Redefining the college visit with Adora
Adora is a personalized, digital college visit platform created by a group of Princeton undergraduate students. As entrepreneurship continues to thrive on campus, Adora made history as the first Princeton-student-led company to have the University as its first revenue-producing customer. Raya Ward, Princeton Class of 2021 and Head of User Experience for Adora, shares her team’s story, from the early stages of ideation to the final months before launch, while adapting to the pandemic.
The Adora team in their virtual workspace. Clockwise from top left: Joseph Rubin, Ron Miasnik, Raya Ward, Sacheth Sathyanarayanan. (Photo via Raya Ward)
"We want to redefine what a visit means," Ward said. "Instead of getting the same tour as other visitors, can you get information tailored to you? Instead of just listening to information, can you proactively engage in augmented reality? We want to change what it means to visit a college and make sure every visit is compelling and engaging for each visitor."
From the beginning, Adora was developed in conversation with University officials. "Princeton took a bet on us," Ward said. "When we first talked to them, Adora was still an idea, a concept. They were really excited about the vision and believed in our team, so they said, let’s go for it. Emily Crosby is the Assistant Dean of Admissions, and she has been our biggest supporter, our biggest cheerleader. We’ve been so lucky to work with Emily and the entire Admissions Office."
After a summer of building a prototype of the mobile application, Adora developed and tested it in the Keller Center’s eLab Incubator Program. By January, the company had closed a contract with the Princeton Undergraduate Admission office. In the month following, the team won first place in the Princeton E-Club Pitch Competition and recruited University Trustee Ann Kirschner *78, education entrepreneur and higher education administrator, as an advisor. The application was set to go live in May during Reunions.
However, as the COVID-19 pandemic shut down travel and university visits, Adora’s planned May launch was postponed, forcing the team to adapt to the changing climate of the pandemic. It became clear that Adora’s product was increasingly relevant as social distancing and restrictions to in-person experiences forced admissions offices to rethink their campus visit programs. Universities began to think creatively about how to respond to the pandemic while also attracting future applicants. "It was after we settled with the shock that we realized, wait, this is an opportunity," Ward said. “This is a problem that we are already starting to solve. We have a head start, we have a product. We are in a place where we are uniquely situated to not only present a safe visit option, but also a really convincing solution for visitors when they need it the most.”
As Adora prepares for its upcoming launch with Princeton, the team has now entered its final stretch of testing.
While the University makes plans for the future of campus visits, Adora has cultivated their company’s vision amidst the ongoing pandemic. Ward recently participated in the June 2020 Tiger Entrepreneurs Conference Startup Workshop: Perfecting Your Pitch with Ita Ekpoudom ‘03 and Kareem Maddox ‘11.
"The workshop was a safe space for me to practice pitching and get feedback. Kareem and Ita were so supportive, and I felt encouraged by their reactions and interest in Adora. The main takeaway for me was that we should be focusing around coronavirus. When we are talking about the future of our company, we need to be presenting it from where we are now. The pandemic happened, and here we are working to make visits safe," said Ward.
Given the important problem that Adora solves for admissions offices, universities located across the country have shown interest in the platform. Ward expressed that in the coming months, the team hopes to bring on a few additional schools as early adopters.
As an active member of Princeton’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, Ward said that her experience working on Adora on campus has been an incredibly rewarding learning opportunity.
"I am someone who is relatively new to entrepreneurship," Ward said. "This is something that I never thought I would have been a part of if you asked me a year ago. Now I can’t get it out of my head! What I found is that Princeton is a great playground. Students haven’t been vendors for Princeton before, but we have been getting so much encouragement along the way, and we want to create a pathway for other student companies. I am hoping this is the beginning, and that people will not only see Princeton as a place to ask questions and learn about entrepreneurship, but as a safe space to actually start something. I think we all have it in us."
