# ADIN University GTM — Solo Execution Plan (NYC) > Published on ADIN (https://adin.chat/s/adin-university-gtm-solo-execution-plan-nyc) > Type: Article > Date: 2026-05-11 > Description: A 12-week plan built for one person, 10-15 hours/week, focused on Columbia, Cornell Tech, and NYU. Ground Rules for Solo Execution 3 schools only. Columbia, Cornell Tech, NYU. Adding more = killing the strategy. Fixed weekly rhythm. Same activity on the same day every week. No daily planning. Batch... A 12-week plan built for one person, 10–15 hours/week, focused on Columbia, Cornell Tech, and NYU. --- ## Ground Rules for Solo Execution 1. **3 schools only.** Columbia, Cornell Tech, NYU. Adding more = killing the strategy. 2. **Fixed weekly rhythm.** Same activity on the same day every week. No daily planning. 3. **Batch everything.** All outreach on Monday. All follow-ups on Thursday. All meetings on Tue/Wed. 4. **One workshop per week max.** You're one person. Don't book two. 5. **Kill or double down at Week 4.** If you don't have 3 club meetings booked by end of Week 4, change tactics. 6. **No faculty outreach until Week 8.** Students respond fast, faculty don't. Get traction first. --- ## The Narrowed Target: 3 Schools, 7 Clubs, 2 Papers This is the entire list for the first 8 weeks. Do not add to it. **Cornell Tech (Roosevelt Island)** - Cornell Tech AI Society — aisocietycornell.tech - Cornell Tech Strategy & Consulting Club — ctscc.vercel.app **Columbia University** - Columbia Data Science Society (CDSS) — cdssatcu.com - CBS Artificial Intelligence Club — groups.gsb.columbia.edu/AIC - Columbia AI Alignment Club — cualignment.org - Columbia Spectator (newspaper) — columbiaspectator.com **NYU** - NYU Stern Business Analytics Club — nyusternbac.org - NYU ML Club — nyumlclub.github.io - GenArt NYU — genartnyu.com - Washington Square News (newspaper) — nyunews.com **Why these 3 schools:** Cornell Tech is small, responsive, closest to you. Columbia gives grad + business + journalism on one campus. NYU gives Stern + technical + creative. --- ## Your Weekly Rhythm (same every week) | Day | Block | Activity | Hours | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Mon AM | Outreach Monday | Send all new cold emails (batch of 5–8) | 2 | | Tue | Meetings day | 2–3 club/founder calls (in person if possible) | 3 | | Wed | Meetings day | 2–3 more calls | 3 | | Thu AM | Follow-up Thursday | Reply to inbound, send all follow-ups (one each) | 2 | | Fri | Build day | Workshop prep, content, product feedback | 2 | | Sat/Sun | Off or workshop | If hosting a workshop, do it Sat afternoon | 0–3 | **Total: 10–15 hrs/week.** Why Tue/Wed for meetings: students have class M/W/F or T/Th. Tue/Wed catches both. Avoid Monday (catch-up) and Friday (checked out). --- ## The 8-Week Plan ### Week 1 — Setup only. No outreach yet. **Mon–Tue** - Build adin.chat/students landing page. Free Pro for 1 year with .edu verification. Add the unlock counter (150 signups → whole school free). - Build the 2-page "ADIN for Research" PDF. **Wed** - Create a Notion tracker. Columns: School, Club, Contact name, Email, Last touch date, Status, Notes. - Pre-populate every row for the 9 contacts. **Thu** - Find named contacts. 15 min each: club site → officers → LinkedIn → email (firstname.lastname@school.edu). - Goal: name + email for all 9 contacts. **Fri** - Draft personalized versions of the 4 email templates (below), one per contact. Each email needs ONE personalized line referencing their actual work or last event. **Week 1 total: 8–10 hours. No outreach sent yet. This is the foundation week.** --- ### Week 2 — Outreach starts. **Mon AM** - Send 5 emails: Cornell Tech AI Society, Cornell Tech S&C, CDSS, CBS AI Club, NYU Stern BAC. - Stagger send times (9:00, 9:15, 9:30…) — looks less like a blast. **Tue–Wed** - Likely no replies yet. Use this time to draft Week 3 emails. **Thu AM** - Follow-up to non-responders from Monday (one follow-up, max 3 sentences). - Reply to anyone who responded. **Fri** - Draft workshop curriculum for the first format. Pick one: "Lit Review in 30 Min" or "Deal Memo in 45 Min" (depends on which club responds first). --- ### Week 3 — More outreach + first meetings. **Mon** - Send remaining 4 emails: NYU ML Club, GenArt NYU, AI Alignment Club, Columbia Spectator. - Also send to WSN. **Tue–Wed** - First club president calls (from Week 2 outreach). Goal: 2–3 meetings. - On each call: pitch partnership (free Pro for members + $1K workshop sponsorship + featured spotlight). **Ask for a workshop date in Week 5 or 6. Lock the calendar.