Hot Stanford Grad Joe DiPasquale Gives College Students What They Want, Gets $2M for CollegeWikis

In 2007, Stanford student Joe DiPasquale launched CollegeWikis, a website of campus specific wikis, where users could ask and answer each other’s questions. Now, he’s just received an additional $2 million to improve college e-mail. His initiative will make it possible for college students to sign up for specific groups and receive e-mail about what they are interested in only. Currently about 50,000 students at 200 schools use the service.

The New York Times reports:

Every college student’s inbox has at one time been flooded with group emails. Emails for classes, dorms, clubs, etc., each with their own subscription-based alias. Student-founded startup CollegeWikis, which just received $2 million in funding, hopes to retire this system, and make more information accessible to more students at the same time.

Any college student with an .edu email address can sign up for the service, join the groups that interest them, and post group-specific updates that other members can view on the website. While it’s playing against big boys like Facebook in some ways, its focused approach may win it users who are nostalgic for the old .edu Facebook days when it was easy to find what you wanted.

For example, an a capella singing troupe could have its own page on the site that shows all new posts on upcoming events and rehearsals. The page for a course might list required readings and review sessions. That way members don’t have to go digging through their inboxes to find important info sent out a month before.

 

And if someone posts a question (Where’s the tailgate? Know any good burritos around here?), everyone can see and benefit from the replies. The site also hosts non-group forums where students can freely swap tidbits, advice, and obligatory YouTube videos.

For his entrepreneurial spirit and ability to make the lives of college students easier, Joe DiPasquale is a Hot Stanford Grad.