Swellr featured in Bostinnovation
Article written by Cece Santos from Bostoninnovation. Thank you everyone for coming out!
When I first arrived at the Venture Café last night for the inaugural Ed Tech meetup (organized by BostInnovator Marissa Lowman), I thought I had come to a networking party. Everybody – beer, wine or soda in hand – was either having a conversation or starting one, this time related to the intersection of education, technology and entrepreneurship.
Every Thursday the Venture Café team hosts different gathering events bringing together a diverse community: entrepreneurs, small business owners, venture capitalists, etc. to meet one another. “We encourage people to come over and start building community,” CarrieStalder, organizer of the Venture Café shared.
I had the opportunity to find out about two startups targeting the education industry: Swellr andBUILD.
Swellr is creating a fantastic win-win platform for small businesses and educators by combining local e-commerce with micro-fundraising.
“It gives the chance for educators to raise money for their classroom and projects needs, by getting people in their network to shop at local businesses that run promotions on the Swellr website,” co-founder Nathan Rothstein explained.
So how will this soon-to-launch product actually work? First, a teacher writes a short description of the classroom need – e.g. craft materials – and posts a picture of the class. Then, to get the project funded, the teacher notifies their network via email asking them to shop on Swellr. Once the project goal is met, Swellr will ship the craft materials to the teacher’s school.
With increasing numbers in high school drop-outs, BUILD brings hope for students in need of an extra motivational push by embracing entrepreneurship.
The program engages low-income students through high school and into college success. By using entrepreneurship and providing kids with the tools to develop their own startup ideas, write business plans and pitch to VCs and Angel investors, BUILD helps turn ideas into reality.
With the first program being a success in East Palo Alto and Oakland, California, BUILD’s Boston program will launch in September with four Boston high schools and 100 students. “We are looking for mentors interested in getting involved – people who care about urban education. It’s all about helping each other,” Regional Executive Director Ayele Shakur shared.
I greatly admire and try to learn from initiatives that create win-win scenarios; to me that’s the perfect example on building community together, and perhaps this is how business relations are going to be developed in the near future. What do you think? Let us know in the comments!