds like I need to read that book first of all. Um, you know, I feel like sometimes it's good to share the burden and share, um, some of the things that are going on. But I also think too, sometimes that's not really fair to your employees. And as an entrepreneur, you've signed up, uh, not just to have a good idea, um, but to really build a business and to lead a team. And if you're leading a team, um, you know, of course you want to share a lot of information, but you don't want to share things if they won't be constructive to the team. And a lot of times too, there's, there's things that are sensitive that might be people issues. Uh, where someone has, you know, behaved badly and um, a lot of times that can cause a lot of stress.

• 13:20Speaker 02

  Or, you know, you're working on getting uh, financials done for a bank loan or something like that. Where it's stressful for the entrepreneur, but I, I don't think it's necessarily fair to uh, to share that burden with the team. If it isn't something that they can help with or really make an impact on. I think that just creates chaos and um, yeah, isn't, isn't good for the, isn't good for the team as a whole. Um, so that's kind of my philosophy and I've certainly done both things. You know, I, I feel like when we first got started, I um, was much more um, much more open in some cases about some of the challenges that we are facing.

• 14:01Speaker 02

  And uh, and I think too, it really depends on your team and um, how they handle stress. Uh, and yeah, so I just, I feel like as an entrepreneur, it's your job to, to um, to carry that.

• 14:16Harry Stebbings?

  And have you seen your management style change then, since you started University Parents?

• 14:21Speaker 02

  Absolutely. I mean, I had no idea what I was doing when I first got started. Uh, and still, you know, always trying to learn and uh, read and um, improve my, improve my style. And definitely have a long ways to go, but I think some of the, the big things that I've learned and tried to do differently. Um, one is I, I think one of my biggest problems is I don't feel like I am, I always clearly lay out my expectations for something, whether it's a position or project um, or a role. And so, you know, and you know, just having that realization that everyone around me is not psychic and doesn't know exactly uh, what my expectations are.

• 15:06Speaker 02

  So I've just tried to really um, get much better about being clear about the expectations for whatever it may be that I'm asking for. And you know, adding that clarity has certainly helped a ton. Um.

• 15:20Speaker 02

  And one of the other things too that has been a big kind of mantra for me with um with people, something one of my college professors said. And it's that you always have to separate, you know, the people from the problem. And that's huge for me because I feel like a lot of times, you know, when you have a team. Um, people will disappoint you or things that people do may disappoint you, right? Their behavior may be disappointing in a certain situation. Um, but the people themselves are not disappointing. And if you think about every single person, just like a, you know, just like your business. Um, is learning and growing all the time and getting better and better in theory, right?

• 16:00Harry Stebbings?

  We hope.

• 16:01Speaker 02

  So I I think, you know, you've got to have a, you've got to have a lot of patience. You've got to be really clear. And you have to let them know um that you're here to help them and support them. And so that they feel comfortable, you know, being open with you and not. Saying like, yes, I'll go do that, even if they aren't really sure what they're supposed to go do.

• 16:23Harry Stebbings?

  And as a leader then, how do you show your support for a team? Is it through having an open door policy? Is it through having incentives or kind of team days? What do you like to utilize to show that you're kind of a a vocal leader who's willing to accept any feedback?

• 16:40Speaker 02

  Yeah, so um I, for me, and I'm pretty introverted, so I really like to have one-on-one time uh with the team. Um, I do much better if I can just focus on my conversation with that person. And really get to know the things that they're excited about, um, the things that they are challenged by, whether it's personally or professionally. And just do whatever I can to help. Um, and of course, that's really different for different people. Um, and everyone's not willing to to share that right away, but I really try and get to know everyone as an individual. Um, and also, I think one of the things that most of my previous employees would say is that.

• 17:24Speaker 02

  You know, I understand that they're here for a period of time and, you know, that they're not going to be here forever. And I want them to know that the second they want to pursue another opportunity, I want to support them and help them get the next opportunity um without them feeling like they're, you know, disappointing me or letting me down or something like that. So actually, just yesterday, I um saw a former employee who'd been with us for a couple of years and, you know, it's great to be able to have a a strong relationship with people even after they leave.

• 17:55Harry Stebbings?

  And and then has university parent raised any external funding?

• 18:01Speaker 02

  Uh, we have. We've raised um some money from the three angel investors very early on in the business to really help us uh grow and scale, but we've we haven't done an institutional round.

• 18:12Harry Stebbings?

  And how did you find that funding experience?

• 18:15Speaker 02

  Oh, really tough. Um, you know, certainly because it was much earlier stage um and I'd never raised money before. It was it was really hard and I think, you know, now or the next time I go raise money, I'm I'm already I already feel better about it. And one of the things that you were asking about earlier with the network that I've that I've built, I when I was first raising money, I felt like I was asking someone to do me a favor. You know, I was saying, this is my idea and it felt more like a sale rather than an investment. And I think having that outlook is really hard for entrepreneurs and for investors.

