Featured Start-Up: theCampusCenter.com
Apr 14th, 2009 by admin
Most people are unaware that when one of the most successful Web sites on the planet first launched it specifically targeted the college market. I’m talking about Facebook - that grandiose social networking site that makes daily headlines and even has your grandmother talking. Started on the grounds of Harvard, Facebook now claims more than 200 million active users from all over the world. It’s one of those rare, great success stories - a recognizable company that built a name for itself starting with the college crowd. Our featured start-up hopes to do the same. Here’s more from Patrick Aievoli, founder of theCampusCenter.com:
Please tell us about your start-up theCampusCenter.com. What makes it unique? And how does it fit into the marketplace?
PA: theCampusCenter.com is a safe academic alternative to other social networking sites that are prevalent today. It includes an open source research center, Web applications, a learning module system and it is major-centric. In other words students can form study groups with other students in their same major from around the world. They can share information and links with each other while still being watched over by their university.
The difference is that the schools can administrate the site themselves, and therefore keep a close eye on what is going on via the social network. And it is given to them for free.
Today almost all educational institutions are struggling to make ends meet. The only way to correct this today is to look towards alternative revenue streams. Tuition has topped out, endowments have suffered from Wall Street and fundraising is almost impossible. Educational institutions have got to look at who is generating revenue and try to figure out how to re-invent themselves, as revenue generators not cost centers. Every dime has to be accounted for today.
What theCampusCenter.com does is very simple, it uses a social network structure to monetize usage and share that revenue with educational institutions in the form of grants, scholarships or technology donations.
A school today will spend a ton of money on their website and not look for ROI. We give them the website for free and share the revenue with them. House Representative Jimmy A. Eldridge of Tennessee recently passed a bill in his district to allow ads on and inside school buses in order to generate revenue for the school districts instead of just raising taxes. This is the same model that we have. We provide eight revenue streams for each school to capture lost revenue and turn their websites into generators. If you look at President Papadakis of Drexel he figured that out 15 years ago. And under his tutelage Drexel has tripled its endowment. We provide a similar solution at no cost and give back at a sliding scale of revenue generation for each university.
How do you promote a business such as this? What markets are you targeting?
PA: You promote this kind of a business by using the environment where these students are the most likely to be – the Web. You Twitter, you email and you blog. We also will be setting up ambassadors at colleges to introduce the product to the campus.
We are targeting the second tier colleges across the country. The first tier colleges have huge endowments and can weather this storm. But the second, third and fourth tier schools are finding it tough. And it is going to take a long time to get back that endowment money that was lost in this “Great Recession”.
What’s the business model behind theCampusCenter.com–is this something that is advertising driven or is this a subscription service?
PA: The business model is multi-tiered and transparent. We have eight streams of revenue generation structured to monetize the social networking feature of the site. Remember every school can have its own version customized for their needs. We built it that way with a customer management system that is flexible and basically vanilla.
Did you write a business plan? How did you fund the launch of your business? Are you currently seeking investment?
PA: I wrote numerous business plans, and met with numerous educational and business executives to see what the true needs of academia were and where they needed to go. I have personally funded this entire endeavor and have no debt whatsoever. We are a 100% debt free and solvent. We are currently seeking investment seed funding and are on the table at a couple of VC firms across the Northeast.
What advice can you give others looking to start their own businesses?
PA: My first advice is very simple save and plan. It takes a lot of sacrifice and passion to create a dream into reality. Surround yourself with bright people. Our CTO is the smartest person I have ever met. Way smarter than I am and his attitude is extremely positive. He never says we can’t do something. His answer is always “it’s a computer it does what you want it to do”. Very rare from a programmer.
If you had to start all over again, what are some things you would do differently?
PA: I would believe in myself more for starters. On our team we have a gentleman who has been in the educational technology business for 40 years. We hit it off in the first five minutes and he has been with me through thick and thin for 3 years, as has my Chief Creative Officer for 9 years. He is probably the best designer on the planet! We don’t always agree but at the end of the day we work it out.
What are the long-term plans for theCampusCenter.com? For you personally? Will you start other businesses?
PA: We will not stop until theCampusCenter.com has immersed itself into the educational landscape. I am passionate about education for all. Every child in this country and the world should have access to the best information available and it should be for free. There are ways of doing it you just have to see through the forest and accept that the landscape has changed. Years ago you couldn’t address a professor by his first name. You stood when you spoke in class. Today it is much more relaxed and I think more Socratic. I’ve always believed that the teacher shouldn’t be the person with the desk it should be the brightest person in the room. If that happens to be a student then so be it. We need to listen and converse with each other not pontificate. Open discussion is what is needed and the Web makes that possible. Who knows where the next Einstein will come from? The Web makes that all possible.
My father made sure I didn’t work with my back that I worked with my brain. I hope I have made him and my mother proud.
theCampusCenter.com is just one of seven businesses that I have in the works. They are all Web based and we will roll them out one by one over the next five to seven years. I’m too young to stop now.
For more information or to discuss theCampusCenter.com in greater detail, feel free to email Patrick Aievoli at patrick@theCampusCenter.com.
