TRANSCRIPT

Max (Team Protopia): Alright, let’s get started. This will be a casual conversation, so we’re going to keep it relaxed. First off, thank you to everyone for joining us today. If you’re just joining in, we’re thrilled to have you here.

Today, we’re going to dive into a conversation about alumni engagement and artificial intelligence. I’m joined by the wonderful Cassie, who I’ll introduce shortly.

We plan to talk for about 35 to 40 minutes, and we want your questions. So, a few housekeeping items before we begin: I’m Max, founder and CEO at Protopia. Please use the chat to introduce yourself, share what you do, and let us know which school you’re with. There are many of your peers here today.

Secondly, ask lots of questions. While we may not get to every single one, we’ll do our best. If we miss any, we’ll make sure to follow up after the webinar. Justin from Protopia is in the chat and will be queuing up some great questions for the end of our discussion.

Lastly, this webinar is being recorded, and we’ll share the recording with everyone who registered, so you can revisit it or share it with colleagues.

Before we jump in, if you’re not familiar with Protopia, let me give you a quick background. We’ve been around for about seven years, and our mission is rooted in making it easier for students to ask for help—especially those with low social capital or those who are first-generation students who might not have grown up with the concepts of mentoring or networking.

Asking for help can be tough, especially when you’re unsure of who to turn to or worried about rejection. We started by listening to students and alumni, and what we found is that alumni are eager to help but often face barriers like too much technology, lack of relevance, or simply being too busy. We focused on simplifying this process and ensuring that any networking or mentoring opportunity was relevant and respectful of everyone’s time.

This is the foundation of Protopia: making networking simple within educational communities, especially in high-affinity groups like Northwestern, which Cassie will discuss shortly. We enable students, alumni, prospects, and faculty to connect without needing another app, and we use AI to help match students with the best alumni to provide guidance—whether that’s for career advice, internships, or other questions.

We position ourselves as the engine that makes these connections more human and supports the needs of students, alumni, and institutions. We’re very different from what you might expect—there’s no platform. But one of the key reasons for this webinar is that people often ask, “How do I convince my team, my alumni, or my students to use this?”

Cassie will share how she’s done an amazing job laying the groundwork for AI and alumni engagement at Northwestern. Recently, Northwestern and LSE were recognized by CASE for their innovative use of AI in alumni engagement. Judges even described Protopia as the future of alumni engagement because of its simplicity and the readiness of the technology.

So, without further ado, Cassie, thank you for being here. Please introduce yourself.

Cassie: Thank you, Max! It’s great to be here and to see everyone who’s joined us today. I’m Cassie Petoskey, currently the Director of Alumni Engagement and the Director of the Waldron Student-Alumni Connections Program at Weinberg College, Northwestern.

Our Waldron Connections program is focused on helping Weinberg College students explore different career options by connecting them with alumni. Weinberg College is the largest unit at Northwestern, with about 4,000 undergraduate students. We have a diverse range of programs, and our students come from various disciplines, including sciences, humanities, and social sciences.

Historically, the Waldron program has supported students through in-person events, virtual events, and various resources. However, we realized we could only do so much with in-person events throughout the year. This was one of the reasons why we found Ask a Wildcat, powered by Protopia, to be the next best resource for us.

Max (Team Protopia): That’s a great segue. Could you talk about the specific problem you were looking to solve and why you chose to work with Protopia?

Cassie: Absolutely. Our program is all about career exploration for arts and sciences students, and many of these students don’t know who to turn to with their questions. They might not have their narrative figured out yet, which can make it difficult for them to know who to approach.

What attracted us to Protopia was that students didn’t need to know exactly who to ask—they could engage with the tool and get meaningful responses from alumni without the need for an extensive network or perfect narrative. Additionally, we can only reach so many students through events, so the scalability of a tool like Protopia was really exciting for us.

