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A Yale Student Raised $3.1M in 2 Weeks for an AI Social App | Series, Nathaneo Johnson

EO10:06Added Aug 31, 2026

Nathaneo Johnson, Co-founder and CEO of Series, believes social networks need a radical reset. As a Yale student, he and his team raised $3.1M in just 14 day...

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Contributed by 刘嘉琪

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  1. Intro

  2. 00:00Hey, I'm Nathaniel Johnson. I'm the
  3. 00:02co-founder and CEO here at Series. I'm
  4. 00:0421 years old. I'm currently a junior at
  5. 00:06Yale University, studying computer
  6. 00:08science and economics. I love playing
  7. 00:09basketball on the side. Of course, I'm
  8. 00:11also powerlifting, but most importantly
  9. 00:13startups, which is why I'm here. Series
  10. 00:15is the first AI social network. We are
  11. 00:18essentially using AI friends to make
  12. 00:19warm introductions via iMessage to help
  13. 00:22you meet new people based on a want or
  14. 00:24need you have. For message count, I
  15. 00:26think we're at around like a quarter of
  16. 00:27a million, which is really exciting to
  17. 00:28see. We raised $3.1 million in 14 days,
  18. 00:31which is now the largest round of any
  19. 00:34startup that is currently in the Ivy
  20. 00:35League
  21. 00:37[Music]

  22. Why We Build Social Media

  23. 00:46series was honestly a really I think
  24. 00:48interesting story. It actually started
  25. 00:50when Sean, my co-founder, and I started
  26. 00:52a podcast our freshman year at Yale.
  27. 00:54This is interviewing founders and CEOs
  28. 00:56from 23 and me to genius lyrics to
  29. 00:58Runway. We're very actually curious on
  30. 01:01how exactly they used their own warm
  31. 01:03network to build successful businesses.
  32. 01:06We know how hard it is to get access to
  33. 01:07the right people, especially for
  34. 01:09professional reasons, whether that is
  35. 01:11raising capital or that's getting a new
  36. 01:13job. I'd imagine that anyone who goes to
  37. 01:16a swear IB internship, there's
  38. 01:18definitely five people that were
  39. 01:20probably just equal, if not better, of a
  40. 01:22candidate that didn't make it. college
  41. 01:23internship that aren't able to have say
  42. 01:26like dad's golf buddy to get them into
  43. 01:28the IB internship. I'd say connections
  44. 01:30but more importantly I guess perceived
  45. 01:32value is something that usually requires
  46. 01:34a warm network to be able to get into.
  47. 01:36This is a problem that we need to be
  48. 01:37able to help solve and that can be
  49. 01:39solved through essentially using agentic
  50. 01:42matchmaking to make those connections
  51. 01:44more accessible. So what happened is we
  52. 01:46ended up experimenting with AI, right? I
  53. 01:48come from a CS background and was able
  54. 01:50to initially construct this like early
  55. 01:52version chatbot that used emails to make
  56. 01:55warm intros. We blasted that to Yale's
  57. 01:57email list to Princeton I think a day
  58. 01:59later and it kind of had some sort of
  59. 02:00variety kind of blew up within that
  60. 02:02student community. People were using
  61. 02:03this for like startup ideas, art gallery
  62. 02:06ideas, kind of a specific range like
  63. 02:08mainly professional reasons to realize
  64. 02:10that this should be the future how we
  65. 02:12network. I don't think we're competing
  66. 02:13against anyone and the most common
  67. 02:14reason why is all of them have in common
  68. 02:16a number a number of your immediate
  69. 02:18follower connection like account we have
  70. 02:20no numbers on this platform because it's
  71. 02:22purely agent to agent that's something
  72. 02:24that I think series will actually solve
  73. 02:26and then hopefully myself can solve as
  74. 02:29well

  75. Do the Unconventional

  76. 02:32cool thing about what we're doing with
  77. 02:33this series race which obviously a lot
  78. 02:35of people are talking about is we're
  79. 02:36doing something a bit unconventional
  80. 02:38right by creating this house what we did
  81. 02:39is we figured out a way to incentivize
  82. 02:41people to one of course grow our product
  83. 02:43and use that but two tie to something
  84. 02:45that I think is a bit social instead of
  85. 02:48us trying to focus on organic way of
  86. 02:50having interns be paid remotely an
  87. 02:52organic way of being able to market your
  88. 02:54product with UGC content which everyone
  89. 02:56does why not have our interns come into
  90. 02:59a house right instead of them just being
  91. 03:00online to do the same work they're going
  92. 03:03to do previously that's kind of how the
  93. 03:04idea occurred and I think what makes
  94. 03:06company go viral is do something a bit
  95. 03:08controversial but having the right facts
  96. 03:11behind and what they're doing. If you do
  97. 03:13something controversial that was stupid,
  98. 03:15right, it's not going to go viral for
  99. 03:16the right reason, nor is it's going to
  100. 03:17make you call a viral company. You're
  101. 03:18going to just look stupid in public. I
  102. 03:20think if you build something product or
  103. 03:23system and you have some sort of like
  104. 03:24underlying reason that people can pick
  105. 03:26up on, even if it's like 5% 10%, that's
  106. 03:29what creates the virality because it's
  107. 03:30like, okay, why do they actually do
  108. 03:32this? Was this for a reason? And like it
  109. 03:34creates this like cool spiral of thought
  110. 03:35and that's what leads people to share
  111. 03:37that because there's sort of uncertainty
  112. 03:39people like to see like that's what gets
  113. 03:40them excited even if it is controversial
  114. 03:42or crazy I don't think it matters take
  115. 03:44what they have amplify the depth of what
  116. 03:46they're doing and how it's unique and
  117. 03:48then use that as a base on the
  118. 03:50controversial then you get eyes on you
  119. 03:51and like it all supports back a reason
  120. 03:54that you intentionally have

