Scaling to $10 Million from Kentucky: Steve Huey, CEO of Capture Higher Ed (Part 5)

Steve Huey: Understanding that this data advantage was the key for us to talk more intelligently to students, we started hammering on that perceived advantage. Very quickly, we expanded the data set that we had so that we could talk more intelligently to them. In the next generation of our product, we created a lot of subcategories and groupings. The goal was always to continue the technology so we can develop an almost one-to-one marketing program for each student.

Sramana Mitra: When you’re working on behalf of a college, how big is the deal size? How do you price these projects?

Steve Huey: In the first couple of years, I think our average contract size was about $80,000. Now, our average is around $200,000, but we have partners who pay us upwards of three-quarters of a million to partners who pay us $50,000. Our pricing is on a per-project basis and it depends on how many students they wanted to reach out to. We have some schools who regularly reach out to several hundred thousand potential students, and we have some who reach out to 10,000 to 20,000. We’re trying to get away from price-per-name mentality. Over the last couple of months, we have more of a software solution that we can get into. That’s the boundaries of what I think our contract sizes are.

Sramana Mitra: Currently, you are still working with that same model or cost per lead?

Steve Huey: Yes and no. We translate our project into that schedule or methodology for the schools that we’re selling to because they’re so used to buying services in that way. We are also pricing our project based on scope of the project as well and not necessarily the number of people we interact with.

Sramana Mitra: I see. How did the business ramp up from when you started over the last few years? Can you give me some metrics perhaps?

Steve Huey: I was employee number six. We now have 62 people working with us. Our client base has grown from 6 to 30 schools and our revenue is now approaching $10 million from less than a million. We’re, by far, a huge company. Sub-$10 million doesn’t usually get on most VCs’ radars. Our growth rate has been tremendous. We’re looking well in the local economy. We are one of the fastest growing companies in this area.

Sramana Mitra: You said you started in 2011?

Steve Huey: That’s correct. We founded the company in June 2011.

This segment is part 5 in the series : Scaling to $10 Million from Kentucky: Steve Huey, CEO of Capture Higher Ed
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