For Holy Cross students, it’s impossible to exist even a day without using WiGo. WiGo is the app created by Ben Kaplan from his dorm room here at Holy Cross just under two years ago. WiGo essentially takes the best parts of Tinder, Snapchat and Facebook and presents a way for college students to see who from their school is going out each night and where they’re going. Ben Kaplan gave me an exclusive for Her Campus Holy Cross. Read below to find out what Ben Kaplan has to say about WiGo, Holy Cross night life, and his relationship status!
Caroline Keane: What originally inspired you to create WiGo?
Ben Kaplan: During my freshman year, I quickly realized there wasn’t a simple, efficient way for college students to organize their imminent social plans. I kept hearing the same questions being asked amongst my classmates and the guys on the hall: “Who’s going out tonight?” “Where’s everyone going?” “Have you heard of anything?” “Mahoneys or Leitrims?” etc. At Holy Cross, everyone wants to go where everyone else is going so, I thought to myself, “why can’t there be a place where students can easily figure out who is going where.” So, I came up with this app, WiGo, that allows college students to see where their friends are going on any given night.
Caroline Keane:What about WiGo are you most proud of?
Ben Kaplan: It was a huge risk for me to drop out of school to pursue this full time. My parents, both Yale educated physicians, weren’t too keen on me leaving school early. However, in the first month alone, WiGo has been downloaded by over 45,000 college and is being actively used at 800 college campuses all around the nation. It felt pretty cool seeing some validation in the risk I decided to take. My amazing parents, of course, are very proud of me now as well. I am also very proud of the team of developers and designers at WiGo, they’re all amazingly talented and I am so lucky that I get to surround myself with such smart people.
Caroline Keane: So, if we aren’t on WiGo already why should we be?
Ben Kaplan: Other apps, like Facebook and Yik Yak, become diluted with too much content and spam once too many people start to use it. WiGo differs from these because the more college students at your school that are on it the better it gets. Also, a lot of people are finding hookups through WiGo. I’ve heard some pretty funny stories already come of from some of our schools. Unlike Facebook or other social media platforms, WiGo is for just college students. We take privacy very seriously, and do everything in our power to keep it 100% college students on the app.
Caroline Keane: So, you mentioned that people are building romantic relationships through WiGo, any interesting stories?
Ben Kaplan: Well, I don’t want to reveal too much, but we have been receiving a lot of positive feedback from people who have managed to “find love” by using the app. “Tapping”, our sexiest feature, is basically like a playful “hey, I want to see you out tonight,” so it is a good way to convey interest.
Caroline Keane: What’s your favorite place to go out to?
Ben Kaplan: I was on the hockey team at Holy Cross, so some of my best memories are from parties at the hockey house. I also did love going to Leitrim’s on Wednesday nights, even though we weren’t supposed to break the 24 hour rule. Oops. Here in Boston, I have been meeting a lot of bar owners and promoters because of the app, since they want to use WiGo to advertise. We aren’t going to do that yet, but it has allowed me to go to a lot of cool places in Boston, and have a lot of fun. There are definitely a lot of amazing bars in Boston, but I don’t have a favorite (yet).
Caroline Keane: Are you currently single? Do you only date other app developers?
Ben Kaplan: Haha yes, I am currently single. And no, I don’t only date other app develoers.
Caroline Keane: Do you use WiGo to pick up chicks? Do you ever casually bring WiGo up in conversation to impress girls?
Ben Kaplan: No. I try not to talk about it too much, even with close friends. I just try to be myself. Tom Brady doesn’t walk around Boston wearing a Tom Brady jersey you know? Not that I’m nearly as cool or good looking as Tom Brady though!
Caroline Keane: Good for you! Very humble, I feel like I wouldn’t be able to help myself and would manage to slip it into every conversation. Do you plan to return to Holy Cross?
Ben Kaplan: To be completely honest, I won’t be coming back to Holy Cross. It’s nothing against the school. I actually loved it there, I made amazing friends and had such a fun time. The good part about being so close is that, as many saw on alumni weekend, I can come back and visit frequently.
Caroline Keane: Do you plan to go back to school at all?
Ben Kaplan: Right now, no.
Caroline Keane: Well aren’t you lucky! What’s your favorite part about living in the real world?
Ben Kaplan: Haha yeah, I don’t miss exams. I’m from Vermont, and there’s not too much going on at night where I’m from. So, it’s been really cool to live in Boston where there’s always something going on and something to do. I’ve been meeting tons of new people. I work on a team with six other people, and we’ve become really close, almost like a family. When you work with people that you really like, coming into work each day is awesome.
Caroline Keane: That’s awesome! What are your plans for WiGo and would you ever consider selling the company?
Ben Kaplan: That’s a good question. My plans for WiGo are basically to stay very, very aggressive in our growth. We’re already at 800 colleges across the country, but I would like to have a presence on every campus across the country. I’ve had kids from Canada and even several European countries emailing me and asking to open WiGo up to their respective schools. I would like to expand WiGo first to Canada and eventually the rest of the world’s college students. People get really excited about this idea because people are always wondering what to do on a Friday night and no one has really solved that problem yet. There is definitely a universal demand for WiGo because it helps students figure out what to do and where to go. In terms of selling the company, I have no plans to sell the company anytime soon. For me to sell the company, the price would have to be very right to even entertain the conversation.
Caroline Keane: I am sure whatever you decide to do you will be very successful. My last question for you is: for all of us still at Holy Cross, what advice can you offer- especially for aspiring entrepreneurs?
Ben Kaplan: I feel very grateful for Holy Cross. Coming from Holy Cross, we have such an amazing alumni network, they have been so supportive of me and I encourage all students to really use that to their advantage. Really, I just want to thank everyone at Holy Cross for being so supportive. It was really special to me that the app was launched first at Holy Cross. It really gave me the confidence to move forward and grow WiGo. I want to be able to give back to Holy Cross the way that Holy Cross gave to me, so anyone that has an idea but doesn’t know how to execute it, contact me and I will try to help you as best as I can. My advice to any young entrepreneurs is if you have an idea, test it out with a small smaple size first so you can learn from your first users. The WiGo app changes so much from the Holy Cross Version 1.0 to what’s on the app store now, all because of the great feedback I got after launching it exclusively at Holy Cross first.
Caroline Keane: Thank you so much Ben for taking the time to let me interview you. I know I speak for everyone at Holy Cross, we really wish you the best and are so appreciative of WiGo- it really is an app that you can’t live without. I hope to see you at the Her Campus Holy Cross launch party on October 7th at Sweet!
Ben Kaplan: Thanks so much!