Honeybear.ai, Campus Ambassador, Head of Customer Acquisition in China
Senior 2024
Honeybear.ai, an AI-driven learning tool founded by three recent graduates from Brown University, first reached out to me through LinkedIn. The co-founder, Jae, contacted me after seeing my background in marketing and customer acquisition, as well as my influence within the NYU Shanghai and NYU Stern communities. In our first Zoom meeting, I learned about Honeybear.ai’s mission to help students streamline their study time by reducing the need for extensive reading, while also offering unique capabilities that set it apart from ChatGPT. Honeybear.ai not only provides text analysis but also reads image-based text—like photos of notes or board writing—and even summarizes YouTube videos, allowing students to focus on core insights. With these features, Honeybear.ai directly addresses gaps left by ChatGPT, making it a valuable tool for students overwhelmed by information overload.
Taking on the role of Honeybear.ai’s campus ambassador, I focused on a creative marketing strategy to increase its presence at NYU Shanghai. First, I redesigned the company’s outdated posters to emphasize Honeybear.ai’s unique strengths and competitive advantages, creating eye-catching visuals that resonated with our target audience. Then, I leveraged my personal influence on campus, sharing the new designs across student groups and on social media. To increase exposure, I adopted a unique strategy by placing posters in the high-traffic bathroom stalls on campus, knowing that students often scroll through their phones there. Within just three days, this campaign generated over 100 scans, a significant number for a campus with only 800 students. The approach not only boosted awareness but also demonstrated how effective creative and unconventional marketing could be.
In our weekly meetings, I discussed with Jae the potential of expanding Honeybear.ai’s reach in the Chinese market. Unlike ChatGPT, which is restricted in mainland China due to regulations requiring a VPN, Honeybear.ai is fully accessible. With my extensive connections across Chinese universities, I recognized an enormous opportunity to introduce Honeybear.ai to an untapped market. Jae entrusted me with leading the expansion into the Asia-Pacific region, making me a key figure in developing the international strategy. Currently, my focus is on launching Honeybear.ai in China, where the demand for accessible AI-driven educational tools is growing rapidly. This experience has solidified my skills as a community builder, brand launcher, and partnership connector, and has further deepened my drive to leverage innovative marketing strategies in entrepreneurship.