Zinch Case Study

Zinch Business Description

Zinch.com offers colleges and universities greater clarity and control in recruiting students by offering rich data containing demographic and psychographic information of prospective students.  Zinch will charge colleges to access our database, which is uploaded and kept current at no charge to them.

“We are creating opportunities,” says Sid Krommenhoek, Zinch COO. “Zinch is unique in that way. We are not just developing a new product to sell to people. We are empowering individuals.”

Industry and Market

Industry: Education
Total market for 4-year schools:  $2.2B
Target market- private schools (<2K students): $770M
Secondary market- public schools (>5K students): $330M

Business Challenge/ Objective

Seeking investment capital, Zinch wanted to get in front of active angel investors.

“I knew there was a network FundingUniverse was tied to,” Krommenhoek says. “I was very interested to find a network of angels.”

FundingUniverse Strategy

After meeting with the FundingUniverse team, Zinch became a consulting client. FundingUniverse assigned industry expert, Rick Gibson, managing director of HOT ventures, a “mentor capital fund” for the Southwest U.S., to assist. Gibson worked diligently with the Zinch team to improve the business plan, executive summary and overall company pitch.

Results

“FundingUniverse added to our momentum,” Krommenhoek explains. “There was already awareness, but it was just one more forum to reiterate our value and position. It provided more face time. FundingUniverse also opened us up to new individuals, new investors, we wouldn’t have found otherwise.”

After the Zinch team completed with the consultations, they felt prepared to pitch to investors. FundingUniverse invited the team to participate in the April 2007 Speedpitching event.

“The Speedpitching event was great,” Krommenhoek explains. “Here is why, there was a broad group of angels involved and represented. There was a nice mix, meaning a good cobbling of accredited investor, less informal angel groups and more seasoned sophisticated investor. From our end, the event had a good mix of perspectives and styles.”

Zinch Update

Since launching the site in March 2007, Zinch has reached students across the world. In just one month, 34,000 students representing 50 states and 60 countries from 9,000 high schools joined Zinch’s database. In addition, a publicly traded company put an offer on the table to acquire Zinch. However, the company chose to accept funding from investors to further grow the business.

Krommenhoek explains how FundingUniverse helped drive Zinch to the next level.

 “Obviously, FundingUniverse doesn’t make or break you as an entrepreneur,” Krommenhoek explains.  “I think FundingUniverse adds to momentum. If I was an entrepreneur with momentum on my side, I definitely think FundingUniverse would propel you. If you are going to do something, you have to get off on the right foot or get on the right foot before you can move forward. If you have a little momentum, FundingUniverse will accelerate that momentum.”

Even though success has come quickly for the Zinch, the team remains focused on the end goal.

“These successes to me are all just byproducts of reaching the students,” Krommenhoek explains. “The most exciting thing for us is to see more and more students get on the site everyday. What gets us most excited is seeing kids want to use our medium to express themselves.”