Teachers constantly strive to improve the delivery of curriculum in their classrooms. Whether content covers math, social studies, English, foreign languages, science, or any other subject…the aim is the same: help the student understand the principle, grasp the concept, and apply the material to the next level.
This basic pattern is the premise for the efforts of a group of Kansas City-area educational researchers who have formed a company called Velvet Bridge, LLC. The firm's primary product is Graphic Interactive Software for Teaching (GIST).
GIST helps teachers integrate research-based methods to reach all different types of learners, which leads to better performance on assessment, according to Peter Lenz, vice president of business affairs at Velvet Bridge.
"It helps teachers design instruction that is best for their class," says Peter. "Velvet Bridge sees GIST as a product that helps all types of educators - from parents and tutors to principals and administration - because it gives everyone a concrete tool to assess and build on instruction."
The GIST program is based on research from the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning (KU-CRL) and is the brainchild of a team headed by Keith Lenz, senior researcher with KU-CRL. Keith - president of Velvet Bridge and Peter's father - labored with colleagues for nearly 10 years before finally achieving a usable proto-type version of the software following a string of glitch-prone near-misses.
After the decade-long effort Keith and his team had a near-finished product, but no clear vision for its application.
"The software was 99 percent developed, but there was little motivation to finish it, because there was no plan for how it was going to be marketed, supported or sold," says Keith.
Peter agrees: "We had a product that we all thought had a lot of potential, but we weren't sure how to best make use of it."
That's when the team realized they needed no-nonsense business advice. After talking with friends and exploring a variety of business-information sources, they turned to the business experts at the Small Business Technology Development Center (SBTDC) at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC).
Three of the team's members (and eventual business partners) dived in to explore business basics in an appropriately named course: "Starting a Business: The First Steps," says Carmen DeHart, SBTDC assistant director and business counselor.
It was a turning point for the would-be entrepreneurs.
"Carmen gave an extremely informative presentation that helped us see that we were going to need additional help if we were really going to try and get our company off the ground," says Peter, the firm's vice president of business affairs. "I think that going through the seminar with Carmen was the point at which the owners of Velvet Bridge became truly committed to starting the business."
This first business lesson for the Velvet Bridge partners led to consultations on devising a business plan and exploring possibilities in financing, marketing and production, according to DeHart.
"Carmen has been an extremely valuable asset to our business and really helped propel us into making the venture," Peter contends. She helped the members of the Velvet Bridge team develop their business plan, which prepared them to discuss their commercial vision and financial needs with a bank.
"She gave extremely insightful information, especially about our financials where we overlooked key aspects," says Peter. "I think with her help we made a very impressive presentation to the bank and were able to secure a loan that helped start Velvet Bridge."
However, the loan approval process took longer than the Velvet Bridge team anticipated.
"After meeting with the bank we had become a little frustrated, because they had promised to get back to us with some things by a certain time and had not done so," reports Peter. After about 10 days he told DeHart of the delay and their frustrations.
"Carmen said that she had a contact with the bank and their small business department and that she would put a call in and find out what she could. I'm not sure what she did but the following day we received several phone calls from that bank apologizing for their lack of response."
Since closing on the loan the founders of Velvet Bridge are on the entrepreneurial road. They have created a viable firm, selling the company's primary product - GIST - to a broad educational market across the United States and Canada.
"We know that the final users of our product are teachers in the classroom and our success as a company depends largely on them," Peter notes.
But he also indicates that DeHart's advice was invaluable: "Without her I don't know that we would have been able to start Velvet Bridge."
And because of the impressive initiative the firm has demonstrated, Velvet Bridge will represent SBTDC at the second annual Client Showcase and Legislative Breakfast Thursday, Feb. 9, in the State Capitol Rotunda in Jefferson City.
At that event hosted by the Columbia-based Missouri SBTDC, Velvet Bridge and more than a dozen other outstanding Missouri companies will meet with legislators to discuss their products and services. They also will be recognized for their contributions to the economic development of the state of Missouri. Recognition from MO SBTDC will be accompanied by legislative resolutions presented by each company's district state senator and state representative.
For more information on the services of the MO SBTDC program, call DeHart at 816-235-6428 or e-mail her at dehartc@umkc.edu
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