The Coltie app creates a more fair, equitable, and intelligent means of matching and connecting prospective students with faculty in graduate programs. Students create a profile in Coltie, and the app suggests matches by using an AI-based recommender and faculty rating system that takes into account key factors contributing to student success. When students express an interest, Coltie reaches out to faculty to notify them of matches. Faculty profiles are generated automatically from publicly available information, and those who register benefit from access to a diverse pool of well-matched student talent. A key differentiator for Coltie is companion website RateMyGradAdvisor.com, which gathers ratings on faculty performance. In addition to traditional success metrics, faculty are evaluated for the environment they create for students, including the quality of mentorship and inclusiveness. These ratings are used to weight priority in the faculty matches suggested to students.
Coltie’s beachhead market is domestic and international students who are considering a graduate education in STEM fields and faculty who advise graduate students in STEM fields within the United States. The pricing model is “pay-by-use” – users are charged for services and features within the Coltie app. It is estimated that the average spend per user will be $50, and considering this estimate, the market size is $21M. In the long term, there is considerable scope to expand beyond STEM fields and internationally (totally $500 million market), and into both undergraduate career and education counseling and talent acquisition markets, which is multibillion dollar markets.