We wanted to make sure our students and alumni felt that we were making unique, valuable connections. For example, we’re hosting an event with an environmental sciences alum who will speak to students of color about being a minority in that space. It’s a small, niche program, and scaling that type of work is challenging. Protopia allows us to scale these individualized connections, making it easier for students to ask personal questions and receive relevant responses from alumni who share similar values or backgrounds.

Max (Team Protopia): That’s fantastic. So, when you first brought up the idea of using AI, how did that go over with your team?

Cassie: Honestly, when Max first told me about AI, I didn’t even know what it was. This was about five years ago, and AI wasn’t really part of the conversation yet. It took some time for me to understand what Max was talking about, but now with tools like ChatGPT, AI is much more mainstream. However, even a couple of years ago, AI still felt new and a bit intimidating. Despite that, people were starting to recognize it as an interesting tool with potential.

Max (Team Protopia): How did you make the case for adopting this AI tool, especially when there wasn’t a lot of institutional knowledge around it?

Cassie: We weren’t even considering platforms at the time because Protopia met our needs so well. We had students who needed real answers, and we had alumni who wanted to help. I distilled it down to this simple concept for my boss: if you received a question from a student in your inbox and could easily click a button to answer, wouldn’t that be great? Northwestern alumni are eager to help students, so I focused on how easy and enjoyable it would be for them to connect with students through this tool. The AI is just the behind-the-scenes engine that makes it all work.

Max (Team Protopia): Did you emphasize the AI aspect when pitching this to your team, or did you downplay it?

Cassie: I definitely mentioned AI because it’s exciting to be innovative, but I didn’t focus on it as the main reason for adopting the tool. The main selling point was that students get the answers they need, and alumni can help without logging into an extra platform. The opt-out feature of the AI was actually more concerning to us because it was new territory—we had to assure our team that this approach would work without overwhelming alumni.

Max (Team Protopia): How did you address those concerns?

Cassie: We were initially nervous about not giving alumni a heads-up before they started receiving questions, but we decided to follow Max’s recommendation. The concerns turned out to be unfounded—alumni were happy to help, and the feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive. Even alumni who didn’t engage with us previously were responding to students and enjoying the experience.

Max (Team Protopia): That’s great to hear. So, how do you keep campus partners engaged with this tool?

Cassie: We maintain ongoing relationships with our campus partners, meeting with them regularly to remind them about the tool and how it can be used. We also send out newsletters and share success stories, like the student who connected with an alum at the Art Institute or the student who toured the Meta office in London. These stories help keep the tool top of mind for our partners.

Max (Team Protopia): What were some of the challenges you faced during the launch, and how did you overcome them?

Cassie: One of the biggest challenges was deciding whether to email all alumni to notify them about the tool. We ultimately decided against it and instead included a note in the first outreach to alumni explaining the tool. This approach worked well, and we didn’t encounter any significant issues. Another challenge was ensuring that our prospect managers and volunteer managers were informed and engaged with the tool. We developed a process for notifying them when one of their prospects responded to a student’s question, which has helped foster stronger relationships and better engagement.

Max (Team Protopia): That’s a great strategy. Do you have any favorite stories that you use to illustrate the value of this tool?

Cassie: Absolutely. One of my favorites is the student who connected with an alum through Ask A Wildcat and then visited the Meta office in London. Another great story is about a student who connected with an alum in philanthropy at the Art Institute, which led to a tour with the head of conservation. These stories highlight the power of our global alumni network and the unique opportunities this tool provides.

Max (Team Protopia): I know we’ve discussed this story before, but I can’t help highlighting it because it’s such a powerful example. I often find myself in conversations where this comes up—especially when talking about programs designed to support students with less social capital, like first-generation and low-income students. These students often benefit from what’s known as a “weak ties” network.

About a year ago, we had a first-gen, low-income student who asked a question that might resonate with many of us. This student was wrestling with the idea of pursuing financial security versus having the confidence to chase their true passion. It’s a scenario that many students in similar situations face, and it’s a story I love to share because of the profound impact it demonstrates.

