Alex Kronman may not be a journalist like he originally intended, but he’s still found a way to impact the media industry at a nationwide level.
As advertisers spend big dollars trying to reach younger audiences, Kronman saw an opportunity to create an innovative partnership with a media outlet that’s still stuck in the past.
Kronman ran Colorado College’s student newspaper, The Catalyst, before working at Boulder ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky.
“Part of me said, ‘I would leave college and be a journalist,’” Kronman told Colorado Inno.
But his experience at The Catalyst left him wondering if there was a larger opportunity to impact the journalism world.
“It was the biggest frustration," he said of the financial side of the business. "I’m trying to run this news organization, but I’m treading water.”
So, in 2015 he launched Flytedesk, an adtech software company that connects advertisers with college media organizations.
In starting the company, Kronman was shocked that more advertising dollars weren’t directed toward media organizations on college campuses.
According to a recent survey by Snapchat, 47 percent of students say their college newspaper is the primary way they learn about campus events. And yet, Kronman said, advertising for college newspapers hasn’t changed much since the first edition was printed some 200 years ago.
“In 1799 at Dartmouth, kids were selling ads door to door. The world has changed a lot [since then], but college media organizations haven’t,” he said.
Boulder-based Flytedesk allows advertisers to browse available college media ad opportunities, select a mix of print, digital and in-person ads, and manage those campaigns using the platform. The mutually beneficial service brings greater exposure for brands on college campuses, while creating new advertising opportunities for media outlets.
“We automated a very manual process,” Kronman said. “We’re trying to build a better infrastructure.”
Flytedesk takes a 20 percent commission on each ad sold on behalf of college media organizations. The service is being used on 2,300 campuses across the country, reaching over 20 million students.
The company took part in Techstars, was backed by AOL co-founder Steve Case and has raised about $4.5 million to this point.
As they continue to grow, Flytedesk is preparing to open a new office in New York City in the coming months. Currently, 19 employees work out of the company’s Boulder office and they’ll look to grow that number with the addition of the new office.
The company has no formal plans for another fundraising round in the near future, Kronman said, instead focusing on building out the product.
“Colorado isn’t the biggest venture market or ad market, but we’ve coalesced the people we’ve admired behind us,” he said of their fundraising efforts.
Although he never became a journalist like he originally intended, Kronman is making an impact on the industry that first captured his eye.
“I thought, how do I build a better future for not just my college paper, but all the college papers?” he said.