** **Thu** - Follow-up Thursday. **Fri** - Refine workshop curriculum based on what club presidents said they wanted. **Decision check at end of Week 3:** Should have at least 2 meetings booked or done. If zero meetings, emails aren't working — rewrite before Week 4. --- ### Week 4 — Lock workshop #1. **Mon** - Round 2 outreach: anyone who didn't reply gets a second follow-up with a new hook. **Tue–Wed** - More meetings. Cumulative goal: 4–5 meetings done by end of Week 4. - Lock at least ONE workshop on the calendar for Week 5 or 6. **Thu–Fri** - Finalize workshop logistics: room, food, agenda, slides, demo flow, ADIN setup for attendees. **Hard go/no-go at end of Week 4:** - 1+ workshop booked → continue plan - 0 workshops, 2+ meetings → extend outreach 2 weeks, don't pivot yet - 0 meetings → stop and rewrite emails. Don't keep blasting. --- ### Week 5 — Run workshop #1. The workshop is the moment everything compounds. Don't half-ass this. **Workshop structure (60 min):** - **0:00–0:10** — Founder intro: why you built ADIN, what makes it different from ChatGPT/Perplexity for research. - **0:10–0:25** — Live demo of one specific workflow (deal memo, lit review, article draft — whichever the club cares about). - **0:25–0:50** — Hands-on: every attendee builds their own real research project with their own materials. Walk around, help. - **0:50–0:60** — Q&A, pizza, every attendee leaves with a shareable ADIN project link + a referral code. **After:** - Tweet/LinkedIn post with photos, tag the club + attendees who consented. - DM every attendee within 24 hours: "Loved meeting you. Here's your free Pro. What did you think?" - Identify the 2–3 most engaged attendees → Campus Strategist candidates. --- ### Week 6 — Workshop #2 + strategist recruiting. **Mon–Wed** - Run workshop #2 at another school. - DM the strongest Workshop #1 attendees with the Campus Strategist offer. **Thu–Fri** - Convert 2–3 candidates into paid Campus Strategists. One per school. - Package: free Pro for life, $750/month stipend, "ADIN Campus Lead" title, one mission (drive 50 signups in their network in 30 days). --- ### Week 7 — Strategists do the work, you support. This is where solo execution starts to scale. Strategists run the next phase. You support. **Your job:** - Daily Slack check-in with strategists. - Provide them: pitch deck, signup link, referral codes, swag/stickers (Sticker Mule, \~$200). - Be available for any meeting they book. - Workshop #3 at the third school (you still host, they organize). --- ### Week 8 — First viral unlock attempt. By end of Week 8 you should have: - 3 workshops done - 2–3 Campus Strategists active - 100–200 .edu signups across 3 schools Push hard on the unlock mechanic. Each strategist runs a 2-week sprint to hit 150 signups at their school. First school to unlock = case study + press push + social proof. **Hard go/no-go at end of Week 8:** - 7-day retention >35% → keep going, expand to schools 4–6 - 7-day retention 20–35% → traction exists, fix workflow gaps before scaling - 7-day retention <20% → product/workflow fit isn't there. Stop expanding. Talk to active users and fix before more growth. --- ### Weeks 9–12 — Scale or stabilize. **If retention is good:** - Add 3 more NYC schools: Baruch, Hunter, Fordham. - Begin faculty outreach (Email C) at Columbia + NYU + Cornell Tech. - Start a monthly "ADIN NYC Student Meetup" at your office — recurring event = recurring growth. - Apply for earned media: TechCrunch student section, NY Times tech newsletter, Garbage Day, Platformer. **If retention is weak:** - Stop expansion entirely. - 15 user interviews with churned users. - Ship product fixes. - Then resume. --- ## Email Templates ### Email A — AI/Tech/Business Club Presidents > Subject: Partnering with \[Club Name\] this semester > > Hi \[first name\], > > I'm \[your name\], founder at ADIN — we built a research-focused AI workspace (project memory + source citations + real outputs, not just chat). We're in NYC and want to partner with 5–6 NYC student orgs this semester before going wider. > > The offer for \[Club Name\]: > > — Free ADIN Pro for every member (we verify via .edu) — $1,000 to co-host one workshop with us (we bring demo + pizza + the founder, you bring the room) — Featured spotlight on our network for the best member projects > > We can come to your campus or host at our \[neighborhood\] office, your call. No strings — we're betting if your members find ADIN useful, they'll tell people. > > Free for a quick 20-min call next week? Or I can send a 2-page overview first. > > Best, \[name\] adin.chat ### Email B — Student Newspapers > Subject: Free Pro access for \[Paper Name\] reporters > > Hi \[first name\], > > Quick note from ADIN, an AI research workspace built for