As Cassie mentioned earlier, students and alumni use the “Ask a Wildcat” program to connect. In this particular instance, the student submitted their question through the platform, seeking guidance on this challenge. Our system then utilized machine learning to sift through the Weinberg alumni network of 80,000 alumni, categorizing the inquiry—whether it was related to career advice, job searches, entrepreneurship, graduate school, or choosing a major. Based on this, we identified the 20 to 25 alumni best suited to provide assistance.

What’s remarkable is that we don’t just look for the most relevant alumni—we also consider alumni who haven’t engaged recently or those with high capacity. Protopia acts as the broker for these network connections, aligning the school’s priorities with identifying the best alumni to reach out to via a simple, branded email.

In this case, we identified 42 alumni within the Weinberg community who could help. Out of those, 21 had philanthropic potential, and 32 of them opened the email—a high open rate, likely because alumni are eager to assist when it feels relevant to them. Ten alumni clicked on the email, and three ultimately offered help. They provided advice, and some even offered to have a call with the student, which, as Cassie noted, is something many alumni are eager to do.

We then notified the assigned prospect manager that one of their prospects had just helped a student, encouraging them to reach out and acknowledge the gesture. It always gives me chills to see how deeply alumni lean into their community to support students.

Our goal is to ensure both the alum and the student have a meaningful experience and recognize the strength of the Weinberg community. For most, this is the largest professional network they will ever be a part of, and we want them to feel connected to it for life.

So, Cassie, here’s a question I get all the time: if you could do one thing differently, what would it be?

Cassie: That’s a great question, Max, and I’ve thought about it since we first launched the program.

Max (Team Protopia): I figured as much! You probably knew this question was coming.

Cassie: Honestly, I would have adopted this sooner. Every time I get feedback from students, it’s clear how valuable it is for them to hear directly from alumni who take time out of their day to have a conversation. Our students find so much value in this, and our alumni genuinely enjoy responding.

We haven’t even touched on our “super volunteers”—alumni who are particularly engaged and eager to help. For example, any student questions that go unanswered for a week are routed to these super volunteers, who then step in to respond. We’re even considering adding some of our Weinberg College board members to this group because they’ve expressed a desire to help on an ongoing basis.

Another thing we’ve discussed is the fact that this tool runs almost by itself. The AI does most of the heavy lifting, from matching students with alumni to sending out the questions. While I oversee the process to ensure everything is moderated, the tool is incredibly efficient. However, given the level of engagement we’re seeing—four to five times what we had before Ask a Wildcat—I might have advocated for additional staff sooner. There’s so much opportunity for growth that more staff could help us fully realize it.

Max (Team Protopia): You’re kind of dodging the question, so let me ask it differently. If you had to give one piece of advice to someone new to this, what’s the most important thing they should focus on?

Cassie: The most important thing is to understand your community and see where this tool meets their specific needs. Our Weinberg College students come from diverse backgrounds and often don’t know who to ask for help. They’re still figuring out their narratives, so a tool like this is perfect for them because it removes the barrier of needing to know exactly who to reach out to.

If you’re working with a business school or a more niche program, your needs might be different, and this tool could serve a different purpose. For us, it was a perfect fit, but it’s about figuring out how it can best serve your community’s unique needs. We weren’t comparing Protopia to other platforms—we were focused on how we could better serve our students and scale what we were already doing.

Max (Team Protopia): Exactly. Let’s move on to some questions. Justin, do you have any questions from the audience that we should focus on?

Justin: Sure, I have a few. The first one is a classic: Can you tell us about the data? How does it work? Is our data any good? And how does this relate to LinkedIn data or possibly using LinkedIn as well?

Cassie: We were initially concerned that some of our employment data might be outdated, and to some extent, it was. But what we found was that once alumni started receiving questions, they often updated their information with us. So, rather than being a problem, it became an opportunity for them to correct any outdated data.

