Confrere's entry for the 2016 CUNY SmartPitch challenge

1. CONFRÈRE
Jill Marcum
General & STEM categories

2. The Problem?
Students can’t attend the conferences
that would further their academic
careers due to the exorbitant cost of
accommodation

3. The solution!
Make it easy for
students to find other
students attending
the same conference
...and split the cost of
the room!

4. Target audience
Who comprises Confrere’s market of conference-goers?
Casey Baumer
My paper was accepted to
AAAs--the national
Anthropology conference--
but it’s 3000 miles away! I
got funding from my
college, but it all went to
airfare and registration fees.
I’m bummed because this
would be great for my
resume.
Jude Parker
My bioethics professors
tell me that the best way to
find a research project --
and then hopefully a job or
a PhD program--is to
network. And the best way
to do THAT is to go to the
annual conference. But
there’s no way I can afford
it, and I don’t know anyone
to split the cost with.
Jake Tanner
I work with digital
initiatives in the arts. I’ve
been asked to head up a
workshop at EdTech next
July, but they’ll only pay my
flight, and I don’t know
how to find other
attendees to reach out to.
It’s really prohibitive, even
though it would be such a
great opportunity.

5. How it works
Step 1
Event is added to
database
Step 2
Users enter their info and
their room/roommate
criteria
Step 3
The match is made, and
everyone saves!

6. the tech
= the ask
$10,000 app development
simple + friendly user
interface to backend
room + event database
that keeps info safe

7. Next steps
May 2016
Web and mobile UX
prototype development,
information architecture
July 2016
Hire database
developer, build out
web and mobile sites
September 2016
Test product with real
conference attendees,
iterate design
November 2016
Pitch product to event
organizers, academic
organizations, and
campus coordinators
January 2017
Evaluate move into
corporate conference
market
May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr

8. Thank you!