We had the opportunity to interview Su Sanni, the founder and CEO of WeDidIt. He launched WeDidIt in 2012 with Ben Lamson and Bryan Liff with a mission: "to help nonprofits scale their impact by giving them powerful tools for raising money in today’s digital world." WeDidIt’s donor research platform helps major gift officers identify hidden donors and social influencers for highly targeted fundraising campaigns.

Q. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and WeDidIt? (Please include when your company first launched)
A. Sure, I was raised in Brooklyn, New York and was a former student athlete from Boston College. WeDidIt was launched in the summer of 2012. We are a fundraising platform for nonprofit organizations. We help nonprofits raise money online and automatically research their donors.

Q. How did the concept of the company begin?
A. The concept came up when Ben and I wanted to help non-profits fundraise. Ben and I are marketing and sales guys and we wanted to develop an online product to help non-profits raise money better. In order to do so, we took on Bryan who had the skill set to carry out this vision. Our intention in creating WeDidIt is to work with non-profit organizations with a mission to affect communities positively. By building a product that helps non-profits become more successful in their respective charitable efforts, we would be helping others.

Q. Where do you see the company in 5 years and how do you plan to get there?
A. I see the company being much larger than it is today in terms of company size, revenue, and amount of raised by non-profits. There is a big trend in non-profits raising money online and in general more people are using the internet to send money to non-profits. Therefore, there is a huge market for WeDidIt technology to help and continually get involved in.

Q. What inspires you?
A. What inspires me is helping people. For the last 7-8 years, all of the different ventures and companies that I have been a part of that I had a hand in creating were focused on helping people. I get inspired by knowing that I can create something or do something that can change someone’s life in a positive way. Part of the motivation behind WeDidIt was to wake up every day doing something knowing it would be creating a big impact in someone’s life.

Q. Do you have any advice to get a good mentor and maintain that relationship?
A. From the mentees' perspective, you first want to identify the people or type of people that can help. What you really want is someone who is just a couple of years ahead of where you are so that they can see the challenges you are going through. Also, their experiences will still be fresh and relevant to where you are going to be in the coming years. In order to maintain a relationship with a mentor, you must realize the mentor-mentee relationship is a long-term relationship. You may be very transactional that only reflects what you want, but at the end of the day, the mentor wants to feel like they are having an impact on your life and see you grow. This is obviously going to take more time than what can happen in a day or a month, so by being patient and letting the relationship evolve will allow the relationship to be more significant in your life.

Q. How is WeDidIt shaking up the fundraising/donor research industry?
A. We've combined donor research with online fundraising to make it highly targeted and more effective. Moreover, we've been able to provide these fundraising technologies and methodologies to any nonprofit, regardless of their size and budget. So for the first time, even small organization with only 1 staff member, can benefit from the same tools that the largest universities use to raise millions of dollars

Q. As of 2016, you had raised money from 500 startups and Comcast Ventures, with all of the money coming from angel investors and accelerators. Now that it is 2017, has WeDidIt become profitable?
A. Profitability is within our line of sight, so it would be no surprise to our team that we become profitable before the end of 2017

Q. You have experienced a ton of success since launching WeDidIt such as the 3 year Petlanthropy agreement ($2.4 million) and the Nifty Gala (raised over $50,000 in an hour using WeDidIt technology). Have you had any big success stories or achievements that have happened this past year?
A. Yes, we've been mentioned in local press, Buffalo Business First and had a series of local workshops, where the venue was packed with 50+ local NPOs in Buffalo. More major news will be announced later this year.