  121. When Everyone Doubts I Break the Norm

  122. 04:01grew up as a single mom in Irvine,
  123. 04:03California. I would say very much grew
  124. 04:06up with like a inclination towards
  125. 04:08obviously like doing things on the
  126. 04:09technological side. So like this was
  127. 04:11building like a walking stick called
  128. 04:13smart step. I called it in eighth grade.
  129. 04:15They use ultrasonic sensors and our dun
  130. 04:17microprocessors in order to essentially
  131. 04:19scan objects in front of it. But of
  132. 04:21course, you know, I was playing varsity
  133. 04:23basketball, right? So like I love the
  134. 04:24kind of duality. I think that was my
  135. 04:26biggest thing around growing up is like
  136. 04:27can I really do things that maybe are
  137. 04:30expected of me around like you know
  138. 04:32being able to hoop being able to dunk
  139. 04:33all those fun things but like also at
  140. 04:34the same time balancing that with the
  141. 04:35duality of like being the most crack in
  142. 04:37the room. I think after especially
  143. 04:38becoming a valtor in my high school like
  144. 04:40that was where I realized that yeah I
  145. 04:42think I can change the norm. I think
  146. 04:44that although Yale University does have
  147. 04:46a few famous entrepreneurs, there wasn't
  148. 04:48much. That was like one of the bigger
  149. 04:50problems. And I think that's because
  150. 04:52there's a big encouragement to rather
  151. 04:54wait until you finish school to start
  152. 04:56building a company or there is this
  153. 04:58notion that you immediately have to drop
  154. 04:59out to do so. It's very rare to be able
  155. 05:02to kind of pair both together. Now that
  156. 05:04series has been able to raise the
  157. 05:05largest round in the current IV League
  158. 05:07of students, we're trying to stand for
  159. 05:09the point that you can build a
  160. 05:11successful venture, right? or maybe
  161. 05:12while staying in class or at least while
  162. 05:14keeping things that are closer to you
  163. 05:16and that's because you can use them as
  164. 05:17an advantage instead of a disadvantage.
  165. 05:19A lot of people see school as something
  166. 05:22that takes time away, which maybe it
  167. 05:24does for late homework assignments or
  168. 05:25tests, but the benefit is you're able to
  169. 05:27connect with your community, especially
  170. 05:29if that's your marketing, too. And we
  171. 05:31recently did a marketing initiative that
  172. 05:32I think being a student has a tremendous
  173. 05:35impact on in a positive direction
  174. 05:36because we know the value of staying in
  175. 05:38school and being able to communicate
  176. 05:40with these people while being in class
  177. 05:41with them.
  178. 05:44As a founder, you already know ideas are
  179. 05:47the easy part. It's the execution,
  180. 05:50actually building the product that slows
  181. 05:52everything down. That's where Lovable
  182. 05:54comes in. It's not just an AI tool. It's
  183. 05:57your ondemand engineering team. Simply
  184. 05:59describe your idea. Lovable then builds
  185. 06:02a full front-end, backend, and database.
  186. 06:04So, you can launch real productionready
  187. 06:06software without writing code. It's
  188. 06:08already powering over a 100,000 new
  189. 06:10products a day, helping 2.5 million
  190. 06:13builders turn ideas into software just
  191. 06:15by describing what they want. No devs,
  192. 06:18no delays, no excuses.
  193. 06:20They're launching in weeks, not months.
  194. 06:22And guess what? These teams are still
  195. 06:24tiny. In fact, team EO is also using
  196. 06:27Lovable to build their upcoming EOS
  197. 06:29school platform, and we're loving it. If
  198. 06:31you're a non-technical founder or just
  199. 06:33want to build without bottlenecks, try
  200. 06:35Lovable today for free. Use the promo
  201. 06:38code EO2YT to get 20% off your first
  202. 06:41purchase of the Lovable Pro plan.

