June 20, 2023 • 21 mins
This is the third in a series of episodes where I interview interesting innovators that I ran into at the recent ASU + GSV Summit. In this episode I talk with Manny Smith, Founder and CEO of Edvisorly. Manny shares his experiences in higher education, his personal journey and he highlights the work happening at EdVisorly, and online platform for helping students transfer and succeed.
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Manny (00:09):
Hi, this is Ilo Ortiz Oakley.
Welcome back to the Rant, thepodcast where we pull back the
curtain and break down thepeople, the policies, and the
politics of our higher educationsystem today.
We're hanging out here at ASU, GS V down in San Diego, and I've
had a chance to meet withseveral innovative thinkers,
(00:29):
people who are creatingsolutions for learners across
this country.
And a lot of new innovations inthe space of opening up access
to post-secondary education formore Americans.
So today I'm joined by a specialguest.
His name is Manny Smith.
Manny is the founder and CEO ofAdvisory Lee.
(00:50):
And so welcome to the podcast,Manny.
Thank you.
Thanks for having me.
Thanks for taking the time.
I know how busy you are in aconference like this.
But before we get into exactlywhat you're doing here at A S U
G S V, Tell us a little bitabout your journey.
Tell us about your educationjourney and what led you to
start a company like AdvisorLee.
(01:12):
That's a great question.
So I believe that the founderjourney matters the most.
Mm-hmm.
So for all founders out there,especially founders that come
from, I would say founders ofcolor mm-hmm.
A lot of conviction matters.
I was Born in California andraised in Georgia to two parents
who didn't go to college.
They didn't have a singlecredit.
Mm-hmm.
Between both of them navigatinghow to apply for college was a
(01:34):
challenge.
We went to public schools and Icome from humble beginnings.
My family on my father's sidehad served in the United States
military for a really long time.
Mm-hmm.
My dad also was army enlistedand my mom on her side, they
immigrated to the United States.
at the time I was exploringcollege less than a hundred
(01:55):
years before that.
Right.
So for me, you know, there wasno legacy or history of going to
college.
Right.
I mean, it was, you know, itwas, try to figure it out
yourself.
But I, I was blessed in,especially in the community.
That I spent most of my youthand have two parents.
I was blessed that they helpedme focus on getting good grades,
which really set me up in highschool to, to do well on
(02:17):
standardized tests, which weboth know how we feel about.
Yes.
But I think our listeners knowhow I feel about Stry test.
I feel the same way.
So yeah, hopefully we don't, wedon't go off on that yet.
But I, I think most importantly,it was the the journey to
college was not linear for me.
Mm-hmm.
So I was in my second semester,senior year, I had no idea if I
(02:37):
was gonna go to college, if Icould afford to go to college.
And I was blessed and fortunateto be offered a sports
scholarship to play football atthe United States Air Force
Academy.
Wow.
That's great.
And I'll never forget the day.
It was January 8th, 2008.
Coach Charlton Warren came inand watched my tape, offered me
a football scholarship.
I didn't think it was real.
I had imposter syndrome, right?
(02:58):
But apparently I was, you know,somewhat of an undiscovered
athlete.
Thereafter, I got offered fromthe Naval Academy as well as a
number of other schools that Ididn't consider because those
are the two institutions thatwould pay me a stipend and give
me the structure that I needed,right?
As well as had the supportsystems for a first gen student
in my, you know, in myexperience to be successful.
So I went to Air Force mostlycuz I watched too much Top Gun
(03:21):
and thought I had a better shotto fly.
Wanted to be a fighter pilot.
I ended up being a, an engineerand or a technical product
manager.
Mm-hmm.
Developing satellite systems fornational defense.
Wow.
So after Air Force Academy atcommissioned as an active duty
officer I did track and footballat Air Force and then went on to
develop, Space systems and andthen eventually software in
(03:44):
between.
I had a deployment.
I went to a Ued air base inQatar and learned a lot.
Had a great time.
And I had a really awesome guywho was a mentor of mine.
Mm-hmm.
He was a successfulentrepreneur.
He was working with Californiacommunity Colleges.
Wow.
And he invited me to the CS s Oconference which is for all the
(04:04):
vice presidents of studentservices Right.
In California community college.
My first take was why would I goto a community college
conference?
I'm building technology for themilitary.
Mm-hmm.
And then he told me that he wasa transfer student.
Right.
