CIRCLE OF SUPPORT Jon Shestack—Founder Brian Dolan—Technical Co-Founder jshestack@gmail.com 323.854.2996
We help a family support the college student in their lives. —Not disrupting, Enabling—
When you’re broke, you break—Dr. Dre College is too expensive, but at least for the near term, people are going to keep going. 75% of families pay for college with financial aid, private and public loans and student employment. They could use a little help. And remember, there is more to college expenses than tuition. It costs money to buy books, food, coffee, pizza, a bus pass, or a even a movie once in a while. When students work at minimum wage campus jobs for more than 15 hours a week, their grades suffer. They take fewer units. Some graduate in five years not four. Some drop out. We think college should be an adventure not an endurance test.
Circle of Support • Jonothan Shestack 2013
What is Circle of Support? A Circle of Support is a group of family and friends who would like to help the college student in their lives with some money for books and living expenses while in school. We help you invite people to your circle and ask them to pledge a monthly amount. We automatically collect the gifts each month and transfer them to your student’s bank account. Your student can worry less and spend more time on their studies. Circle of Support lets people help out at a level that is sustainable for them. Circle of Support uses the natural power of a family to empower that family. People who don’t have kids in college can help those who do. Later, they will return the favor. A little bit of extra cash can mean a lot. It means more time being a student and less time at a minimum wage job. It can mean better grades, more units, graduating in four years not five.
Circle of Support • Jonothan Shestack 2013
What is Circle of Support? Then we prompt the students to write thank yous and short updates on what they are studying and send it to their supporters once in a while—because the people who love you really want to know what you’re up to. We also create a student page(sort of like a Facebook page but totally suitable for Grandma) where they can post updates, thank yous, homework advice to the little brother still in tenth grade. It’s also the place where your family can send gifts of cash and other tokens of encouragement or acknowledgement for a job well-done such as a Starbucks, Old Navy, Barnes & Noble or Dominos credit. And finally—because people have have been so kind to them, we think the students should give something back, so we will connect them with non-profits and volunteer opportunities in their area.
When a student goes to college and graduates, we think it’s a success for the entire family.
Circle of Support • Jonothan Shestack 2013
0 $2
$20
$200
thank you!
$20
$20
$20
$2 0
$20
$2 0 0 $2
metro pass
po
etr
ar
y
01
t1
museum of art
history
Circle of Support • Jonothan Shestack 2013
$20
• Traditional or non-traditional, we know the family unit is still the strongest network we have. • We know what 45 year dads with kids in college are really worried about. (Hint: It’s not their lawn or belly fat.) • We know enough to make our site bilingual from day one. • We know how to make signing up understandable and how to make people feel proud, not embarrassed, about asking their family to join them in an important project. • We know that next to being born rich, the best thing is coming from a supportive family. We are identifying and strengthening a group of people who are motivated to go to college and who all have supportive families encouraging them. That is a powerful, motivated, value- driven group of young adults and they will accomplish great things.
Circle of Support • Jonothan Shestack 2013
Revenue Model There are 18 million people in college in America at any time. Seventy five percent find it a financial challenge. Commission + + Commission at 3%- Average circle includes five people plus the student and donates $1,200 a year. TOTAL STUDENTS ENROLLED Y1 3000 Y2 10,000 Y3 100,000 Y4 300,000
EST. REVENUE FROM COMMISSION $108,000.00 $360,000.00 $3,600,00.00 $10,800,00
ACTIVATED PEOPLE 6,000 60,000 700,000 1.6 Million
+ Branded debit card. + White label business for financial institutions, fraternal organizations, church and temple scholarship efforts. + Branded content on student life , careers and stretching a dollar.
Circle of Support • Jonothan Shestack 2013
Marketing and Sales Year one- 3000 families Year two- 10,000 families Year three- 100,000-200,000 families Year one roll out: Natural sales season is the two months before each semester, July/August and November/December. Dedicated team of 50 student bloggers do outreach to over 200 specialized bloggers in Education, Parenting, Consumer Financial Advice, and faith-based community. Press relations at Boing Boing, Huffington Post, Wall Street Journal and Univision. High value video marketing materials in English and Spanish for parents and college students, Participation from cast of Parks & Rec, The New Girl, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Circle of Support • Jonothan Shestack 2013
Competition There are over 300 crowdfunding sites: CROWDFUNDING SITE Rally Razoo Crowd Tilt Go Fund Me
LIMITATIONS General Purpose General Purpose General Purpose General Purpose
Upstart Grad Save
Limited to Accredited Investors No Urgency, Funds Through 529s
Nest Egg
No Urgency, Establishes Trust Funds
No one focuses on this exact piece of the pie, with this level of urgency, friendliness and emphasis on the dedicated family-based network. In terms of the trends, we are right on time with private networks, the importance of college, the expensiveness of college, and the social acceptance of recurring payments. But the truth is there is no reason someone else couldn’t build this mousetrap. They just won’t build it better.
Circle of Support • Jonothan Shestack 2013
Team Our team members have produced movies that have grossed half a billion dollars. We have created the biggest autism research foundation in the world, recruited hundreds of new scientists, and created a walk program that includes 80 national walks and half a million walkers. Some of us do analytics for the CIA. Some of us were critical in selling a 3 billion dollar bond issue on stem cells to the voters of California. Jon Shestack Movie Producer, Founder, Cure Autism Now, Wesleyan Brian Dolan Mathematician, MySpace, Discovix-UCLA, David Geffen School of Medicine Melissa King CA Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Stanford Graduate Business School
Circle of Support • Jonothan Shestack 2013
CIRCLE OF SUPPORT Jon Shestack—Founder Brian Dolan—Technical Co-Founder jshestack@gmail.com 323.854.2996
We help a family support the college student in their lives. —Not disrupting, Enabling—