Hello Wefunder Investors,
We’ve now concluded the eight month since Oodles Corporation began our initial financing round with Wefunder, and the fifth month since the Wefunder financing was successfully completed and closed. As in previous months, I wanted to provide you with an update on the many things happening with our Oodles - Deals & Events mobile app, and overall at the company.
User Growth Acceleration
In last month’s update, the launch of the third University where Oodles - Deals & Events is now available, UC - Davis, was described. Since then, the Oodles - Deals & Events Student Ambassador teams at each of the three schools — U of O - Eugene, CSU - Chico, and UC - Davis, are busy helping students on campus aware of the app & its unique value proposition, and inviting them to the Vendor Day events scheduled at each of these schools, where they get to enjoy the great-tasting food each of our vendor-partners provide. The students that come to these events get versed with how the Oodles - Deals & Events app gives them access to the scorching deals available on the app.
As a incremental value, we see students tell other friends about the deals available to them, driving the organic growth of the Oodles - Deals & Events app at each University.
The Oodles Marketing team is now experimenting with student event sponsorships as a way to accelerate growth. I will provide detail on some of the activities in future reports, but it is safe to assume any activity pursued will employ the three-tier process — Hot, Hotter & Scorching — the Oodles - Deals & Events app utilizes.
As you know, this process is a patented protected one, and is what makes Oodles - Deals & Events truly unique and added-value to use.
New Vendor Sign-ups
The Oodles - Deals & Events app has many deals for the students at the each of the three Universities where it is available - Pizza, Mexican, Asian, Classic American & Ice-cream options, among others.
As the student population on the app grows at each University, the Oodles Business Development team is now experimenting with new ways to grow the number of vendor-partners on the app to serve these students.
Several options are being pursued, and I will provide details in future reports. The unique value of Oodles to our vendor-partners, creating foot traffic in-store via our patented three-tier process, is core to the options being trialed.
Customer Case Study #1
In last month’s update, I noted that we would provide case studies of vendor-partners on the Oodles - Deals & Events app, and the specific benefits they have gained.
Our first case study is a pizza restaurant in Chico, CA. It has been in business for more than 20 years, and is known as an institution at the CSU - Chico campus. The pizza has been voted best in Chico, and the owner was skeptical at first of the value of Oodles - Deals & Events. “We have a terrific location and have been around for decades. Our pizza is truly one-of-a-kind. If we continue making the great pizza, ultimately they will come. I didn’t think I needed the Oodles - Deals & Events app.”
The Oodles team executed a Vendor Day on their behalf. The event was marketed to students via the Oodles - Deals & Events Student Ambassador team on-campus, and in-app notifications, focused on the three tier process, to the students on the Oodles - Deals & Events app. 400+ students came to the restaurant on the day of the event, with ~45% of those attending not having been to the restaurant previously.
The Oodles team continued to market the restaurant via the app post the event, to maintain awareness with the students of their scorching offer on the app. “I was impressed with the results,”, said the owner of the restaurant, “I saw many new faces during the course of Vendor Day, new customers that I continue to see after the event.”
Misc. Information
In the five months since the initial Wefunder financing round closed, and in reviewing the growth & metrics we’ve experienced to-date, we continue tracking in-line with the quantitative & qualitative expectations outlined in the original investment deck.
Please see the link to the investor deck within the materials placed on https://wefunder.com/oodles, that should give you a detailed view of the metrics & milestones we planned to achieve as a company by the end of the school year.
This next statement is the same one I’ve made in the past, and will always remain sincerely true — while our journey is just beginning, Asheesh and I owe our sincere thanks to all of you who have helped us get to this point.
Sajal Sahay
Co-founder & CEO