2019-2020
Textbook Exchange Network
Student-run textbook marketplace. Built data analytics infrastructure processing 6,000+ transactions worth $500K+ in savings.
Overview
The Textbook Exchange Network (TEN) is a student-run marketplace that helps college students buy and sell textbooks peer-to-peer, cutting out the campus bookstore markup. Founded at Tufts in 2016, it expanded to multiple campuses. I joined as Director of Data Analytics, managing a team of 4 CS students and owning the organization's entire data function, from infrastructure to insight delivery.
Challenge
TEN had 6,000+ transactions flowing through its API but no systematic way to learn from them. The board made expansion and feature decisions based on anecdotes. Sellers had no guidance on pricing. The data team I inherited was doing ad-hoc analysis in notebooks with no shared infrastructure or repeatable reporting.
Approach
Built a Python + PostgreSQL analytics pipeline to calculate KPIs (transaction volume, savings per campus, seller success rates, user retention) and serve them in quarterly board reports. Implemented a price recommendation algorithm trained on historical transaction data so sellers could price competitively. Managed the team through cycles of exploratory analysis, feature integration, and presentation at monthly showcases, building a culture of data-informed decision making within a student org.
Impact
The analytics infrastructure gave the board concrete metrics for campus expansion decisions and feature prioritization. Price recommendations improved seller success rates. Across all campuses, the platform saved students over $500,000 compared to bookstore prices.
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