Our data team worked closely with Max’s team to address security concerns, which are beyond my area of expertise, but I can say that the process was thorough, and the assessment indicated a low threat level.

Max (Team Protopia): I get this question all the time. Even if your data isn’t perfect, most alumni are so eager to help that they’ll overlook a bad question. For example, I recently asked someone if they would respond to a question from a student about a job they had five years ago. The answer was a resounding yes because they want to help. What they don’t want is irrelevant communication. But when we engage alumni—even with outdated information—we make sure to include a note asking them to update their details so we can send them relevant opportunities in the future.

Regarding LinkedIn, we don’t use LinkedIn data directly. However, many schools we work with use tools like Live Alumni to augment their data, which can then be synchronized with us. But our primary source of truth is the institution’s own data.

Cassie: One more thing on the data side—our team was initially concerned about how we’d manage data during our CRM transition. We knew that the information coming back from Protopia would be valuable, so we pushed to have it integrated into our contact reports, even though it’s been a challenge to manage without a fully synchronized system.

Max (Team Protopia): That’s a great point, Cassie. Justin, what’s next?

Justin: Another question we’re getting is about the level of administration required. How much staff time does this tool require compared to other platforms?

Cassie: That’s a great question. Honestly, if I didn’t set the approvals to go through me, the tool could practically run itself. We’d have hundreds of students interacting with hundreds of alumni, and the vast majority would have a great experience.

That said, we’re still running all the events and programs we did before adding Ask a Wildcat, and it’s manageable. If you want to advocate for additional staff to manage it, by all means, do so, but it’s not necessary. The tool handles the heavy lifting—students submit a question, I approve it, and the tool sends it out to 25 to 40 alumni. It just works.

Before Ask a Wildcat, connecting 30 students with alumni took me about three months. Now, that’s happening in days. The administrative burden is low compared to a mentorship platform, which requires a staff member to manage engagement. Protopia doesn’t need that.

Max (Team Protopia): We’ve studied how much work it takes—about five minutes per question, including approvals. The bulk of your time will likely be spent on advocacy—meeting with career services, faculty, and academic advisors to generate demand for the tool. The actual administration is minimal because the AI handles most of the work.

Cassie: It really depends on your population too. We initially estimated we’d get about 100 student questions in the first year, but we’ve had nearly 200 since launching last September. If your students are professionally driven, as ours are, they’ll naturally gravitate toward this tool.

Max (Team Protopia): Justin, any other questions?

Justin: One last question: Can you tell us more about how Protopia supports super volunteers or highly engaged individuals?

Max (Team Protopia): Super volunteers are those high-affinity individuals—like board members or families—who are eager to help. The super volunteer logic in Protopia sends them an email on Saturday mornings with questions that need extra attention. These questions might not be directly relevant to them, but they’re passionate about the school and want to help however they can.

This feature was developed in response to customers asking how they could better engage board members or other key individuals. It’s a simple yet effective way to involve them more deeply, even if the AI didn’t initially match them with the question.

Cassie: Alumni love it. I have certain alumni who look forward to those Saturday emails.

Max (Team Protopia): And thank you, Cassie, for all your input on that feature—you were one of the first schools to use it, and your feedback was invaluable. It’s now 10 minutes to 2, so if there are no more questions, we’ll wrap up.

Thank you, Cassie, for joining us today and for sharing your journey. I’m thrilled that you won the CASE award—it’s well-deserved recognition for your leadership and willingness to innovate. You’ve done an amazing job, and we’re grateful for your continued support and feedback.

Cassie: Thanks for having me, Max!

Max (Team Protopia): And thanks for representing Northwestern so well, even down to the purple sweater!

Cassie: Yes, with all my Northwestern gear in the background!

Max (Team Protopia): Thank you, everyone, for joining us today. If you have any further questions, Cassie’s email is available, and I encourage you to reach out to her. They’ve done incredible work at Weinberg. Have a wonderful week, and thanks again, Cassie.

Cassie: Thanks again, Max. Thanks, everyone!