CP Feature

PaperG facilitates online advertising using a format called "Flyerboard" which allows enterprises to post online flyers on web sites in varying networks. Victor Wong, a student at Yale College, is the CEO.


PaperG is the brainchild of students from both Yale and Harvard University who entered the I³ Harvard College Innovation Challenge together. How did the team form?
A couple of Harvard students who ran The Crimson newspaper were looking for a way to better attract local advertisers online. Separately, a group of Yale students were inspired by a virtual bulletin board that people were using to spread word about campus activities. We got together and decided to build a commercial version of the Flyerboard as a way for local businesses to more easily reach their communities.

What inspired the idea for PaperG? Had the idea come about before the group came together?
The idea of the Flyerboard preceded the formation of the group. Students at Yale were already using a virtual bulletin board to spread word about campus activities. I saw this and wondered why it couldn’t be used to spread word about local activities and happenings. As a result, I came up with a way to apply the idea to local online advertising. The thought that this idea could help solve the financial problems of newspapers motivated me to recruit some of my peers to form PaperG and make this a serious endeavor.

PaperG’s main focus is an online advertising tool called “Flyerboard.” Could you explain how Flyerboard works?
Flyerboard is a virtual bulletin board that resides on local websites. Local readers sort through the Flyerboard to discover what’s going on around their neighborhood and what sorts of deals are available. It’s really great for advertisers because they can use any image that they already have (flyer, print ad, etc.) and the Flyerboard automatically converts it into an attractive, interactive Flyer Ad with built-in sharing features.

Flyerboard guarantees exposure to leading local websites. How did you develop this partnership?
We started with The New Haven Independent, the website for our local city, and it snowballed from there. As advertisers saw the Flyerboard and ran ad campaigns, more advertisers came. The Flyerboard has an interesting effect where the more advertisers there are, the more effective it is since people use it as a resource rather than simply an advertisement.
Once it was clear the advertisers liked how easy and useful the Flyerboard was, more and more publishers wanted to have the Flyerboard on their site to increase their online revenue. It’s grown from there, and now well known media groups are starting to partner with us to figure out how to capture local ad dollars in their neighborhoods.

Who are your primary clients for Flyerboard or does it often vary?
When we first started, our advertisers tended to be local event marketers for restaurants, museums, concert venues, and charities. Since then, the Flyerboard has built out support for other types of clients and we’ve seen a large amount of advertisers like local real estate agents posting housing listings and retailers posting special deals.

You received $5,000 from the I³ Harvard College Innovation Challenge. Has this been your principle source of funding? How have you applied it?
The money from the I³ competition really helped us in the beginning. We were able to use the $5,000 to hire programmers to develop Flyerboard further. We’ve since raised an angel round of capital from media and technology executives and then a larger round led by a venture capital firm.

How do you spread the word about Flyerboard? Do you utilize the same techniques the advertising tool puts into use for your clients?
Flyerboard relies on online word of mouth. As users pass flyers to each other, we have had some advertisers find us almost accidentally and sign up. Publishers always like seeing what other publishers are doing and so they also find us because the Flyerboard is becoming a prominent part of other sites. After a while, people start talking about you because they see you everywhere and it becomes more and more effective. The same can be said for our advertisers who put these flyers up across their locality on the various Flyerboards we have.

Board members for PaperG include accomplished individuals such as Mark Potts, renowned journalist, and Stephen Taylor, former President of BGEP and Publisher of Boston.com. How did you gain their support?
I showed some professors at the Yale School of Management our prototype and asked for their opinion. Stephen Taylor was teaching a class on new media economics and had me come in to present to his class. He was impressed enough by what we were doing that he joined our advisory board. From there, we were able to build on our credibility to meet many more individuals excited by what we were doing, eventually getting to the phenomenal board we have today.

What advice would you give to a student starting his or her own business? Is it important to make it a team effort?
Just do. Once we closed our first round of investment from a small group of angels, I asked our lead investor why he chose to invest. He said, “Victor, a lot of people talk. You do. You asked for money after you built something.” I think most people get so preoccupied with trying to raise money that they never get anywhere. The most important you can do is just to do it and keep doing it and you’ll eventually get it right.

Another great piece of advice I’ve heard is a quote from Tom Bodett saying, “The difference between school and life? In school, you’re taught a lesson and given a test. In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson.” You can only read and learn so much without doing. Doing is the ultimate teacher. If all you know comes from what you do, there will never be a gap between what you know you are capable of and what you actually perform.

It’s absolutely necessary to have a great team as well. There is so much to do and so much to worry about that I think it’s impossible to go at it alone.

Where do you see PaperG in the next five years?
Next year alone will look very different from the last year. We have a very ambitious new product to be released soon which we believe will change the way local online ads are designed, bought, and sold.

Our vision for the next five years is to have local ad solutions so pervasive to local commerce that we are part of the community fabric, reaching everyone and working with everyone. I see our solutions to be the first thing local businesses instinctively turn to when thinking of marketing anything in their community.



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