And so it opened my eyes to whata community college was.
And for, for me, I started toreflect, not everyone gets to be
a military officer.
Not everyone gets to go to theAir Force Academy or play
(04:26):
sports, but many can go tocommunity college and that's
what over 6 million people inthe United States are doing.
Right.
With the hope to then move on toa four year university.
Right.
So naturally I my heart was tornin the direction of supporting
and building a a company focusedon helping, I shouldn't, I
should actually back backtrackthat word.
Mm-hmm.
(04:46):
Because I don't help anyone.
But we illuminate the path forstudents.
Great.
So, illuminate's the path,right.
For community college studentsto go to institutions that will
actually embrace the communitycollege transfer student.
So I, I separated from activeduty, joined the reserves.
Mm-hmm.
And went to uc, Berkeley forgraduate school, where I founded
Advisor Lee.
And.
Wow.
But a couple of awesometeammates, Hannah and Lizzie,
and, and we were off to theraces.
(05:07):
That's great.
Well, I really appreciate your,your story, Manny, because it's,
it's a story of lots of peoplein this country, all, all across
from coast to coast.
I had a very similar story,although I, interestingly enough
I was recruited to go to the usarmy Military Academy.
But I didn't go, I didn't go tocollege right outta high school.
(05:29):
I went.
Join the Army as an enlistedperson and, and it would always
stick in me that, you know,some, somebody with a bar on
their hat was telling me what todo and the only difference
between him and me was a pieceof paper, a college degree.
Yep.
And that's what motivated me togo into community colleges after
(05:50):
I got outta the military.
So I really appreciate your,your story because I think those
are the kinds of stories thatlead people to want to create a
better world, a better path, abetter environment for the kind
of people that, we grew uparound.
So how is advisory going andtell us what exactly are you
trying to, to do with this?
(06:12):
Startup.
Yeah, so Advisor Lee is goingreally well and just in short
Advisor Lee is building anationwide transfer platform to
connect transfer friendly fouryear universities with community
college students that haveaspirations to complete their
bachelor's degree Uhhuh.
like any startup, there's a lotof challenges early on and I
think one of the biggestchallenges for us was really
assessing and evaluating.
(06:32):
What is true and what is not inhigher education.
Mm-hmm.
As we know, there's a, there arebureaucratic layers and there's
a lot of rhetoric.
So we took a, we, we took anapproach to study the actions of
people mm-hmm.
Who are in higher education andvery simply put, who will join
the platform and who will bepart of this movement.
When you really think about whatwe're building, a lot of people
(06:55):
say things like thenon-traditional student, right.
And they use words like thenon-traditional student.
When in reality, when you, whenyou reflect on what higher
education has been forgenerations, higher education
actually has embraced thenon-traditional student.
The student who comes from afoundation that's extremely
established, usually ofprivilege legacies into a
(07:15):
school, right?
And is told that they're gonnago get a four year degree.
When you look at how manystudents are actually in
community college, that isactually the traditional
pathway, right?
That's the traditional pathway.
And so, When we think of whatadvisor Lee actually is, advisor
Lee is a representation of whatAmerica should be, which is an
institution.
(07:36):
Mm-hmm.
That allows merit-based capacitythat allows you to pull yourself
up by your bootstrap.
You can't do that if you're aboot list person.
Right.
And right now, when we thinkabout community college to
university transfer,historically there hasn't been a
boot for a community collegestudent to pull themself up by.
And there's, there's too manymoments that are driven by luck.
(07:57):
Mm-hmm.
Instead of by actual merit andopportunity.
Right.
And so what we're doing is we'reilluminating pathways to our
partner universities mm-hmm.
And help.
Mm-hmm.
And, and really focusing on thatsense of belonging, where
students understand theresources associated with
transfer.
Mm-hmm.
It's not just an articulationagreement if we only lean on
articulation agreements as the,as the sole interface.
Mm-hmm.
(08:17):
To help students transfer, thenwe're, then we're doing them a
massive disservice.
Right.
So, well, you you pulled acouple of threads there that I
wanna come back to.
First, this notion oftraditional versus
non-traditional students.
I mean, the reality in Americais that less than 40%, certainly
less than half, but somewherearound 40% of people enrolled in
(08:40):
a post-secondary institution are18 to 24 year olds.
So the reality is they are thenon-traditional student.
They're not the majority ofstudents.
