Relationship-building, like I always say, is crucial. It comes in different forms and sizes. Some dedicate large chunks of their daily routines to nurturing their ties with friends, mentors and weak ties. Whereas some people like AJ Agrawal go to great lengths for maintaining not only his own relationships but also of hundreds of schools with their alumni through his company, Alumnify. Impressed by his and his co-founder Eghosa Aihie's initiative, I reached out to Alumnify's head of business development for offering my helping hand a couple months ago. And that sowed the seeds for my relationship with Alumnify's CEO Agrawal.
When the co-founders got an email from their alma mater asking for a donation, Agrawal was 22 years old living out of his car with $70 in his pocket. In my conversation with him, he recalls thinking how such email-reach outs by his school was the worst way to nurture a meaningful relationship with an alum. Agrawal shares in with my frustration of relationships that are superficial and transactional. Asking someone to make a commitment to help without simplifying the process for them or providing them utility, is what I strongly disapprove of.
Frustrated by such parasitical nature of the how the donation systems worked in the education realm, Agrawal came up with an idea to transform the relationship between schools and alum by fundamentally changing its nature from monetary to communal. "There's a special feeling we experience when we meet another alum at a place we wouldn't expect, and I thought if you could make such surprising encounters happen more often, donations would come in for the schools as a by-product." says Agrawal. The feeling became the driving force behind the creation of Alumnify, the exploding alumni-engagement startup that puts more of a focus on engaging alumni rather than getting a quick donation.
"Our brand in alumni engagement is very similar to Tesla's in the car industry" says Agrawal. What I truly like about this company is that it has set out to create a breeding ground where nostalgic feelings and relationships can meaningfully thrive and this propels the members of the alumni community to make donations out of gratitude and pride. This approach follows my principle of adding values to others' lives in order to make them more receptive to add value to yours.
In the past year, the company has grown to over 130 clients, and has closed their sales department due to an overload of clients. Such robust growth goes to show that the intent of making genuine relationships go a long way in personal growth as well as business development. The act of making donations is straight-forward. Agrawal took it upon himself to make alumni happily want to donate to their alma mater through a relationship-driven process.
The company's rapid growth allowed it to become one of the hottest startups coming out of the 500 Startup's Accelerator Program, with investors looking to put big bucks behind Alumnify and its young CEO. The company has raised over $1.2 Million, and is expected to close another $2-$5 million dollar round in the next 6 to 12 months according to Co-Founder Eghosa Aihie.
At 25, AJ Agrawal is seen as someone who is young and inexperienced to be leading a company in higher ed. The way he runs the company is much different than his shirt and tie seasoned competitors as well. To start, there are no set hours at Alumnify. There is no set hierarchy, and instead of a corporate structure, Agrawal believes in circles, where each circle works together such that everyone in the circle is on the same level. He has created a culture wherein every employee sees a peer mentor or a friend in other employees.
Learning is also a huge part of the company culture as well, proven by the fact that all people in the company are encourage to read during work hours. The company always looks to hire within first, and wants people to be able to play multiple roles. Agrawal invests not only in his business, but also in his relationships with his employees for furthering their personal growth.
True support systems are founded on authenticity and the desire to have each other's back. Internally, Alumnify is built on a circle of safety, where everyone looks out for one another. As Agrawal puts it, "We are kind of like the Spartans in 300". We are a tribe and as the leader it's my job to sacrifice everything I can to do anything I can for my team. Real leaders eat last."
The other focus that Agrawal has put into the company is the importance of customer-service over sales. This explains his controversial move to stop his sales force from selling to schools once they exceeded 130 clients, even at the displeasure of his investors. "I care more about having ten customers love us, rather than having 400 say we're ok" says Agrawal. I admire his idea of investing his energy in fostering a few profound relationships rather than in hundreds that often dilute the genuinity.
In an industry where the processes have stayed the same for a long time, Alumnify is not the type of company we're used to seeing. Companies have tried to achieve what Alumnify is trying to do in the past, but not many have made quite the buzz this young startup has. Their team isn't afraid to rock the boat, and such attitude has helped them build a brand deeply rooted in their relationships with their clients. The team is a classic example of the essence of Millennial entrepreneurship.
Having an app that alumni actually love using would be a major game changer to the industry. Not only would it improve relationships between schools and alums, but it would also give schools meaningful user-engagement data that they've never had before.