Lucy Shores Kosturko has officially taken the entrepreneurial leap.
Up until last week, Kosturko was at SAS Institute in Cary, most recently as an education initiatives product director. Now, she’s all in on the startup she cofounded on the side in 2021, Social Cascade, which offers an “easy button” for pediatricians hoping to connect with families they serve.
In an interview, she talks about the entrepreneurship spirit and why she finally took the jump.
Kosturko moved to the Triangle for graduate school at North Carolina State University, getting a master’s in computer science and a doctorate in educational psychology. She worked on research teams, learning about AI applications for education, from intelligent tutoring to game-based learning environments.
After graduating she wound up at SAS, initially at its philanthropic arm building educational technology solutions for K-12 students.
At SAS she had a “wonderful” career, Kosturko said. She had supportive colleagues, intriguing assignments, and the benefits that have often placed SAS on Best Places to Work lists.
But when a former grad school colleague, Scott McQuiggan, decided to found Social Cascade, Kosturko was dove in and invested some of her own savings in the bootstrapped effort.
McQuiggen, like Kosturko, had worked on the SAS Curriculum Pathways program, supporting more than 5 million students. Specifically, when looking to solve the third grade reading challenge, the team realized “we really have to focus in on this zero to five space,” she said.
“It’s the most critical development period in a child’s life,” Kosturko said. “We became very passionate … and quickly realized it really is hard to get in touch with parents at this phase.”
While in kindergarten you can “push messaging through the school system." In the preschool years, kids aren’t necessarily doing the same thing. But there is one touchpoint – and that’s a pediatrician’s office.
“That’s where 90 percent of kids in the U.S. go once a year,” Kosturko said. “So how can we leverage that and scale it to be more of a distribution house?”
Meeting parents where they are
Kosturko and McQuiggan teamed up with another SAS colleague, Phillippe Sabourin, and founded Social Cascade, intended to be a tiered subscription model service targeted at businesses, from individual doctors to clinics to hospital systems. The goal, Kosturko said, is to meet parents and caregivers where they are – on social media
“It’s as simple as following your pediatrician on Instagram or Facebook,” she said. “You’re not downloading anything new, you’re just going to the platform that you’re going to every day anyway to connect and hear from your primary care provider.”
Parents are “following everyone other than your pediatrician right now because they’re simply not there.” But through Social Cascade, pediatricians can answer frequent questions on a forum accessible to patients – from what to do when your child has a fever to when your kid should get her flu shot.
Kosturko said there’s potential to expand the idea in the future – perhaps outside the health care space. But for now, the idea is working. Already it has $83,000 in annual recurring revenue.
Social Cascade has been able to raise $150,000 so far in the form of grants. It’s actively raising a pre-seed round and in the early stages of contemplating what’s next.
Kosturko, soon to be a mom of three when her third child is born in August, said that so far the Triangle ecosystem has been critical to the new startup. The company taken advantage of multiple initiatives, such as CED’s 12-week GRO Incubator.
“There is a huge group of mentors and supporters and people who have done this before,” Kosturko said. “That’s so great about the Triangle area … people are generous. People are willing to help. They’re supportive. They’re willing to share their network with you.”
