NextGenVest-Kelly Peeler
NextGenVest is a company which was started by Kelly Peeler. The goal of NextGenVest is to help Gen Z become more aware of financial decisions through text messages. Customers have saved $39 million because of the access NextGenVest supplies to the $2.7 billion of unclaimed financial aid each year.
Customers are able to get advice from “Money Mentors”, who are experienced and trained college students who provide customized help. They give advice on budget setting, lowering student debt, building credit, finding scholarships, applying for FASFA, and even apply for college!
This company uses data points such as school location and type to suggest the best approach for finances. Most people would assume something like this wo
uld cost an arm and a leg, but Peeler’s service runs at the low price of $0.00 dollars.
Peeler has been interested in helping younger generations with financial decisions for a while, and has been a part of other organizations, such as Business Without Borders and the International Women in Business Summit. Peeler was selected as one of eight Kauffman Foundation Global Scholars. Her success is just beginning, her work ethic is incredible. She is connected to big name entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. She also graduated from Harvard University and lives in the very liquid New York City, New York.
Personally
This would have been extremely helpful for me as I was applying for college and loans. I hope NextGenVest starts to use social media to advertise to the generation they are targeting. I really like the concept and how it cuts down the amount of confusion surrounding difficult to use websites like niche scholarships and FASFA loans. I also think it’s amazing how the people giving the advice are also college aged students who have been given the training to help others their own age.
As a homeschooler, Natalie and her family had to buy all of their books themselves, and as there was no curated or organized way to buy used book, they usually ended up buying these books new from publishers, which got very expensive. However, Natalie noticed that after he finished with a book, it just stayed on her bookshelf until it either was given away to a family friend or sold at a significantly reduced price at a yard sale. Natalie considered how wasteful this was, both on the buying end and the reselling end because there was no organized platform for homeschoolers to interact with each other in this manner. Out of this pain came her idea of Hoot Book Revival, which is an app and website on which homeschoolers can resell their books and buy used books from other homeschooling families at a reduced cost. This benefits both the buyer and the seller, because people looking to buy books can get them much cheaper than they can new books, and people looking to sell books can sell them for more than they could at a yard sale.
When I asked Natalie about how this business came about and what need it was filling, she said, “I suppose the core of the business idea was identifying an underrepresented group, and how their market needs weren’t being addressed, because the business pitch itself is pretty simple.” Natalie’s website allows the customer to buy and sell books, as well as collaborate with other homeschoolers on which lesson plans and books are best. Hoot Book Revival also has an option where people can post their books and let Hoot do all the work in finding people to sell them to, making the customer experience more enjoyable and less labor intensive.