SquadUP @ Mercy College

Happy Brand Ambassador Friday… and also, happy Friday. Let’s jump right in: Go Mercy College! Not only is their campus right in our backyard here in NYC, but they also have a very forward thinking Center for Entrepreneurship within the college. We gave a quick SquadUP pitch when they came to visit our co-working space, AlleyNYC, and have had a strong relationship with their director, Mahmud Wazihullah, better known as “Wazi”. He’s a fellow startup founder with his own company, Let’s Order Now.

From that original pitch on their AlleyNYC field trip, we’ve been able to add effective Mercy ambassadors to our program both semesters this year. This semester we’ve been lucky enough to get Elizabeth Berlin and Kristen Oles. They’ve been our experts on the Mercy College organizations and social circles most in need of an event planning upgrade. But it would probably be more valuable to hear from them.

via http://collegesofdistinction.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Mercy-2.jpg

As college students, we have found it to be extremely hard to plan an event. Our names are Elizabeth and Kristen, and we are college freshman who want to promote campus spirit by planning and hosting events. In the past, we have struggled to plan an event successfully. It becomes difficult to control the marketing aspect of the event as well as getting people to sign up.

As members of a cheerleading and dance club at Mercy College, we held a coin drop fundraising event where all the proceeds would be donated to Relay for Life. Some people had cash on them and were happy to donate. Still others wanted to, but didn’t have any cash on them. Also, some people wanted to donate but were unable to make the event. If we had known about SquadUP, we would not have run into these problems. Those who didn’t have cash could have used their debit or credit card and donated towards our club right from their iPhones, and guests that couldn’t attend could have donated in advance. We are currently planning a spring formal event for our school and we are so excited to be using SquadUp. It is just a much easier process, and we are confident that it will be a great night.

Thanks Elizabeth and Kristen! We love to hear that SquadUP is able to simplify your lives. We want to hear about ALL of the event planning pain points that college students run into. We build on our product based on user feedback and our Brand Ambassador Program is a significant chunk of that feedback. If you’re interested in working with an innovative startup and want to get paid to throw the same events that you already do, apply for the program or tweet @squadup. And stay tuned for our Summer Fellowship Program!