We want you to enter the THON Rules sweepstakes. It’s pretty simple. Each PSU student is allowed 1 guess as to what the THON 2015 total fundraising will be announced live on February 22nd, 2015.
So just go into the DormChat app on your phone and enter a $ value under THON GAMES. You must enter under your profile, no anonymous guesses accepted. Last year raised $13,343,517.33 so be exact down to the penny. No entries accepted after this Sunday morning (February 22nd, 2015) at 10:00am ET.
Valid for new or current DormChat users.1 guess per student (if you enter more than1 you will be disqualified from the competition). DormChat will donate $1 per entry or a $500 max company contribution (whichever is less). As many students as possible can join the contest. There is no cap of entries except the 1 guess per student rule.
DormChat will give the student with the closest guess (without going over) a prize of their choice.
Prizes are either A) dinner with a DormChat Executive where they can learn more about technology, Feel free to ask us about technology, start ups or what it takes to start your own company. B) You can take 1 friend and go to dinner at any PSU restaurant of your choice. So you two can enjoy a dinner on us, but without us. It won’t hurt our feelings if you don’t choose us.
The winner will be contacted Monday morning with further details about how to collect your prize. Happy guessing!
-The DormChat Team
If you have specific questions about the contest rules please contact [email protected]
Since its launch in October 2014, SoLoMo company Dormchat has taken the college market by storm. Referred to as the "fun way to meet the people that make up your local community", Dormchat users can join chats, post local updates (publicly or anonymously), discover relevant news and connect with fellow students -- all they need is a ".edu" email.
Unlocked on 500+ campuses, Dormchat's clearly on to something -- but there's nothing quite like meeting the team behind the magic. So we sat down with Adam Michalski, Dormchat's founder, to discuss his inspiration for the company, dream brand partnerships, the road ahead, and more:
What inspired you to found Dormchat?
I wanted to create the easiest way for you to communicate with the people around you. Tinder does a great job at this for dating. Where they’re focused on one-to-one local communication though, we’re focused on one-to-many - giving you a place where you can share and connect around locally relevant information with everyone in your community - not just one person.
What’s your “secret sauce”? What makes you different from the similar technologies out there?
The two largest players in this vertical are Yik Yak and DormChat. The key difference is Yik Yak is basically the bathroom stall in your college bar, while DormChat is like the bulletin board in the DormHalls.
This distinction is fundamental in how the apps we’re made/the vision of the founders.
Yik Yak is focused on anonymous, one-off posts with no context. Open up the app and you can see how this is playing out – cyberbullying, gossip, and trash talking.
DormChat is an open local conversation. You’re connecting with the students around you based on topics of mutual interest, not simply trying to one-up each other by saying the funniest and/or most irresponsible comment.
Which have been the most exciting parts of building Dormchat? Which have been the most challenging?
The most exciting part has been seeing the benefits this community has for everyone involved. We’ve seen students connect around events, meet others who they otherwise would have never met, and even share intimate thoughts that they otherwise would be hesitant to share in any other forum.
The most challenging aspect is really just thinking about how we can spread the word about DormChat faster. We’re making sharing locally relevant content easier than anything you’ve seen before. This is important in any community, but even more so for colleges. The more colleges we can get to by the end of this Spring semester the better.
What makes you ripe for brand partnership? What kinds of brands have you partnered with in the past (if any)?
We’re in ongoing discussions with some of the largest media companies in the world.
Our users are arguably the most desired demographic so we’re excited to find partners who are trying to break through to these students in an exciting, new geo-local fashion. With the right partners, we’re certain we could create some extremely interesting alternative avenues for brands to reach this age group in ways which haven't been experimented with before.
If you could “shout out” a brand you wish you could partner with, who would it be?
Given our focus on local communication, we really think sporting events, music events, and music festivals would be mutually beneficial partnerships. If we had to “shout out” one brand, I think we could go with Ultra Enterprises, Inc. (the team behind Ultra Music Festival).