The majority of students, youknow, somewhere around 60% are
older learners students who aregoing part-time working, raising
families, not going to yourtraditional residential college
(09:02):
experience.
when you talk about articulationagreements, it is about
information.
It's about accessing informationthat's clear, that's concise,
and that you can follow along apath.
both of us are former military.
We know how important it is tohave a plan of action.
And we're trained to follow thatplan.
(09:23):
Mm-hmm.
When I was a student, communitycolleges, somebody handed me a
clear pathway on how to transferto uc, Irvine, because uc,
Irvine needed enrollment at thetime.
They don't anymore, but at thetime they had these guaranteed
pathways.
And so that has always stuckwith me.
Mm-hmm.
So, It sounds like what you'redoing is trying to create that
(09:43):
clear plan for people of allbackgrounds, to be able to help
them navigate.
Absolutely, and I think the mostimportant thing is to understand
that there's various archetypesof students mm-hmm.
That build relationships in verydifferent ways.
And so when, when you werelikely going from community
college to, you know, uc,Irvine, it was, you know, there
(10:05):
were a lot of in-personinteraction.
I mean, even the way I grew up,like I, I remember a world
before Google before this thingwas sitting in our hand and
glued to our hand.
Yes, I didn't have a cell phonewhen I went to college, but I
didn't either when I first wentto college.
But I, I, I think one of themost important, actually I did,
I, I'd gotten one just before,just before I went.
(10:25):
But I think the most importantthing is to, to consider all the
different archetypes of studentsmm-hmm.
And who we're supporting.
Right.
So, you know, when we built anddesigned Advisory Lee, we
understood that there needs tobe different experiences
depending on the type ofstudent, but most importantly,
the student needs to be able tobuild relationships the way that
they do in today's world.
Mm-hmm.
In today's world, we haveLinkedIn, right?
We have Instagram, we haveYouTube.
(10:47):
We have.
You know, some people have talksand so we've kind of
revolutionized this concept ofonly focusing on articulation
agreements to say, mm-hmm.
There also needs to be anexploratory experience around
resources, around senses ofbelonging, around what does that
actually, that university offerstudents that is part of the
intangible value.
The communities that studentscan be part of when they go to
(11:08):
that university.
Mm-hmm.
If the student identifies asLatino, is it a Hispanic serving
institution?
Right.
Because maybe that's whatthey're looking for.
Is it a faith-based institution?
Mm-hmm.
But at its core, advisor Lee isbringing together and
standardizing the concept oftransfer so that students can
have a single resource that theycan go to that's reliable and
trustworthy.
Mm-hmm.
With committed institutions thatwill support them.
(11:28):
Mm-hmm.
And we do not prof work withfor-profit institutions.
Well, that's good to know.
That's good to hear.
Yeah.
is part of the solution herecreating networks of individuals
who are trying to follow similarpaths?
Absolutely.
Yeah.
That's great.
You, you you might have ourproduct roadmap in front of you,
but the cats cats out of thebag.
Absolutely.
(11:48):
So this summer we're gonna beworking on connecting students
to students.
Ah, great.
So that they can build thatsense of community as they think
about transfer.
Especially when you think aboutspecialized institutions mm-hmm.
Where a student may otherwisenot be able to find that sense
of community.
Mm-hmm.
So you know, we just partnerwith Mount St.
Mary's.
Right.
Mostly they're focused onenrolling women.
Right.
(12:08):
Unless it's their evening andonline program.
So how do we think about womenwho are most likely faith-based
or interested in a faith-basedinstitution?
Mm-hmm.
Connecting with others.
And also then, you know, movinginto Mount St.
Mary's together, we know thatcommunity.
Is really important ineverything that we do.
Right.
So as we think about that, themost important thing is that we
invite leaders to the table tomake ethical decisions about how
(12:31):
we use this information withstudents and, and the data and
make those connections.
Mm-hmm.
Ethics really matters.
And as we continue to build,we're very fortunate to have
partnered with LuminaFoundation.
Mm-hmm.
ECMC Foundation, strataEducation Network.
As well as our currentinstitutional investors who
actually are very, very alignedwith us on how do we think about
the ethics behind what we'redoing.
(12:52):
Great.
We have impact metrics as well.
one of the things in myexperience is a challenge for
transfer students is this, thisnotion of, you know, you're
hanging out at a communitycollege campus, you've got to
know the campus, you got to knowthe people, you got to know the
faculty, and all of a suddenyou're thrust on a big four year
university campus and you know,your graduate school alma mater
(13:13):
is a great example.
