Dandy, Co-Founder & CEO: Transforming the Social Lives of College Students
The beginning
Dandy was conceived as a solution to a universal problem faced by college students: the disorganization and unpredictability of social planning. With scattered information, last-minute plans, and the overwhelming “Fear of Not Knowing” (FONK), there was a clear need for a platform to streamline social experiences. As a co-founder and CEO, I took on the mission to address these pain points for both students and venues. Rooted in the idea of bringing people together seamlessly, Dandy sought to be the one-stop-shop for organizing social life while creating value for local businesses.
The idea became reality through customer discovery, with over 200 survey responses and 100+ interviews with students and venue owners. This groundwork shaped Dandy into a platform that allowed users to create squads, share events & moves, and purchase tickets, all while giving venues a direct marketing channel to their target audience.
Take a look at the deck below to get a better idea of Dandy
Our Value Proposition
Squads for Social Circles: Students could form groups (squads) for seamless event planning, sharing spontaneous or scheduled plans with their close circles. Moves for Flexibility: Our app enabled spontaneous plan creation and sharing, preserving the organic, dynamic nature of college social life. Events & In-App Payment Gateway: Seamless payment system that allowed users to purchase tickets for events directly in the app. Direct Marketing Channel: Venues could communicate directly with students through squad notifications, targeted promotions, and events. Integrated Ticketing and Analytics: The app provided venues with a ticketing platform that not only drove foot traffic but also gave insights into customer preferences. These solutions addressed challenges, including venues’ inability to market effectively to students and students’ struggle to find reliable, consolidated event information.
Scaling From Concept to Impact
Dandy’s journey was one of rapid iteration, marked by significant achievements and growth:
Funding: We raised $135,000+ in pre-seed funding through Nahual Ventures, startup competitions, and Friends & Family investments. Winning competitions like Tamid Tank at Duke ($1,000), Sweater VC ($30,000), and Purdue Startup ($5,000) provided financial backing and validated our business model. We were also accepted into the Melissa and Doug Accelerator at Duke but couldn’t join the cohort as we decided to shut down beforehand. User Growth and Revenue: By May 2023, Dandy had acquired 2,750 users, 62% of whom were active. Our ticketing gateway generated $27,000 in GMV for partner venues. Strategic Launches: We established partnerships with key venues, like Shooters and Devine’s at Duke, and launched across four universities (Duke, Georgetown, Purdue, Notre Dame) with on-ground ambassadors program.
The Dynamics of Team Leadership
The team diagram we created highlighted our ambitious structure, with multiple layers of roles and responsibilities. However, this approach revealed critical flaws: having too many people with uneven commitment levels created inefficiencies and diluted accountability.
I realized that a smaller, more invested team would have been far more effective. Fewer communication channels and a tighter group of highly motivated individuals could have streamlined decision-making and execution . This learning shaped how I view team building in future ventures—less is often more when it comes to achieving focus and alignment.
Being a Hands-On Leader
As a leader, I embraced every role necessary to drive Dandy forward:
Negotiating deals with venues like Shooters and Devine’s. Personally distributing flyers, posting event posters, and handing out Insomnia Cookies on campus to drive downloads. Scanning tickets at event entrances and engaging directly with students. These grassroots efforts demonstrated the value of being a hands-on founder and reinforced my belief in leading by example.
Skills Learned
Dandy was a course in entrepreneurship, providing me with diverse skills that spanned technical, leadership, and strategic domains. Here are the some of the most impactful skills I developed:
Leadership and Team Management: Managing a team of 10 people across product, tech, and strategy divisions taught me how to lead effectively. I relied on tools like Slack for communication, Loom for asynchronous updates, and Coda to organize workflows and track progress, and many other tools. Setting an example by being present and engaged was vital to building team morale. Technical Product Management: I bridged technical and strategic roles by constantly coding, talking to developers, and managing the backlog in Jira. Prioritizing features and aligning technical tasks with broader goals helped ensure product development cycles. Iterative Product Development: There is no short cut. Iterating on Dandy’s features based on feedback from customer discovery interviews is the most effective way to build a product. Each cycle improved usability and aligned the product with user needs. Go-to-Market Strategy: Launching Dandy across four universities required a targeted cluster strategy. We focused on building grassroots ambassador teams and leveraging student organizations to drive adoption before replicating this model elsewhere. Fundraising and Storytelling: I honed my ability to raise capital by focusing on the right metrics, crafting compelling narratives, and emphasizing the strength of our team. UI/UX Design: Using Figma, we designed user interfaces and mapped user flows in Miro. These skills allowed me to create intuitive experiences while maintaining close collaboration with developers during implementation. Building a Payment Gateway: I integrated APIs from Stripe, Pass2U, Airtable, and Mailjet to develop a seamless in-app payment system. This feature played a critical role in driving user growth and revenue generation. Community Engagement: From handing out Insomnia Cookies to scanning tickets at events, I learned the importance of grassroots marketing. Navigating Investor Relations: Providing updates to our board and stakeholders sharpened my ability to communicate clearly and align investors with our vision. It was a balancing act of transparency, optimism, and pragmatism. Making Hard Decisions: Reallocating resources were difficult but necessary tasks. These experiences taught me the importance of prioritizing the venture’s success.