The fact of the matter is that local marketing is broke and we're coming up with some cool ways to fix it.
What’s your roadmap for Dormchat? What will you be focusing on most in the next 6 months, as you take your tech to the next level?
Over the next six months we’ll be ramping up our hiring, spreading the word about the app, and working around the clock to make our application the best in the space.
User experience is what drives us. We build alongside what our users want so every week that goes by our application gets better and better. Simply put, 2015 is going to be a fun year.
What’s your advice to founders who want to reach college students?
Find something students have been doing in an inefficient way and build a product to make it easier. This is the one demographic that isn’t afraid to try new things. If you can build something great, you’ll have a big impact.
Wish you could hang with Adam? You can! Join our Madison and Mountain View hangout tomorrow (1/20) at 9AM, and ask him all your burning questions. Click here to join.
Looking to get involved with DormChat? Here’s a simple list showing you how to get started:
College Newspapers/Magazines
One of the best ways for getting the word out is having your University Newspaper write a piece on DormChat. Find a friend, or friend of a friend, who’s a student journalist and let them know about DormChat. You can then send them these two links- Press Packet & TechCrunch – which will give them everything they need to know. For extra credit, you can let them know that DormChat is the best way for them to share their articles with the entire campus. Boom. Now you’re awesome in their book. Oh, and in our book too. :)
Spread the word on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, & Reddit
The easiest way to spread the word is just posting or tweeting about DormChat. We’ve also found that Reddit is a great place to get the discussion going before your school is unlocked. Head over to Google and type in DormChat. Pull a picture and post/tweet. Then sit back and watch the likes & favorites roll in.
Facebook Groups & GroupMe Chats
Groups are hard. DormChat is easy. Post a link to our website, www.dormchat.com, for your larger groups to let people know there’s an easier way to do this.
Greek Life
Fraternity’s & Sororities host a lot of events. Like a lot. If you’re in Greek Life on your campus, start sharing your public events on DormChat. It’s easier than posting flyers and much more fun.
College Clubs/Organizations
This one is easy. DormChat is the easiest way for you to share news/information with everyone on campus. Student Organizations have a lot of news/information to share with everyone on campus. Make your life easier by posting it to DormChat. One post and everyone on campus will get the word.
College Focused Outlets
Know someone over at TFM, TSM, CollegeHumor, etc.? Write in or make a video. Brownie points if it goes viral.
Feature Recommendations/Bugs
We’re working around the clock to make sure DormChat is as awesome as possible. If you have any feature recommendations or bugs that are driving you nuts, send us an email at [email protected]. Don’t worry, we don’t bite.
Teaching New Students How to Use DormChat
There are some interesting things you can do with DormChat that only a few people know about right now – we like to call them Easter Eggs. When you have friends who are just getting started on DormChat, walk them through how it works. You can also point them to this blog post which shows some cool ways to use DormChat. Rock on.
Campus Ambassador Program
Campus Ambassadors are the Navy Seals of all DormChat users. You get inside access to seeing how a startup is run and the chance to run your campus with a few of your awesome peers. Oh, and it doesn’t hurt to mention that we’ll likely be recruiting full-time job candidates directly from this program! If that sounds cool, head over to our website, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and click the Campus Ambassador Program link to apply. Best decision you'll make all day.
So, those are just a few ways to start getting involved. They’re not everything, but they’re a start. If you have a way that’s worked for you, flip me an email at [email protected]. I’m always looking to add to this list.
By the way, we’ll continue sharing the most up-to-date information on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Stay in touch. We love to hear from you.
DormChat is the fun way to meet the people that make up your local community, and to stay connected with them all through short, quick updates that anyone in your local area can post.
Join a chat, post updates using your profile or an anonymous handle, discover local news as it breaks, and connect with students nearby, all with just a few taps!
Over 200+ colleges around the world are already signed up. Don’t fall behind, unlock your university today!
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Please note: you need a registered university email to signup (i.e. [email protected]).
