Startup Lessons From My Time With Witley

In my junior year of college, I was approached by Witley— a secure college communications app. They reached out after seeing my work as a Student Brand Manager for TinderU, which had backing from the same investors. After learning about Witley and its mission to solve major communication pain points in Greek life, I was in for the ride.

The compensation model was new to me: instead of a biweekly stipend like TinderU, I’d receive a payout at the end of the semester based on the app’s average daily users. It felt risky—yet motivating. With over 70,000 students at UCF, I told myself daily, “I’m going to get a check for 70,000 at the end of this semester.” 

Impact: What I Did for Witley

• Campus Launch Strategy: Built and executed UCF’s go-to-market approach for a 70,000-student campus.

• High-Value Outreach: Leveraged relationships across nine Greek organizations to drive early adoption and secure multiple orgs as primary pilot groups.

• Product Feedback Loop: Gathered and synthesized user insights from fraternities, sororities, and student leaders to guide feature adjustments.

• Social Media Creation & Management: Built UCF Witley’s initial social presence from scratch, focused on education for users.

• Strategic Targeting: Identified and pursued additional high-impact segments, including the UCF RA network (12,000+ residents).

• Campus Partnerships: Coordinated meetings, pitches, and follow-ups with student orgs, advisors, and campus leaders to build awareness and credibility.

By the end of the semester, I onboarded three UCF RSOs, established a relationship with UCF Housing to begin dorm expansion, and generated 500+ users on Witley organically.

Why Witley Had Potential

• Screenshot protection: Prevented leaked messages that often led to chapter

  suspensions.

• Automatic group merging: Removed the painful process of manually building massive group chats.

• Cross-org connection: Made communication seamless and helped break down organizational silos.

What I Learned

1. Connections compound.

My years in Greek life paid off. Friends who were now chapter presidents rallied their orgs behind Witley, becoming our best sounding board for real-time feedback and feature recommendations.

2. Large organizations often lack clear processes.

One of my expansion targets was UCF’s Resident Assistants. With 12,000+ beds on campus, this seemed like a huge opportunity. But I quickly learned no one knew who handled app validation for UCF anymore—processes existed once, but had fallen through the cracks. It taught me that bureaucracy can be just as much of a barrier as competition.

3. Responsive development is everything.

As is often with start-ups, Witley outsourced its development, which slowed iterations and the ability to keep up with bugs and user feedback.

4. Product feedback sharpens the story.

The more feedback I gathered, the better I got at aligning features with what students actually cared about. Over time, I stopped pitching the app and started telling a story about smoother, safer communication on campus.

5. Crises accelerate product-market fit.

A chapter had just been disciplined for leaked messages, putting every president on edge. Witley suddenly became the obvious solution to a problem everyone recognized.

What This Experience Sparked

Working with Witley, I learned to navigate ambiguity, build momentum without a blueprint, and translate raw product feedback into a compelling story that students could rally behind. It also showed me the reality of early-stage growth: the potential of winning is thrilling, the gaps are real, and the people closest to the user are often the ones who shape the product the most.

Witley challenged me, stretched me, and ultimately convinced me that I thrive in environments where possibility outweighs predictability. It’s a lesson I’ve carried with me into every project since.