source-heavy work — sources to synthesis to drafting, with citations preserved throughout. We've been watching how Perplexity worked with Medill at Northwestern and wanted to do something similar with NYC papers. > > The offer: free ADIN Pro for the entire \[Paper Name\] editorial staff this semester. No cost, no strings. If your reporters end up using it for real work, we'd love to co-host a paid workshop on AI-assisted reporting — "Interview Notes to Draft in 30 Minutes." > > Worth a 15-min call? I'm in NYC and happy to swing by your newsroom. > > \[name\] adin.chat ### Email C — Faculty (use only after Week 8) > Subject: AI research workspace — happy to set up a free pilot for your students > > Dear Professor \[last name\], > > I came across your work on \[actually read one of their papers — name it\]. I'm reaching out because we're piloting ADIN, an AI research workspace, with a few NYC labs and graduate programs this semester. > > Unlike general-purpose AI tools, ADIN preserves project memory across sessions, tracks every source citation back to the document, and is built around the actual research workflow: paper triage, synthesis, drafting. The students I've shown it to describe it as "a research assistant that doesn't forget." > > No cost. We'd offer your \[lab / class / advisees\] free access for the semester and only ask for honest feedback. If it works, we'd love to develop case studies with you. > > Would a 20-min call this month or next make sense? I'm based in NYC and happy to come to campus. > > Sincerely, \[name\] adin.chat ### Email D — Investment Clubs (Baruch IMG, BAI, etc.) > Subject: Free tool for \[Club\] analysts — deal memos in half the time > > Hi \[first name\], > > \[Name\] at ADIN. We built a research-focused AI workspace, and one of the use cases our power users love is investment memos — upload a 10-K, pitch deck, or earnings call, get a structured DD brief with sources tracked back to the document. > > Saw that \[Club Name\] runs \[pitch competitions / a real portfolio / case prep\]. We'd like to offer: > > — Free ADIN Pro for all active members this semester — $1,000 sponsorship for your next pitch competition or speaker event — A live workshop: "Building a Deal Memo with ADIN in 45 Minutes" (we host or come to you) > > Worth a 20-min call? I'm in NYC, happy to grab coffee. > > \[name\] adin.chat ### Campus Strategist Offer (use after Week 5 workshops) > Hi \[name\] — really enjoyed meeting you at the \[Club\] workshop. You asked smarter questions than 90% of the room and clearly get what we're building. > > We're launching an ADIN Campus Lead program — paid, one student per university, mission is to bring ADIN to more of your community. The package: > > — $750/month stipend — Free ADIN Pro for life — "ADIN Campus Lead — \[School\]" title — Direct line to me + product team — One mission: 50 signups in your network in 30 days, then we figure out next phase together > > Time commitment: 5–8 hrs/week, very flexible. Want to grab coffee this week to talk? --- ## Time Budget Summary | Weeks | Hours/week | Activity | | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | 8–10 | Setup, no outreach | | 2–4 | 10–12 | Outreach + meetings + workshop prep | | 5–6 | 12–15 | Workshops + strategist recruit | | 7–8 | 10–12 | Strategist support + viral push | | 9–12 | 8–12 | Faculty + scale OR fix product | **Total over 12 weeks: \~120–150 hours.** --- ## Five Weekly Metrics (track every Friday) 1. New .edu signups this week 2. Active users (used ADIN 2+ times this week) 3. Workshops booked 4. Cold emails sent → replies 5. 7-day retention on the cohort that signed up last week Put it in your Notion. Look at it every Friday. That's how you know if this is working. --- ## Things You Will Be Tempted to Do — Don't - Add a 4th school in Week 5 because you got excited. Don't. - Run two workshops in one week because two clubs are interested. Push the second to next week. - Skip the .edu verification because it's annoying to build. The unlock mechanic depends on it. - Email faculty before Week 8. They take 4–6 weeks to reply. You're wasting the window. - Optimize landing page conversion in Week 2. Nothing to optimize until you have traffic. - Build a referral program before Week 6. Not enough users to mean anything yet. --- ## The Solo Founder's Edge The single biggest mistake on a campus playbook is **front-loading the funnel**. Sending 200 cold emails Week 1, getting 10 meetings, and not sustaining the cadence to convert them. This plan caps outreach at 5–8 emails per week so you can actually take every meeting that comes back. **Slow funnel, deep conversion. That's the solo advantage.**