Hello Wefunder Investors,

We’ve now concluded the tenth month since the Wefunder first round seed 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 OodlesDeals mobile app, and overall at the company.

Transactions Were “Scorching” Throughout The Year

As mentioned in last month’s update, school completed by mid-June at each of the three Universities where OodlesDeals was present this past school year — the U of O - Eugene, UC - Davis and CSU - Chico.  This has given the OodlesDeals management team the data necessary to evaluate a critical metric for the app, transactions achieved for the deals our vendor-partners have placed on the app.

The chart shown below presents a percentage quotient of (# of transactions) / (# of detailed views) of the deals on the app for the entire school year.

This chart shows that on average, every five views of a deal equates to an actual purchase.  During major holiday periods, this quotient betters to every two views of a deal equating to a purchase.  

In other words, as long as the OodlesDeals marketing team keeps the student user base sufficiently aware of the app & the scorching deals available on the app, the students will use the app to transact at the restaurants showcased.

The OodlesDeals marketing team is spending time this summer exploring innovative yet cost-effective ways of expanding awareness of the OodlesDeals app & the scorching deals available on the app, at each of the schools where the app is available.  These activities should further accelerate the transaction velocity, if the above chart is a guide.  Specific details on actual activities being planned when the schools reopen at the end of the summer will be provided in next month’s report.

Product Updates Initiated For The Summer

The OodlesDeals Product Development team is busy working on the product enhancements I described in last month’s report.

In this month’s update, I’ll focus on simplification of the user experience.  Based on feedback received from students in focus groups conducted at several of the schools where OodlesDeals is present, we have decided to remove the current ‘Hot’ tier from the app.  Going forward, the user will have a quicker pathway to Scorcher status — share with friends to get a badge which can be redeemed for some value, and go with friends to the vendor’s establishment and redeem the badge for “Scorcher” value.  This simplification of the app has two benefits — (1) it requires less steps for a user to get maximum value from the app, and (2) should accelerate the % of deals that are redeemed at the Scorcher tier.  The user and vendor benefits from this simplification should have upward impact on the overall goal of accelerating transaction growth in the new year.

As you know, this transaction process is a patented protected one, and is what makes the OodlesDeals app truly unique and added-value to use.

Summary

In the ten months since the initial Wefunder seed financing round closed, and in reviewing the growth & metrics we’ve experienced this past year, the OodlesDeals team has accomplished and/or exceeded the quantitative & qualitative expectations outlined in the original investment deck.  While satisfying, what is more important is the many lessons learned during the course of the year, which are being incorporated into app development activities, and future sales & marketing efforts. 

The OodlesDeals team feels we’ve arrived at a stage where we have a scalable business that can be implemented with success at future schools in our expansion plans.  New school launch plans will be provided in next month’s report.

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