Why are you choosing to crowdfund on iFundWomen?
We are excited to use iFundWomen as our platform to raise early funding. We have launched several pilot programs with schools, but are ready to move our product to the next level and will prioritize any raised funds towards product development. In order to better support schools, we need to make updates and improvements to our platform and will dedicate this money to working directly with schools to make these changes.
Why are you raising $25,000?
Building an education technology product is expensive. It is our top priority that parents, teachers, and schools are included in the process of our product build. The following is a breakdown of how we plan to use the money we raise on iFundWomen.
- Parent App Design ($5,000)
- Parent App Development ($10,000)
- Teacher App Design ($5,000)
- Teacher App Development with Gradebook Sync ($5,000)
How does Brydge4Schools make money?
Our product is accessible for parents and teachers. Schools pay $10 per student per year for access to parent engagement data and gradebook sync capability. We offer a sliding scale for districts based on number of students. We are also partnering with foundations and parent organizations to offset the cost for certain schools.
Why the $10.00 price-point?
Schools would need to increase per-pupil spending by almost $1,000 to achieve the same results as strong parental involvement at home (Conway, 08). By using Brydge4Schools, schools are making a small upfront investment that prevents wasteful spending on tools and engagement programs that attempt to replicate parent engagement but fall short.
Why do you think your product is game-changing for families?
Our team is excited about the impact that Brydge4Schools can have in classrooms around the country. Through our teaching experiences, we are especially excited about our product's ability to make academic gains in low-income communities. Brydge4Schools is unique in its concept because its power transcends cell phone numbers and technological inequalities. We know that mobile inequity exists in low-income communities - that phone numbers and addresses can often be fluid. But our product's design allows a user profile to stay with a parent across any platform in which they access our product.
What evidence of success have you already experienced with your team/product?
We are an early-stage startup but have gained a lot of traction in our first year. We participated in the 2016 Lean Lab Fellowship and are currently in the Tiny Fellowship with 4.0 Schools. Mehreen is also the current female founder scholar through the Nashville Entrepreneur Center. Our team is a finalist for the Booth-Yale Education Business Plan Competition and will compete in mid-April for additional funding.
