PROFILE: Jared Shenson and Charlie Croom (Co-founders, Yale Bluebook)
by Emmanuel Quartey
Jared Shenson ‘12 and Charlie Croom ‘12.
This is an epic 3-part interview with Jared Shenson ‘12 and Charlie Croom ‘12, co-founders of Yale Bluebook, in which they talk about the experience of making Bluebook, and Yale’s growing startup community.
In Part 1, Jared and Charlie talk about what motivated them to create Bluebook, and what kind of response they’ve seen from students (spoiler alert: 70% of the undergraduate class and 90% of the freshman class used the application this Spring).
In Part 2, the guys talk about the challenges they faced in pulling off the project. They also speak to how the culture of entrepreneurship has evolved at Yale in just four years, and how the University administration can support Yale’s startup community.
In Part 3, Jared and Charlie answer the question “What happens to Bluebook after you graduate?”
BACKGROUND
Yale Bluebook is a browser-based application that allows students to access Yale’s Course Database. It provides an alternative to the official university interface called OCI (Online Course Information) and it takes its name from the Yale College Programs of Study book (commonly known as the Bluebook).
Photo credit: Catherine Chen (via The Yale Herald)
Screenshot of Yale Bluebook interface.
The thing that makes Bluebook so awesome is the way its inherently social. When checking out a class, Bluebook lets you know what other courses people shopping that class are interested in. Say you look up Kleiner’s “Roman Architecture” course - Bluebook let’s you know that you might also be interested in Matthew’s “Roman Empire.”
GLOSSARY
1) YCC App Challenge: The Yale College Council sponsors an app challenge that invites student designers and developers to create tools of value for the community. First prize is $1500. Jared and Charlie credit the YCC App Challenge for fueling the recent burst of innovation.
2) HackYale: HackYale is a series of student-run lectures and workshops to teach Yalies technical skills such as HTML/CSS, Ruby on Rials and iOS Development. Jared and Charlie both teach for HackYale.
3) IsItChickenTendersDay.com: Bay Gross ‘13 created this website to provide a definitive response to the question every Yalie wants an answer to.
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More posts by Emmanuel.
