Q&A With a Grad and Entrepreneur

Here's my chat with recent graduate and entrepreneur Reed Wendorf-French and a note from the Tulane Twitter feed.


Insider: Tell me about Book Snatcher.

Reed: Book Snatcher reports which textbooks are required and provides a price comparison of the campus bookstore, Amazon, and the Book Snatcher Marketplace. The Marketplace allows students to search for individual books as well as list their own textbooks for sale or trade.

Insider: How did you come up with this idea?

Reed: I first came up with the idea for Book Snatcher as a junior, but it was not until winter break senior year that I acted on it. During the winter, I'm a snowboard instructor at Jiminy Peak [a Massachusetts resort]. I spent the last two weeks of my winter break instructing by day and Web designing by night.

Insider: Is the site active today?

Reed: Yes. Book Snatcher went live for the spring 2011 semester. However, at the beginning of last semester, it was not ready to go at Tulane. Instead, I launched the site at Connecticut College, Williams College and the University of Delaware. Book Snatcher is currently online for the fall 2011 semester at Tulane.

Insider: Seems like a lot of work. Are you working alone?

Reed: At each school, Book Snatcher partners with a motivated student or organization that is responsible for the majority of campus marketing. Affiliates earn a commission from every book sold at their respective school.

Insider: What's next?

Reed: I plan on expanding service to over a hundred universities and increasing the site's functionality.

Insider: I'm sure some of your classmates would like to know if you're hiring.

Reed: Yes. I'm currently looking to employ a director of marketing. Interested candidates can write to reed@booksnatcher.com.

Insider: Good luck!

The Insider's favorite Tulane tweet of the moment comes from Nora Sherman:

“Overheard potential student in Tulane bathroom complaining to her mom about what the humidity's doing to her hair. Welcome to NO, honey.”

Have you got news for The Insider? Email insider@tulane.edu today and check back next week to see if your tweet is featured!