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Today’s guests on The EdTech Startup Show Podcast are CR SCORE founders Ryall Carroll and Joel Weingarten.

CR SCORE aims to solve two problems, namely, the uncertainty around college readiness, and the overmatching and under-matching problem that students of varying backgrounds tend to face during their preparations. Ryall and Joel aim to provide students with positive reinforcement by using a score to make college readiness a fun experience. As a companion piece to the score, students will also receive personalized recommendations on how to incrementally improve their college readiness.

A largely bootstrapped venture, the idea for CR SCORE came to fruition as a result of its founders’ lean approach to business. Together, Ryall and Joel successfully created an app that effectively engages high school students with its mobile-friendly design and gamified features.

Questions for Ryall Carroll and Joel Weingarten

• What is CR SCORE all about and how do Ryall and Joel divide their responsibilities?
• Why did Ryall and Joel decide to establish CR SCORE?
• What components go into CR SCORE and how are they measured?
• What are some of Ryall and Joel’s takeaways from interacting with their stakeholders (ex. students, parents, counselors, administrators, etc.)?
• Which features did Ryall and Joel have to scrap due to early feedback?
• How will CR SCORE adapt to the ever-evolving college landscape?
• What sort of conversations should more parents be having with their kids?
• What is it like running a business based largely around a mobile app?

Highlights from the conversation

• Gamification can make any otherwise mundane process more fun and engaging
• Ryall and Joel relied on Lean Startup and design-centered principles to “bootstrap” CR SCORE.
• Don’t hesitate to make use of surveys and other tools when developing your product, since most people are willing to provide feedback.
• Brand-name colleges aren’t always the best colleges for a particular student.
• As digital natives, high school-aged kids are best engaged via mobile apps

Important links from this episode

• CR SCORE
• College and Career Ready Standards
• Ryall Carroll at St. John’s University
• Pell Grants
• Credit Guru
• 2019 College Admissions Bribery Scandal
• University of Michigan
• Georgetown University
• Gamification
• Amazon Mechanical Turk
• FAFSA

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Don’t miss Joel and Ryall share advice and experience building a mobile-first EdTech company. Only available in this week’s Business of Learning Member Library clip. It's free. Get access here.