LAUNCHING SEPT. 20, 2025

September’s here—new classes, new goals, new students. What’s missing is a fast way to meet students like you and talk where it actually stays useful.

College Wishes makes it easy to share who you are and find people you actually want to work with.

• 1-minute profile (skills, interests, preferences) → instant matches at your school

• “Find people like me” discovery so you can spot collabs & study partners fast

• Gated chat rooms based on shared criteria—focused, on-topic, no random DMs

Examples

• UNC Chapel Hill music producers

• Pre-med study partners

• Women designers who code

• Student entrepreneurs

Be first at your school
We unlock campuses by interest. More signups = your school gets priority.

Want to rep your school?
Become a School Ambassador (1–2 hrs/week): help pick first room topics, share a couple blurbs in club chats, and give quick feedback after v1. Perks: Founding Ambassador badge, early access, newsletter shout-outs, and a LinkedIn rec from our founder, Scott Shelton.

P.S. After you join, share your link with 3 friends—we prioritize the most-interested campuses.

What if the most valuable thing you can offer the market… is your honesty?

Every time you say what you want, like, need, or hope for, you're generating something powerful: self-reported data.

This isn’t a breadcrumb trail. It’s a beacon. A signal. A statement.

And when you own that signal, everything changes.

Right now, most of your digital profile is built without you—using what you clicked, hovered on, or bought. But what if the future flipped the model?

In The Intention Economy, author Doc Searls envisions a world where demand leads. He calls it VRM (Vendor Relationship Management)—the reciprocal of CRM (Customer Relationship Management).

Instead of companies managing customers, you manage how and when companies reach you. It’s opt-in. Transparent. Empowering. And we’re building it at Understand Demand.

3 Reasons to Own Your Self-Reported Data

1. You become an active participant, not a passive profile.
You’re not just being targeted—you’re inviting the right companies to reach you.

2. You gain leverage in the market.
When a brand wants insights from people like you, you choose whether to share. You shouldn’t have to wait for a survey invitation or call customer service to make your voice heard. You should be able to signal who you are and what you want at any time and let companies come to you, on your terms.

3. You remove guesswork.
You deserve better than creepy algorithms trying to predict what you want. There’s no need for companies to stalk your Internet browsing history, or purchase third-party consumer data about you behind your back that may or may not be accurate. You can simply tell the world what you want with the click of a button and choose who can hear it. When people are empowered to be heard, better products and service follow.

Want to start owning your voice and your data? Click Subscribe and join our journey. We would love to hear from you!

What you have to say is valuable.

Scott Shelton

understanddemand.com

Let’s face it—if women were truly listened to, they’d have pockets by now. Deep ones. Big enough to hold keys, a phone, and maybe a little magic. The kind that says, “We designed this for you,” not, “We assumed you’d like this.” Do women want pockets in everything? Ask them!

As a man, I can carry a wallet and keys in one front pocket, and a phone and reading glasses in the other. My wife and teenage daughter, on the other hand, get ChapStick-sized pockets, no pockets, or worse—fake ones. I asked my daughter how she felt about it. She sighed and said, “It’s annoying, but you get used to it.”

Too many products are still built for a default user—often not female, not diverse, and not reflective of what people actually want.

And it’s not just pockets. Across every industry, there are missed signals, unasked questions, and unmet needs. We’re exploring the gap between what people want and what companies actually deliver—and what becomes possible when customers are finally heard. This summer, we’re not just talking about it. We’re giving you the tools to speak up, be seen, and shape what comes next.

Subscribe to follow the journey! Share your stories, your pain points, and what you really want in the comments. Because the best marketing starts with listening.

What you have to say is valuable,

Scott Shelton

https://understanddemand.com

Understand Demand

Hi, I’m Scott Shelton, and I’m excited to announce a new company launching this summer: Understand Demand.

Origins

Our mission is to help entrepreneurs and marketers truly understand what people want through self-reported data.

Over the years, I’ve worked in software development, marketing, data & analytics, and health care. I’ve led software teams building CRM and Marketing Operations software for Fortune 500 companies. What I’ve found is that most businesses genuinely care about serving people better. However, the marketing tools that companies use to engage with customers are primarily built for talking, not listening.

To be fair, it is extremely difficult to do listening and empathy at scale.

As a customer, have you ever been frustrated that companies can’t give you the products, services, or features that you really want? We want to empower you to make your voice heard and let companies come to you. And, we believe you should own your own data.

The best marketing starts with listening

Understand Demand is creating a new channel for listening to customers at scale—by making it easy for people to share what they want, and for businesses to respond more personally.

If you’re interested in reinventing marketing, growing your startup business, or empowering customers to own their data, I’d love for you to join us on our journey! Sign up for early updates and insights using the Subscribe button. We plan to launch in summer 2025 and would love to hear your wishes, ideas, and personal stories!

What you have to say is valuable.

Scott Shelton

understanddemand.com