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College Dropout Launches Online Community For Students Worldwide

R S Shankar

Mat Thomas had run short of excuses.

He had three months to complete his courses for a bachelor's degree in journalism and English.

But he was too tired of offering excuses for not attending classes or turning in his assignments late. His career as a concert promoter was looking up and he had several other business ideas buzzing in his head.

"I knew I had to quit my studies," he says, sitting in a Manhattan restaurant, drinking a light coffee and ruminating about the course of events that led him establish a start-up with an intriguing name: WhataboutU?

Founded in New York City in August, WhataboutU seeks to be a global destination and online community builder for university and college bound students between the ages of 15 and 25. Its goal is to become the most comprehensive and utilized reference guide for students worldwide, Thomas says.

"Would I have been able to start WhataboutU? had I continued my studies," he asks. He does not expect an answer from this reporter.

WhataboutU? might not have come about but for the concerts he produced and his interaction with students at other schools, he says.

Thomas quit college about three years ago.

"It was becoming too awkward to remain in a program," he says.

"Suddenly during class, I had to rush out to call Creative Artists and other top talent agencies," he says. "Or they would be calling me."

Thomas, who describes himself as a born businessman whose first sale was a glass of lemonade when he was barely six, started a concert promotion company about five years ago when he was studying at Penn State University.

"Did I ever think it would be a grand success?" he asks.

Called Innovative Ventures (IV Concerts), it produced shows that were staged in over dozen cities in a handful of northeastern states. His friend and classmate Samir Seth (who unlike Mat Thomas completed his studies) is his partner in the new venture too. Seth was also a big part of IV Concerts.

"Our first show drew 6,000 people to a small ski slope near Penn State with a then unheard of band called Rusted Root," Thomas continues.

"Since then I have worked with such artists as Brian Setzer, the Indigo Girls, Talvin Singh, Wynton Marsellis, Pavarotti."

One of his most satisfying experiences came when he worked with Amnesty International to produce a show to aid its human rights efforts.

"I was a small part of the show but my organization did work very hard," he says. "The most gratifying part of associating with Amnesty International is the realization that we all could make a difference."

Son of immigrant physicians, Mat Thomas was born in England, but has lived mostly in America.

"With relatives, friends and acquaintances in over half a dozen countries, I could not be anything but a multicultural person," he continues.

"When you study at a university with diversity all around you, you gravitate towards multiculturalism, too," he says, recalling how he began to connect with the desi scene.

"When I initially started promoting concerts, I just wanted to be a promoter," he says. "But when I saw desi music and fusion music booming around me, and some of my friends were part of the scene, I thought producing concerts is not a bad idea."

"Soon we began to manage the band Bhom Shankar, for example," he says. "And some of the fusion shows we produced drew more than 2,000 multiethnic audiences."

He knew even as the concerts were getting big crowds that he was not going to confine himself to the music world.

"I wanted to get involved with business dealing with students," he says, adding that he knew first hand a lot about student psychology and lifestyles -- and their study habits.

"I had noticed how popular the study guides are and how expensive they are," he continues. "How about putting them on the Web for free, I wondered."

The site could offer more than study guides, of course. Given his passion for music, Thomas thought WhataboutU? should include music, dance and other entertainment information.

"Lifestyle information had to be a part of the site," he says.

"The way we see it the site is positioned to be the one source of online and offline entertainment, e-commerce, academic service and career development for students," he says.

How was the site going to be different from its competitors?

"My partners and I have a very global perspective," he continues, particularly referring to Samir Seth.

"Samir's mother is Hispanic. She migrated from central America," Thomas explains. "He has grown in a bicultural home and recently he married an Indian in New Delhi."

"We were eminently suited to launch a site with a global outlook."

"WhataboutU? had to reach out to global audiences to succeed," he adds. "There are too many sites aimed at the young which are too restricted, and parochial."

When he told his parents about his new plan, they did not know what to think of it, he says with a hearty chuckle.

"When I got into the music business, they were worried," Thomas says. "They had heard or read about sex, drugs and alcohol, and the music world." Now, his parents began to wonder what precisely the new business was.

"They knew about Sabeer Bhatia and his success with Hotmail," he says. "Is WhataboutU? like Hotmail, they ask. They think I would be safe if my new venture would be something like Bhatia's."

Mat Thomas, whose older brother Abraham is a professor and researcher at Harvard University, says his parents have not yet fully reconciled with his quitting his studies. But he hopes his continuing business successes would help them change their minds.

"There are at times I tease my mother, reminding her how her parents thought she should not get into medicine, that it was not a profession meant for women," he says, smiling broadly, his heavy frame heaving.

"I tell her, `You rebelled against your parents. And I have my own way, but like you, I am going to be a success, too.' "

Success is certainly embracing WhataboutU? which is being officially launched next month.

Thomas and Seth, who have raised money for several start-ups, recently co-founded an investment group, Tristate Venture Fund with Phillips Nizer Benjamin Krim & Ballon LLP, a law firm in NYC and eight other board members.

WhataboutU? has been getting about 10,000 hits a month, Thomas says, adding that there has been no advertisement at all.

"But the visitors have seen just a preview," he says. "Soon they will be seeing the full movie."

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