Connecting students with mentors in their dream colleges, Freshmentors crosses 2500 video chats

"I really want to get into an Ivy League college but only if I get a scholarship."

"Great! Apply for it then."

"If only I know where to go, what are my chances and how to start out with it."

You hear this and many such conversations between students who're planning their future studies. Many try to seek information by reaching out to current college students via social media channels or an introduction from someone they know. Some succeed while many fail to get though. This was the problem that the founders of Freshmentors came across and wanted to solve. A group of graduates from universities of pedigree came together to startup Freshmentors.

The company was launched in the later part of 2012 and has been growing steadily since then. "The aim is to give students access to a rich network of peers and mentors who are always there to help guide them through every step of the process, at a reasonable price," says Natasha Jain, the CEO at Freshmentors. The portal has mentors attending Top Universities in US, Canada and Singapore and the number of mentors currently stands at just above 150. The revenues model is pretty simple- a straight $20 for a 30 minute video chat out of which a portion goes to the mentors. "We've had more than 2500 chats till date and we're picking up some good momentum," says Natasha.

From their experience, the team at Freshmentors have had some learnings about what the customer behaviour is like, what engages them and what are the biggest pain points. "We have learned by studying our customer behaviour a comprehensive bank of questions that most students are looking for answers to. The nature and behaviour of our customers in most countries is similar, which helps us deploy similar strategies here as well," says Natasha. The company was also one of the top 10 companies at BITS Pilani's Conquest 2013 which has given this 10 member team a boost in confidence.

Freshmentors is also looking to raise funds to scale up their business, get more mentors on the portal and market it. September to December is usually a peak time for students to be applying to colleges abroad and the next few months will be crucial for Freshmentors to modulate their product and decide on the road ahead.

Website: Freshmentors