SkoolMentor

SkoolMentor.com is an online platform that connects High school students to college student mentors for personalized college admissions advice at an affordable cost.

SkoolMentor.com is an online platform for High School Students to connect with college students for college admissions advice. The advice is personalized and affordable. All the advising is online over Skype or Google Hangouts so there is no physical travel required. Our college student mentors also serve as role models and an inspiration for High School students to go after their dreams. They say "if you can see it, you can be it". The High school students can see and talk to mentors close in age to them who have accomplished much. This positive interaction makes them more likely to believe that they too can achieve success if they work towards their dreams.

    Our platform can be modified to connect underprivileged women and girls to mentors who perhaps were in a similar situation as them but eventually got out of it and achieved success. Talking to inspiring mentors over Skype or Google hangouts can give a renewed sense of hope and strength to these women.

  If scaled, women and girls across the world who have felt left behind, not included or plain unsuccessful can talk to mentors online and learn how they overcame the challenges in their lives. Once they can see that someone else whom they can see and talk to, was able to turn her life around despite seemingly unsurmountable odds, they will be more inclined try to do the same with their own lives. And when they change their own lives, they can change the way they raise their children - to treat men and women equally, to respect women and girls and work hard towards a better future. They can thus change the society to be one in which is inclusive, in which all citizens enjoy basic rights, freedoms and dignity.

Through a platform like SkoolMentor.com, women and girls can connect and talk to mentors who can give them hope, encouragement and perhaps even specific ideas to turn their lives around. Sometimes all that one needs is a dream and belief in that dream. However circumstances can prevent one from dreaming. By talking to a mentor, women and girls who have stopped dreaming for a better future for themselves and their families, can find the courage and determination to dream again. Their mentors can show them the way to work towards realizing their dreams.

I have talked to a number of successful female entrepreneurs and almost each one mentioned someone who believed in them and encouraged them to go after their dreams. I have also read about many female executives/CEO's whose careers were positively impacted as a result of the mentoring they received from someone at the workplace. Many people work hard and often are able to achieve success on their own. However the ones who can find good mentors are much more likely to become successful and impactful on a bigger scale.

Women and girls from underprivileged communities find the inspiration and guidance to turn their lives around and work towards a better future for themselves and their families. The guidance can be on how to learn a new skill for a job, how best to raise their children and anything else.

The solution/service will be deployed to them by simply providing them access to the internet through any device that supports browsing/Skype/Google Hangout.

Track the sign ups - How many mentors and mentees sign up

Track the mentoring session count every month - How many active mentoring sessions in each month

Gather feedback by messaging the mentors and mentees through the platform - What do the mentors and mentees say about the value of the mentoring sessions?

Our solution is an online platform that connects people who need guidance with mentors who can give that personalized advice based on their own experience.  All the actual meetings happen over Skype or other virtual meeting platforms. Our platform helps the mentees find and connect with the mentors based on their individual specific needs, handles messaging between mentors and mentees, provides recommendations for mentors and mentees and also handles payments. No other platform is so simple and yet so rich , human centered and global in scope.

Our mentors are real people who have achieved success through their hard work and perseverance (and a little bit of luck!). Our mentees are real people who need guidance to move forward with their dreams. Our platform can connect the mentees who need guidance to mentors who can provide the personalized guidance based on their own experience. 

 With the right guidance, mentees can move forward confidently in the direction of their dreams knowing they have the support of the mentor every step of the way.

Our platform is all about humans helping humans. The technology just helps us connect them.

The solution is web based. So all that is needed is a device with internet access and a browser. Our pricing model can be adjusted to match the affordability/needs in the target market.

We are self funded for now. 

We plan to grow organically for sometime and then will raise funds from angels and VCs. 

We have partnered with the Bay Area Tutoring Association (BATA). BATA has been selected for the Best Non Profit of the year award for 2017  in the Silicon Valley Bay Area. They offer tutoring in various academic subjects. We complete their offering by providing college admissions advice to High School students. BATA , as a leading non profit has access to various grants that can be offered to High school students so they can leverage SkoolMentor.com for free while we get paid.

We have also been selected by the accelerator program at Keiretsu Forum. As part this they help us with marketing and strategy. They also connect us to potential angel investors.

1. Lack of brand awareness of SkoolMentor.com

2. Inability to get good mentors

3. Mentees not committing to help themselves through the mentoring .

4. Parents unable to see the value of SkoolMentor.com 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YX0a_EpmV6c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nerj470H6p8&feature=youtu.be

https://www.skoolmentor.com/node/3269

Through SkoolMentor.com our goal is to help High School Students across the world to be confident about College admissions. Through our modified platform , we can similarly inspire women and girls to go after their dreams by connecting with and talking to their mentors on a regular basis. The direct, human to human interaction that our platform provides, will really help uplift the lives of many underprivileged women and girls. Solve can help us scale our offering.

Currently we have partnered with a local tutoring organization called the "Bay Area Tutoring Association" (BATA)

Also we have been accepted into the Keiretsu Forum Accelerator program through which they help us with marketing and strategy.

Other online education startups such as instaedu.com, admitsee.com.