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What is the purpose of Alma Connect ? What was the inspiration behind the same?

Alma Connect believes that there is huge value in having a strong alumni community not only for the alumni but for the institute, students and faculties too. Our purpose is to provide a platform where an active and strong alumni community could be built in a sustainable manner.

Our inspiration: Once we graduated from college and entered the professional world we realized the immense value of an alumni network. Slowly we realized that most of our alumni alongside college authorities and students shared the same feeling. And when we tried to look out for options where we could start interacting in a way that was required by the entire community, we could not find a single place to do so. We kept on toggling between platforms but none was a complete solution. That is where we saw the huge market opportunity to dive into this space.

What advantage will a user have on Alma connect vs a LinkedIn group or a Facebook group?

1. LinkedIn and Facebook groups are fragmented spaces. An active user is probably connected with at least 2-3 such groups
2. These groups essentially work like a radio channel, where each post is a feed for all the subscribers irrespective of their interest
3. You cannot really access information or communicate with all users in a group, since not all users are in your friend's list.

At Alma Connect a user will find:
- Aggregated information posted from various alumni groups & forums
- Updated information about people & a means of dynamically reaching out to a specific group at one go.
- Emotional connect and alumni-students-faculty relationship focused features.

What is the business model for Alma Connect?

Currently, Alma Connect deploys it's product for institutes at an annual subscription charge and allows college to manage the network.

How do you plan to reach students? Do you have tie-ups with institutes?

As of now students and alumni of only those institutes can access Alma Connect who have tied-up with us. We do not deploy our product for any institute without partnering with them.

How was the incubation experience at IIM Ahmedabad?

It was wonderful! A hall with 10 startups, smart people, high energy and above all top notch mentors at your door step. We feel much more confident after this experience. It was a complete package spread across all aspects of a startup ensuring that we do not miss out on anything. The best part is that it does not end with our stay at IIMA, we will still enjoy the cushion anywhere we need as we move ahead with this journey.

Are you looking for investment or funding?

We just received seed funding of Rs.25 Lakhs from CEID, DAIICT. We would be investing this money majorly in the product and in the coming 3-4 months we would be looking to raise capital for our expansion plans.

What are the challenges facing Alma connect? How are you trying to address them?

The process of partnering with institutes is a slow process and the speed to reach out to them is pretty low too. We are working on a strategy that will help us overcome both the challenges.

What are the future plans of Alma Connect?

We intend to launch a free version in near future through which a user will be able to simply connect with his/her Alma Mater(s) at one go. We are really excited about this version and are working hard to get it right.