The Catalyst

I grew up near Chicago, where the high school dropout rate was 50%. I hypothesized that one of the many missing variables in students’ path to success was exposure to career options. In 2008 I attempted to answer that question. Equipped with modest savings, a prototype, and the momentum of having placed second in the Chicago Small Business Plan Competition, I launched a social entrepreneurship focused on creating an innovative career education tool.

“When I first saw CareerNoodle, I immediately wanted it for our students. CareerNoodle does an amazing job of engaging students in career exploration.”
—MaryBeth SiKora-Shelby, M.A., L.P.C.,
Career Coordinator, Farmington, MI Public Schools

Strategy

While there were already online career education tools, we sought to create a product that was more engaging, informative and aligned with the constructivist learning model.

Engaging: We aimed to bring careers to life by introducing compelling media, interactive features, infographics, and video profiles of professionals.

Informative: We leveraged several career and college datasets from the Department of Labor and used relational databases to make connections to facilitate exploratory browsing.

Constructivist: Our design approach focused on the belief that learning occurs best when students are actively involved in a process of constructing knowledge as opposed to passively receiving it.

Discovery

I initially hired two full-time employees (we later supplemented the workforce with over 20 graduate students). We immersed ourselves in the space. We surveyed, conducted interviews and held focus groups with hundreds of school counselors and students. We met with leading professors in the field and studied their research. We analyzed the competition, toured schools and counseling centers, and quickly became experts in online career education.

“CareerNoodle speaks to students. It is both interactive and engaging and students are therefore more inclined to log on and participate in their career exploration journey. “

Dr. Joy Davis, Counselor
Miami-Dade County Public Schools

Creating the MVP

We set out to launch a product within months that would allow us to get valuable feedback from users and possibly generate cash flow. We iteratively prototyped and received feedback from counselors and students. Aware that we were still learning, we took an agile approach that allowed us to shift directions when needed to launch a product aligned with the needs of the market. Our MVP included fast-paced career professional videos, animations explaining career concepts, interactive career assessment tools, unique ways of browsing (e.g., 3D career and college browsing) and student-centric information displays (e.g., annual salaries were converted to hourly wages). Our MVP was so well-received that we began selling the product to schools right away.

Long-Term Innovation

As product development continued, we established an R&D track. We were awarded highly competitive Small Business Innovation Research grants from the National Science Foundation and later the National Institutes of Health to pursue career simulations. Our research generated excitement within the career counseling community as noted by one of our potential partners:

When we saw the career simulation developed by Transcend Innovation Group, we became quite excited.  To our mind, their career simulation furthers the original aim of our program, namely to produce compelling and interactive content that helps students find their way into the world of work.  

Matt McQuillen, President
Career Cruising

Maturing the Product

When the MVP was embraced, we expedited our efforts to deploy. We created free trials, authentication solutions, billing capability, support channels, marketing initiatives and a CRM system to support our subscription site. We were able to secure sales with several schools and eventually districts.

Initial interest was encouraging so we ramped up and expanded our sales operation. This was a misstep. We had captured the hearts of the early adopters, but we soon learned that selling to states and most districts was nearly impossible for a fledgling startup. The sales cycle would be years -- not months as we had anticipated. We underestimated our ability to break into an industry that was risk averse, slow to move, underfunded and in many cases unmotivated to provide the best solutions for their end users.

Pivoting

I immediately looked for alternative ways to bring in revenue while we continued to build the product. We leveraged our core competencies to provide video, UX and technology consulting services and were able to continue our R&D efforts with our Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants.

We explored several different business models, such as the creation of a career exploration tool for adult learners that would generate revenue through sponsorship from universities. While this model seemed promising, it would have required a substantial investment. We instead turned to licensing as an exit strategy.

We reached a content licensing agreement with Gale Cengage. Our content can still be accessed in hundreds of schools and libraries across the nation via their Career Transitions subscription site. In addition to improving their product, we influenced the career education industry, as solutions have become more engaging and student-centric. We employed over 20 people, kick-started careers, and formed bonds that still exist today.