You see Berkeley it's reallytough for a transfer student to
land on a campus like uc,Berkeley.
And, and not have all theinformation that say, freshman
admits have about theinstitution.
How, how do you think abouthelping students when they land
on a college campus ensuringthat they're successful?
A lot of the Advisory Leagueexperience is about helping that
(13:34):
student really understand whatthat institution is before they
get there.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
And so one of the biggestchallenges, or that has been a
challenge in the past wasphantom applications.
Mm-hmm.
Which is a community collegestudent just applying to a four
year university because, youknow, they.
You know, did their journey,they did maybe an articulation
agreement pathway, right?
They never really correspondedwith the institution.
(13:56):
They never felt like theinstitution wanted to correspond
with them.
Right.
And so I think the mostimportant thing is that they
feel that sense that theinstitution wants them there.
Mm-hmm.
And so really through theAdvisory League platform, we
work to curate that experienceand we actually do counsel and
advise a lot of our partneruniversities on how to even
think about the messaging andoutreach that they do for
students.
Right about the things that getstudents engaged, because we see
(14:17):
the engagement for the studentson the platform.
Mm-hmm.
We know the things that theywanna see.
And so when we get to work with,with enrollment teams and
universities, we really, reallysee it as a partnership and to,
to kind of like, you know, takethat a step further.
There's no such thing aspartnering with advisory.
And being removed from the Platplatform.
Mm-hmm.
If you actually have studentswho have pathways to your
(14:38):
institution, it, it really verymuch is kind of like a marriage.
You know, if there's 10 studentson the platform that want to go
to your school, that dream ofgoing to your institution, we're
gonna know it.
Mm-hmm.
And so then it becomes therelationship that we have with
the enrollment team to thinkabout addressing those students
and supporting them.
Mm-hmm.
So it's really exciting for us.
So you mentioned something inyour original description of how
(14:59):
you partner and you mentionedtransfer friendly universities.
just the fact that you have tosay that, I mean, you would
think that every four yearuniversity would be transfer
friendly, that would want thekind of talent and diversity
that come from a communitycollege campus.
But how, how do you, how do youdefine.
The kind of partners you wannawork with in your four year
(15:21):
university partners?
Yeah, that's a great question.
I, I wish that were true thatevery university would consider
that the backbone of Americaneducation is community college.
Mm-hmm.
That when you think about trulycreating a nation that, every,
that every student can have theopportunity mm-hmm.
To succeed.
Mm-hmm.
(15:42):
Community college should be a,not an afterthought, but a first
thought.
Mm-hmm.
When I think of a transferfriendly four year university,
it has less to do with prestigeand more to do with an
institution of access.
And it's all relative.
Right.
So traditionally, highlyselective institutions can be a
little bit more they might seemharder to partner with.
(16:02):
Mm-hmm.
But it really comes down to theteam.
Mm-hmm.
The enrollment teams that welike to work with are the ones
that are.
That lean into the concept ofaccess and equity, and that
actually will work with us tounderstand the perspective of
the students that, that they'llenroll.
Right now, I will say that wehave to work on behalf of the
enrollment teams as well.
So the enrollment teams, thevice presidents of enrollment,
(16:25):
they do have objectives thatthey have to meet, but it's our
job to communicate those truths.
To students.
Mm-hmm.
And if we partner with aninstitution like a community
college or a transfer centerdirector, making sure that they
have the most relevant, updated,timely information, cuz that
stuff changes year over year.
Mm-hmm.
And there's no way for everytransfer center director in
America Right to know what, whatevery single university's
(16:47):
enrollment initiatives are thisyear.
They change all the time.
But it is good if we have thatrelevant information to be able
to arm those transfer centerdirectors and the teams at the
community colleges.
Mm-hmm.
If they do wanna partner withus.
So again, focusing on bringingforward the most motivated
individuals in the space thatwant to continue to lean into
creating opportunities and thoselucky moments for students.
(17:09):
Right.
let's talk a little bit moreabout you.
You know, you're relativelystill young founder and
entrepreneur.
Given all the challenges thatwe've heard about in the news
lately, the near collapse ofsvb, the challenges in the
interest rate environmentaccessing capital, how has that
(17:33):
been impacting you and, and yourcompany and, and what kind of
partners do you seek to help youkeep going?