  203. How We Raised $3.1M in 14 Days

  204. 06:49We've had talks with VCs of course
  205. 06:51before the raise of like what do you
  206. 06:53think about this idea? What do you think
  207. 06:54about this MVP we made? But often times
  208. 06:56people were very skeptical actually
  209. 06:57pointing out to say like this wouldn't
  210. 06:58work. This is an industry that will be
  211. 06:59able to proliferate long term because we
  212. 07:01weren't building something that people
  213. 07:02have seen before. This wasn't like uh
  214. 07:04anything on the B2B side which was like
  215. 07:06very hot I think around like January
  216. 07:08which is when like we were thinking
  217. 07:09about actually seriously pitching. We
  218. 07:11actually had, I think, a meeting with a
  219. 07:13former Andrew Horward's partner, decided
  220. 07:15to take the trip to SF just to pitch it
  221. 07:17for the second time, which ended up into
  222. 07:19a million-dollar dinner. One of the
  223. 07:21biggest, most important things is really
  224. 07:22just like focusing on how you tell the
  225. 07:25story. Here's what's happened in the
  226. 07:26market. Here's why it's changing. Here's
  227. 07:27what I'm going to be on top of that
  228. 07:28change. Or even better, here's how I'm
  229. 07:30creating a new market on top of that.
  230. 07:32That was a story that we pitched that we
  231. 07:33are creating a new market. We'll be the
  232. 07:35first industry standard of that market.
  233. 07:37We knew there was a shift in consumer
  234. 07:38AI. there was a shift in like this
  235. 07:40called a technology window that people
  236. 07:42are more enticed to invest or more
  237. 07:45important than that I guess give AI a
  238. 07:47chance in the social space. This has not
  239. 07:49been done before to black guys who go to
  240. 07:51an Ivy League to raise this amount of
  241. 07:53capital. After that we've seen so many
  242. 07:55other companies raise money very fast
  243. 07:56because okay if those guys can do it I
  244. 07:58definitely can do it which is another
  245. 08:00norm to break. So it's like whenever you
  246. 08:01do something first, it's like equally
  247. 08:03fun and exciting as fearful because you
  248. 08:05don't know how the world's going to take
  249. 08:07it, but shouldn't stop you from doing
  250. 08:08it.
  251. 08:11Speed has been our biggest asset. A lot
  252. 08:13of people are scared to move at fast
  253. 08:15speeds because things break. We're not
  254. 08:16scared of that. It's not about a certain
  255. 08:18battle, right? It's about like, you
  256. 08:19know, the war, right? It's about you
  257. 08:21being able to like all time have sort of
  258. 08:24a capture or share around your own
  259. 08:26industry and your own niche. The faster
  260. 08:28you do that, you got to do that at all
  261. 08:29cost. But building something that has
  262. 08:32like depth, right? And that can be depth
  263. 08:34through how you have innovative some
  264. 08:37sort of like unique technology that can
  265. 08:38be depth of how you're approaching like
  266. 08:40your consumerism. Once you can like
  267. 08:42amplify that depth and showcase that to
  268. 08:44the world through your marketing, that's
  269. 08:46what makes something stick because
  270. 08:47that's something that people remember as
  271. 08:49a new iteration of whatever industry
  272. 08:51they're in. The perfect example is of
  273. 08:52course I love the knowledge of like the
  274. 08:54horses to cars. People always say they
  275. 08:56want a faster horse. Maybe some people
  276. 08:57heard that quote before. It's because
  277. 08:59like they're very used to like a 10x of
  278. 09:01what they have instead of going in the
  279. 09:03next iteration of what's actually
  280. 09:04needed. I think that's like something
  281. 09:05that at least we pride ourselves in is
  282. 09:07like we're not thinking of like a better
  283. 09:08LinkedIn or a better social platform.
  284. 09:10We're thinking of what's the next
  285. 09:12iteration of what can actually be a
  286. 09:14useful product for people to utilize to
  287. 09:16build better relationships and
  288. 09:17connections. Putting yourself in a
  289. 09:19position where you look up to say I want
  290. 09:20to be like that one day. It's not a bad
  291. 09:22thing to do. that's like having some
  292. 09:23sort of like idol or roadblock. But I
  293. 09:25like to have a variety of like saying
  294. 09:27I've seen these different trends from
  295. 09:29companies that doing like SpaceX to
  296. 09:31Facebook to like all these different
  297. 09:32social platforms. How can I take all
  298. 09:34that knowledge and go in a new
  299. 09:35direction? Because that's how you really
  300. 09:37build innovation. I think all the
  301. 09:39stories of all the social platforms
  302. 09:40inspire me in some way. But to take all
  303. 09:42that together leads me to say I want the
  304. 09:45story to inspire myself in the next 10
  305. 09:47years versus saying I see one company
  306. 09:49that I want to straight shoot for and
  307. 09:51become that in the next 10 years.
  308. 09:55[Music]
A Yale Student Raised $3.1M in 2 Weeks for an AI Social App | Series, Nathaneo Johnson — Transcriptly