About Us

IT ALL STARTED WITH SNOOP DOGG

Seriously.

Like every other high school student, I had endured the minivan trips, awkward overnight stays, uninterested guidance counselors, and everything else that goes along with the confusing college search process.

Senior year, I was accepted to Columbia University, my first choice – but even after months of research, the notion of what it was really like to be a Columbia student was still a total mystery.

BRAINSTORM

Two years into college, studying in my dorm room (but really watching MTV Cribs profile Snoop Dogg's mansion), I realized that I had finally grown comfortable at the college I had selected.

But it took two full years, and certainly I wasn't the first student to spend a lot of time figuring out what my college was really like – so how could others, specifically high school students still in the midst of their college search, benefit from this experience?

And then Snoop started talking about his throw pillows… I remember thinking, "Wow, it sucks that I can learn more about Snoop Dogg's house than I could about the college I wanted to attend just by turning on the TV."

Finally, the brainstorm hit:

Why not create content like MTV Cribs – but feature colleges instead of celebrity homes? The content would be fun, unbiased and informative – honest about all the challenges students face arriving at each school, and an easy way to figure out where to attend college without the hassle of taking campus tours!

THE CELEBRITY X-FACTOR

After shooting a pilot of the "real life" college video tour concept, I emailed a good friend of mine, TV star Gregory Smith, who I met as an assistant on the set of The WB's "Everwood" (Greg was the male lead, and Everwood was for a time one of The WB's highest rated shows).

Greg loved the NYU segment, and forwarded the link to David Janollari, CEO of The WB (now The CW). David loved it too, and decided that WB stars should host the campus tours. With this ringing endorsement, we were able to convince sponsors to fund the production of 50 college video tours, and teamed 25 camera people up with over 500 students to produce the content you see today.

In the meantime, I managed to graduate.

YOU LOVE IT

Since the January 2006 launch of theU.com, over 1,000,000 students have used our video content (and the related web site) to make their college choice. We've expanded from the original 50 tours to hosting over 100,000 videos covering almost every major college in the USA. Response from students, parents, and counselors has been tremendous.

The popularity of the site has attracted leading advertisers including Citibank, DELL Computer, The University of Phoenix – and allowed theU.com to heavily invest into new products and services that help students of all ages fulfill their potential.

THE FUTURE

Recently, we partnered up with Innovation Ads, a leading enrollment management company that has also helped millions of students select a degree program. You can read more about the partnership here.

Innovation Ads has provided a strategic and operational platform that will allow theU.com to continue its proud track record of innovation.

So look for tons of more exciting news from theU.com in the months to come, and let me know how you think we're doing by emailing doug@theU.com!

All the best,
- Doug Imbruce
Founder and CEO, theU.com