That's a great question.
We're very fortunate that we hada really successful funding
round last year.
Mm-hmm.
We brought in sufficient capitalto operate in, you know, more
than enough over the next yearfor Advisory Lee.
(17:55):
And I would say also the growththat we've seen in the first
quarter, we brought on TexasTech University.
Wow.
Emerson College, Hawaii PacificUniversity, Mount St.
Mary's, the University ofDenver.
We brought on Los AngelesPacific University, which is our
online partner.
Mm-hmm.
And and university of Arkansas,Fort Smith.
(18:16):
And in Q2 we expect to bring on20 more partner universities.
So that's great.
In terms of growth, we have alot of growth happening right
now at Advisory Lee, so that, sothat kind of hedges us from a
lot of the economic conditionsthat are happening.
Mm-hmm.
But I would say for any newentrepreneur thinking about
getting into a space, andspecifically in education
mm-hmm.
(18:36):
The most important thing is tosurround yourself with
practitioners that are doing thethings that you hope to, to, to
create in the world.
Mm-hmm.
So, as an entrepreneur, my jobis not to be anything more than
a medium for which others canachieve their objectives.
Mm-hmm.
And so a student can achievetheir objectives of transfer
(18:56):
because I can go find.
A VP of enrollment who wants toachieve their objectives of
enrolling a student.
Mm-hmm.
From community college.
Mm-hmm.
Similarly, if a transfer centerdirector wants to positively
impact the lives of studentsmm-hmm.
They can work with us to helpwork with their students.
Mm-hmm.
So I think the most importantthing is to consider why we're
(19:17):
doing things and to do it with asense of conviction.
Right.
To work really, really, reallyhard and understand that nothing
comes easy.
Right?
That you have to do all of thejobs in the company if you have
to, to have integrity behindthat, like military style,
right?
And to have extreme discipline.
I watched Kobe Bryant videosevery day and the, the mentality
that I took from the militaryand from sports, right?
(19:39):
Being able to play football andrun track at Air Force Academy
is the same that I take toadvisor Lee.
All right.
Well, Mamba forever.
Yeah.
So as we begin to wrap up we'rehere at asu, G S v.
What, what excites you abouthanging out at asu G S V?
Anything interesting that you'reseeing going on?
Yeah, well, this was the mostexciting part of it for me.
I, I was competing with a sale aconference university
(20:03):
conference.
And I would say the mostinteresting thing is having come
to these conferences in the pastyears, years in the past coming
here and seeing the familiarfaces and just knowing that.
You know, with consistency anddedication, we've brought on
some of the top foundations,right?
And being able to see kind ofthe progress that advisor Lee
has been able to make year overyear.
And just knowing that next yearwe're gonna make even more
(20:24):
progress and, you know, havejust thousands more students
we're gonna be able to work withand support and I think that's
the most exciting part of A S UG S V.
Well, that's great, Manny.
Thanks for taking the time tojoin us here on the rant.
I appreciate you being with usand appreciate the work that you
guys are doing.
Thank you.
Thanks very much.
All right.
Thanks for joining us here onthe rant.
(20:45):
We've been listening to myconversation with Manny Smith.
Look forward to moreconversations while I'm here at
ASU G S V, so we'll be back withyou shortly with more episodes
of the rant.
Hi, this is Ilo Ortiz Oakley.
Welcome back to the Rant, thepodcast where we pull back the
curtain and break down thepeople, the policies, and the
politics of our higher educationsystem today.
We're hanging out here at ASU, GS V down in San Diego, and I've
had a chance to meet withseveral innovative thinkers,
(00:29):
people who are creatingsolutions for learners across
this country.
And a lot of new innovations inthe space of opening up access
to post-secondary education formore Americans.
So today I'm joined by a specialguest.
His name is Manny Smith.
Manny is the founder and CEO ofAdvisory Lee.
(00:50):
And so welcome to the podcast,Manny.
Thank you.
Thanks for having me.
Thanks for taking the time.
I know how busy you are in aconference like this.
But before we get into exactlywhat you're doing here at A S U
G S V, Tell us a little bitabout your journey.
Tell us about your educationjourney and what led you to
start a company like AdvisorLee.
(01:12):
That's a great question.
So I believe that the founderjourney matters the most.
Mm-hmm.
So for all founders out there,especially founders that come
from, I would say founders ofcolor mm-hmm.