Lessons From Failure
One of our most significant challenges was user retention. While the payment gateway attracted a surge of users, their engagement was largely event-driven. Users would purchase tickets but rarely returned to explore the app’s core features, such as squads or spontaneous plans. This exposed a critical flaw: our growth was inorganic, and we failed to cultivate sustained, organic engagement.
Dandy also suffered from the inherent challenges of consumer apps. As explained by building a consumer app that embeds itself into users’ routines is incredibly difficult. High churn rates and the need for constant engagement make success in this space elusive without a truly viral or habit-forming product.
Key Lessons Learned
Dandy’s journey was filled with successes and challenges, each leaving me with valuable lessons for the future. Here are ten key takeaways:
Retention Is as Important as Growth: Our payment gateway boosted user acquisition, but engagement remained event-driven. Users rarely explored Dandy’s core functionalities, exposing our reliance on inorganic growth. Building sustainable, organic engagement should have been a primary focus. Consumer Apps Are a High Bar: As Y Combinator aptly describes in their discussion on “tarpit ideas,” creating a consumer app that becomes an ingrained habit is incredibly challenging. The need for viral, habit-forming features requires a deep understanding of user psychology and significant resources. The Right Team Matters: A smaller, more dedicated team would have been far more effective than a large, fragmented one. Choosing the right people—those who are truly invested in the vision—makes all the difference. Avoid Saving on Key Roles: Hiring junior developers to save costs led to months of delays. Later on, investing in a part-time senior engineer with expertise was way more valuable than a full-time junior inexperienced coder. Focus on a Single Market and Feature: Expanding to four universities and trying to be a one-stop shop diluted our efforts. Concentrating on one university and perfecting a standout feature would have given us a stronger foundation to scale. Deep Market Understanding Is Critical: Competing for screen time with tech giants like Meta and TikTok is an uphill battle. We underestimated the difficulty of breaking into this space and the investment required to change consumer habits. Changing Habits Is Hard: While Dandy’s concept was appealing, persuading users to adopt new behaviors—like using “Moves” instead of texting—was far tougher than expected. Making a product feel indispensable is the real challenge. Profitability Matters to Investors: Shifting VC trends emphasized sustainable growth over rapid user acquisition. A clear roadmap to profitability is now as important as growth metrics, if not more so. Optimism Needs Balance: As a founder, it’s easy to fall in love with your idea. This experience taught me to critically evaluate ideas, anticipate challenges, and remain grounded in market realities. Tough Decisions Are Part of the Journey: Laying off team members, reallocating resources, and ultimately deciding to wind down the venture were difficult but necessary steps. These experiences reinforced the importance of resilience and prioritizing the business’s long-term health over short-term discomfort.
Dandy was literally my baby. It was a transformational experience that shaped my entrepreneurial mindset and equipped me with a diverse range of skills and hard-earned lessons. The journey taught me the importance of focus, the challenges of consumer apps, and the value of a committed team. These insights will guide me in future ventures, ensuring that I build products and teams that thrive in the face of complexity.
Some memories...
Link to apple store (note the app is not working anymore since we stopped paying AWS) When we managed for users to add their ticket to apple wallet
Some venues squads below
Some events below!
Notre Dame Latino Tailgate
Some fraternities events at Duke
When we got to 1,000 users @ Duke
Join the squad...
The feed
The Figma
Miro flow
Dandy, 300 Hour Experience