• 18:58Speaker 02

  But the thing that I've learned now, just having been in Boulder a long time and um, you know, watched a lot of friends raise money, is learning that, you know, everyone's always looking for great opportunities. And if you're connecting someone with an opportunity that's going to be, you know, fulfilling for them, um, it, you know, help them increase their investment portfolio and is a good match. You know, that feels great and on the investor side too. And so I I think now that I've had more almost investment experience, it's been, you know, I'm I'm excited for the next round because I think having that attitude of, you know, no, this is a great opportunity and I'm so excited to connect you with this and

• 19:38Speaker 02

  not feeling like a favor will will be a much easier deal next next time.

• 19:44Harry Stebbings?

  So would you say that altered mindset is the one thing that you would change more than any other in the next round?

• 19:51Speaker 02

  Definitely, I think, um, yeah, and I I just. It's so interesting when you have, you know, a happy investor or someone who's looking for the next deal. Right, and they get really excited about it, and I've connected a lot of investors with entrepreneurs. And especially when you know that both are are good players and have the best intentions and. Are going to be great operators, that that feels awesome.

• 20:15Harry Stebbings?

  I think if it's okay with you, we're gonna dive into a quickfire round now.

• 20:19Speaker 02

  Sure.

• 20:20Harry Stebbings?

  So, your favorite book and why?

• 20:23Speaker 02

  Yeah, so my favorite book is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. And I love it because it's all about being open to the universe and. Um, being adventurous and just always believing that. Something great is going to transpire, and I just love the optimism of it.

• 20:43Harry Stebbings?

  What metric do you look at every day to judge the progress of your business?

• 20:48Speaker 02

  Uh, I check Salesforce relentlessly, so definitely revenue.

• 20:53Harry Stebbings?

  Your favorite newsletter or blog?

• 20:57Speaker 02

  Uh, right now, I really like the Think with Google newsletter, and it's all about what's changing in digital advertising.

• 21:05Harry Stebbings?

  When I say successful founder, what's who's the first person that comes to mind?

• 21:10Speaker 02

  Um, so one of my friends, uh, Jason Eckinroth comes to mind. We were in a incubator early on together. And he built a business here in Boulder called Ship Compliant. And it's just been really incredible to watch him, uh, take that from, you know, early idea. To incredibly successful business, um, and really realizing all of the different milestones and. Um, goals that he had set for himself.

• 21:39Harry Stebbings?

  The most challenging aspect of being a founder?

• 21:42Speaker 02

  I think the most challenging aspect is, um, being, uh.

• 21:48Speaker 02

  Relentlessly optimistic, but also realistic. And not letting your realism ever um hurt the possibilities for the business. But then also not being delusionally optimistic.

• 22:02Harry Stebbings?

  And that that sorry, this goes off slightly from the quickfire, but it's an incredible imbalance. It's always impossibly difficult for founders to achieve. And how do you manage to address that then? Do you have checks in place to stop your, you know, aspirations and visions and be remain to an extent realistic?

• 22:21Speaker 02

  Yeah, I I try to, I mean, I think it, you know, as you said, definitely the biggest challenge. And for me, I I feel like the the longer I've been at this, the the more optimistic and more opportunities I see. And I I keep seeing, you know, new things unveil themselves. And and so then it just becomes about how do you decide which to go after next? And how do you figure out, you know, what's going to take the least amount of energy? And be the most profitable quickly, right? Um, and then on the on the realism side, you know, you you can't let things like. Uh, you you just can't have that the sky is falling sort of philosophy.

• 23:03Speaker 02

  And um you one, I guess one of the other things too that I do with myself is I. Anytime I'm feeling like that, you know, I told you I'll call a friend, go talk through something. Um, and the other thing I do personally is I just have, you know, have that conversation with myself of. Okay, well, if things are really going badly, like what else do you want to be doing? You know, if you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be and what would you be doing? And all the time, every time I've had that conversation with myself, no matter how bad things have gotten, I want to be here. You know, I I still believe that this is an incredible opportunity. I still feel like there's a lot of work to be done and I don't want to quit until I feel like I've um achieved it.

• 23:46Harry Stebbings?

  And then finally, the next five years for you and university parent.

• 23:52Speaker 02

  Yeah, so sort of our next big step is really growing our community of parents and adding additional contextually related advertising and revenue opportunities. So one thing we've rolled out recently is a program where parents can book travel for campus visits, Parents Weekend, going to sporting events directly through the site. And that, you know, we started recently and it's going really well. And I feel like there's a lot of other things like that that our parents are looking for, where we can curate special opportunities based on, you know, vetted brands and vendors that we know that they need to access anyways.

• 24:36Harry Stebbings?

  Fantastic. And thank you so much for coming on today's very special episode of Founders Friday. It's been an absolute pleasure having you on the show.

• 24:44Speaker 02

  Thanks so much for having me.

• 24:45Harry Stebbings?

  As always, all the incredible resources and items mentioned in today's amazing episode with Sarah can be found on the blog at www.the20minetc.com. But before we leave today's show, Steve Jobs stated the importance of hiring 18 players. Well, look no further than HiringScreen, who provide a really interactive graphical experience of the whole recruitment process, providing instant analysis of a candidate's strengths and weaknesses, and then prioritizing them according to their Blink algorithm, which ranks them according to their match to your preferences. Check them out at www.hiringscreen.com or send them a tweet at hiringscreenRH.

• 25:27Harry Stebbings?

  Thank you so much for all your continued support and we look so forward to seeing you in the next episode.