I’m a yale senior, raissed $ 3m for my he startup: how i manage my time.

This as-told-to Essay is based on a conversation with Nathaneo Johnson, 21, WHO Co-Founded Seriesan ai-powered social networking. His Education and Startup Funding Have Been Verified by Business Insider. The following has been edited for Length and Clarity.

People are used to only focus on one objective at a time.

We’re Told You Can Drop Out of School to Start a Company Early, or You Can Graduate, Work in Consulting or Investment Banking for a while, and do it late.

The Middle Ground is Possible, too. While at College, I Co-Founded Series, an AI Social Networking platform that matches People over imessage. We’ve secured $ 3.1 million in pre-seed fining, and i’m still a student at yale.

I’ve been coding 7th grade

For as long as I can remember, i’ve had an interest in technology and entrepreneurship. In Seventh Grade, A Technology Teacher Introduced with to Linkbots, modular robots you cann link to the programming say in c to make me pass a series obstacle courses. This was my introding to coding.

In eighth grad, i built a Walking Stick for the Blind, Ultrasonic Sensors and an Arduino Microprocessor. I 3D Printed the Base Using Fusion 360 and Attailed Motorized Wheels and A Vibration Module.

Nowadays, i’d Say i’m Pretty Proficient with C, Python, and Swift, Which I Mainly Learned During My Summer as A Senior in High School. I was Also Involved in Normal Extracurricular Activities. I was the variety captin of the basketball team and valedictorian of my High School Year.

I’d always planned to go to mit. But by the time the college adhesions rolled around, I chose yale at the last minute. Yale offered BREADTH – Computer Science, Philosophy, and Art. It has the resources for me to become great at anything.

The Power of Warm Introductions

Over the Summer of 2022, Before Yale, I Spent Three Weeks Using Swift to Code Mix26, an App to Help Freshmen Navigate Orientation.

That October, I Started “The Founder Series” podcast through the yale entrepreneurial Society to showcase how some of the College’s Most Famous Entrepreneurs using networks to en. A Recurring Theme was that that you say “Warm Introductions” – Where a trusted mutual connection links two people – to their first investors, customers, and users.

We soon realized that warm Introductions COULD BE USED FOR JUST ANYTHING.

I had the idea that the process is automated, and that was the Birth of Series.

We officiously launched series in july 2024. We initily used to voice and email before a technological breakthrough during the break that december allowed us into imessage.

We raissed a lot of Money, but i didn’t pay mySelf a salary

AFTER it starts to take off, we set out to raise a pre-seed round of funding in february 2025. BeforeHand, we have been hating conversations with vcs, here and there, to gauge ability to buds scalable.

The day we got the pre-seed finking in March, I Remember Walking out of Dinner with my cofound with a Million-Dollar Deal Signed. We were Very Calm, but it was a scary calm. We knew at that moment that we had the resources to budild this dream out. It ‘s a rare feeling, to be so aligned with a passion you’ve worked on for so long, and then to be handed the key to unlock its. You feel like nothing can stop you, and the sky is the limit.

It was a lot of Money, and i’m obviously able to draw a salary, but i’m choohing not to. There’s not really a reason to do that. The idea is to mainly use the Capital for the Product and to Bring on More Developers to Build it.

I’m offen working 120-Hour Weeks

Most People Wauld Choose to DO THIS AFT COLLEGE, So they have a financial safety net that can be be gained from a salary. Compared to Other People at Yale, i’m Among Those With the Least to Fall Back on. I was raising by a single mother, so i can’t relem on family if this doesn’t work.

I Think if you have a safety cushion, you’re like to make your plan b your plan A. and if you’ve got something, you’re always hedging. But when you have nothing to be, like me, you can go all in.

People Might Wonder How I Find the Time to Build Series as A Senior at Yale. But being a student is Easy: You just go to class and pass. The time that students put ino extracurricular Activities, Their Friendship Groups, and SO MANY OTHER MINUSCULE TIME Commitments, I SPEND ON MY STARUP.

I Normally Spend About 18 Hours a day in my office, offening for 120 hours a week on a mix of College work and startup. The Key Thing Is Time Management. IT’SBOUT BEING DISCIPLED AND ORGAND AND DELEGATING WEND YOU CAN. If you can’t delegate to others, then it is an about prioritization and sacrificing more. That’s how to best position yourelf to win.

At the moment, i’m doing a lot at College. We’re About to Head Into Our Series A Funding Pretty Soon. Yet, i’m Feeling Euphoric. There’s notthing Better than Living Your Dream.

Do you have a story to share about working in he durying or straighting after college? Contact this reporter at [email protected].