Forever College Bound
Barbara Diven Machamer
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Graduating from high school in Marin County, California, Luke Skurman faced the daunting task of choosing a college 3000 miles away.
Finding a good match for his educational and personal needs made the experience extremely successful. Other factors weighed on him, notably the $160.000 his parents were forking out, and not having enough students to talk to about his decision. In his mind, too many unknowns. And he wasn't the only one.
In choosing Carnegie Mellon, Skurman felt confident about its educational program. But what about the campus atmosphere? Being a student in Pittsburgh? The nightlife? The cafeteria food? What was missing for Luke was some way of connecting with other students on many issues in the ever-costly and crucial college selection decision.
That uncertainty about campus life was the impetus for an undergraduate project for Skurman that bloomed into a thriving, national business: College Prowler, a spectacularly successful series of insiders' guides to colleges across the country. The company's success led to the naming of 25-year old Skurman as one of 20 of Business Week's Young Entrepreneurs in 2005.
Planting a seed
In the fall of 2000, when Skurman was a college junior, the seed for the College Prowler was planted when he enrolled in the Entrepreneurship Program at Carnegie Mellon Business School. In the business plans for the Prowler project, his professor advised him to develop solid revenue streams and not rely solely on advertising, thus avoiding the fate of the dot.coms which had gone belly-up in the 90s. For the project to become a successful business venture it couldn’t sustain itself solely as a free information source on the web. What the Prowler needed was value as a physical product that could stand on its own, supported by sponsors and mentors in the community to underwrite its expanding growth.
The result? Pittsburgh proved itself a veritable greenhouse for nurturing Skurman’s dream with support from Glen Meakem, founder of FreeMarkets, Inc., Gerry McGinnis from Respironics, Inc., Tom O’Brien, former CEO of PNC, and Tim O’Brien of Plextronics, Inc.
The support came in other ways, too, since The Prowler endeavor has largely been a team effort of former classmates and graduates of various universities around Pittsburgh and across Pennsylvania. Joey Rahimi from Manhattan heads up the online marketing and Omid Gohari from Potomac, Maryland oversees recruitment of writers for each school’s version of the guide.
"Four out of the five founders are not from Pittsburgh," says Skurman, who now lives in Shadyside. "As recent graduates your inclination is to go back home…but we all shared Pittsburgh. So initially, it just made sense to be here. But after taking a step back what became really clear was that Pittsburgh was a great place."
Not only was it extremely nurturing and supportive, he says, but "the cost of living was really low compared to other places. In terms of getting the business off the ground it wasn’t difficult to find lawyers, accountants, and to find a good lease.”
The students speak out
Skurman pays close attention to the voices of students—not just from the interviews about their experience at college such as housing, facilities, security, and academics but also how the guide can be improved for the next edition. One result is that the original guide of 60 pages has been expanded to 160.
Always on the lookout for new sources of capital and partnerships, Skurman--a charmer and natural salesman--and his team have also focused attention on advertising in the guide which will also include a chapter purchased by universities for highlighting their own message to prospective students.
Publication of College Prowler has grown exponentially since its incorporation in 2002, now covering more than 210 colleges and universities across the country, from Allegheny College to Stanford, with 50 new guides in print by the winter of 2006. The objectivity of the guides is fostered through a formulaic process of research and extensive interviews with students. The guides are then written by representative students in internships at the respective school, thus insuring a high level of insight and candor for the finished product.
Skurman says the series will eventually encompass the remaining 1300 undergraduate schools across the country and plans are to cover graduate schools with degrees in everything from law to medicine. Although Skurman expresses impatience at times with the Prowler’s growth-to-date, the 3rd Edition goes to print in July, along with four additional upcoming compendiums, including the Big Book of Colleges.
Hey, we love you guys
Regardless of the rate of progress, the reception has been great. "We’re what Pittsburgh wants—young people to start a business here, and because of that, we’ve always been greeted with open arms," says the personable Skurman, who is active in the community and a Big Brother to a youth named Domenic. "And every door and every connection that could have been opened and has been opened has been tremendous. I don’t think we could have gotten better support, better accessibility in any other city.”
Now it's his turn to support others. On the personal front, he is raising funds for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. And since College Prowler has taken off, with 18 full-time employees and additional part-time staff and interns, Skurman has come full circle, returning to his alma mater as a teacher’s assistant at the Business School Entrepreneurship Program. His goal is to help other students get their ideas off the ground. "To start their own companies if possible and not to go corporate necessarily, but become entrepreneurial," says Skurman. "As start-up-minded as possible.”
The market is ripe for it. “It’s just amazing how far College Prowler has grown in four years, but it’s also amazing how fast I’ve seen Pittsburgh grow since I’ve been here. I was a freshman at Carnegie Mellon in 1998, and in eight years I’ve seen the Waterfront develop, the Southside Works…PNC Park…Heinz Field…so much has happened right before my eyes. From my perspective…being in a start-up environment, Pittsburgh’s exciting. I feel a lot of energy coming from it. People care, they’re passionate, genuine, they’re real…If I look at how far San Francisco’s progressed in the last eight years, I think Pittsburgh’s done more. Pittsburgh’s hot right now.”
And so is he.
The College Prowler is sold online through its website, at Joseph-Beth Bookstore at the Southside Works and on display racks at Borders and Barnes & Noble Bookstores.
Barbara Diven Machamer is a freelance writer whose last story for Pop City was about Heinz Chapel and the charming guide, Digby.
Photos:
Pittsburgh student, Tara Gainfort, reading the CMU edition
Luke Skurman
College Prowler warehouse
College Prowler staff
College Prowler in bookstore rack
All photographs copyright © Jonathan Greene