If you’re not sure how to label this website, no one would blame you. For being one of the only businesses of their kind, Athlete Foundry has been confused for a recruiting site before -- but argue they’re significantly different.
In the past four years, CEO KC Chhipwadia and his team have worked to set his business model apart from the “rigorous” and “exhausting” recruitment process he calls terribly outdated.
Typically students hope to catch the attention of schools through high schools and wait for responses. Instead Chhipwadia is giving parents and students control of their destiny by providing a dashboard highlighting more than just stats.
You’ll see other websites offering dashboards of their own like CaptainU or MaxPreps, but Chhipwadia argues his approach is far more comprehensive.
Once you start an account, each student can add hobbies, interests, GPA, practice logs, awards and practically everything in-between.
Starting as early as the sixth grade, students can then post their profile and, with a parent’s approval, share the link with colleges to provide a better idea as to who they are beyond the lines. Behavior, character, online presence, Chhipwadia says coaching staffs review everything.
"You can be a stellar athlete, but knowing about who you are, tells them if you’re committed."
This goes both ways of course as parents get stats on everything from school nutrition plans to crime data and campus safety information.
“We want to improve the journey holistically and offer a road map for families to keep track of their progress along the way,” Chhipwadia said.
Think of it like a checklist on what they need to do each week and each semester.
Having interviewed thousands of collegiate colleges over the years, Chhipwadia says this is what schools are looking for.
“They want this much data because it helps them understand the risk they’re taking in you as a student. You can be a stellar athlete, but knowing about who you are, tells them if you’re committed,” Chhipwadia said.
The Navy reserve who once aspired to become an astronaut and came close (he was a senior human space flight engineer at NASA Johnson Space Center), says we have to reward hard work and this website accomplishes that for the students involved.
Students can join early or as late as 12th grade and at any point in time during the year. As Chhipwadia puts it, there is no off-season. “Schools want to know how you spend your time. So we’ve made this a 365 platform,” Chhipwadia said.
That also means paying for their services goes on all year. Sixth grade is free of cost, but for seventh and eighth graders, you’re paying $14.99/month. As for high school, it’s $24.99 per month.
Across the country, Chhipwadia is launching pilot programs for schools free of cost to the first five who sign-up. The Uniontown School District in Pennsylvania will offer all student athletes a chance to use the dashboard free of cost as part of an agreement.
Over the next five years, Chhipwadia says he hopes to become a household name for all student athletes wanting to take their talents to the next level.
Austin Inno Editor Brent Wistrom contributed to this post.