A lot of conviction matters.
I was Born in California andraised in Georgia to two parents
who didn't go to college.
They didn't have a singlecredit.
Mm-hmm.
Between both of them navigatinghow to apply for college was a
(01:34):
challenge.
We went to public schools and Icome from humble beginnings.
My family on my father's sidehad served in the United States
military for a really long time.
Mm-hmm.
My dad also was army enlistedand my mom on her side, they
immigrated to the United States.
at the time I was exploringcollege less than a hundred
(01:55):
years before that.
Right.
So for me, you know, there wasno legacy or history of going to
college.
Right.
I mean, it was, you know, itwas, try to figure it out
yourself.
But I, I was blessed in,especially in the community.
That I spent most of my youthand have two parents.
I was blessed that they helpedme focus on getting good grades,
which really set me up in highschool to, to do well on
(02:17):
standardized tests, which weboth know how we feel about.
Yes.
But I think our listeners knowhow I feel about Stry test.
I feel the same way.
So yeah, hopefully we don't, wedon't go off on that yet.
But I, I think most importantly,it was the the journey to
college was not linear for me.
Mm-hmm.
So I was in my second semester,senior year, I had no idea if I
(02:37):
was gonna go to college, if Icould afford to go to college.
And I was blessed and fortunateto be offered a sports
scholarship to play football atthe United States Air Force
Academy.
Wow.
That's great.
And I'll never forget the day.
It was January 8th, 2008.
Coach Charlton Warren came inand watched my tape, offered me
a football scholarship.
I didn't think it was real.
I had imposter syndrome, right?
(02:58):
But apparently I was, you know,somewhat of an undiscovered
athlete.
Thereafter, I got offered fromthe Naval Academy as well as a
number of other schools that Ididn't consider because those
are the two institutions thatwould pay me a stipend and give
me the structure that I needed,right?
As well as had the supportsystems for a first gen student
in my, you know, in myexperience to be successful.
So I went to Air Force mostlycuz I watched too much Top Gun
(03:21):
and thought I had a better shotto fly.
Wanted to be a fighter pilot.
I ended up being a, an engineerand or a technical product
manager.
Mm-hmm.
Developing satellite systems fornational defense.
Wow.
So after Air Force Academy atcommissioned as an active duty
officer I did track and footballat Air Force and then went on to
develop, Space systems and andthen eventually software in
(03:44):
between.
I had a deployment.
I went to a Ued air base inQatar and learned a lot.
Had a great time.
And I had a really awesome guywho was a mentor of mine.
Mm-hmm.
He was a successfulentrepreneur.
He was working with Californiacommunity Colleges.
Wow.
And he invited me to the CS s Oconference which is for all the
(04:04):
vice presidents of studentservices Right.
In California community college.
My first take was why would I goto a community college
conference?
I'm building technology for themilitary.
Mm-hmm.
And then he told me that he wasa transfer student.
Right.
And so it opened my eyes to whata community college was.
And for, for me, I started toreflect, not everyone gets to be
a military officer.
Not everyone gets to go to theAir Force Academy or play
(04:26):
sports, but many can go tocommunity college and that's
what over 6 million people inthe United States are doing.
Right.
With the hope to then move on toa four year university.
Right.
So naturally I my heart was tornin the direction of supporting
and building a a company focusedon helping, I shouldn't, I
should actually back backtrackthat word.
Mm-hmm.
(04:46):
Because I don't help anyone.
But we illuminate the path forstudents.
Great.
So, illuminate's the path,right.
For community college studentsto go to institutions that will
actually embrace the communitycollege transfer student.
So I, I separated from activeduty, joined the reserves.
Mm-hmm.
And went to uc, Berkeley forgraduate school, where I founded
Advisor Lee.
And.
Wow.
But a couple of awesometeammates, Hannah and Lizzie,
and, and we were off to theraces.
(05:07):
That's great.
Well, I really appreciate your,your story, Manny, because it's,
it's a story of lots of peoplein this country, all, all across
from coast to coast.
I had a very similar story,although I, interestingly enough
I was recruited to go to the usarmy Military Academy.
But I didn't go, I didn't go tocollege right outta high school.
(05:29):
I went.
Join the Army as an enlistedperson and, and it would always
stick in me that, you know,some, somebody with a bar on
their hat was telling me what todo and the only difference
between him and me was a pieceof paper, a college degree.
Yep.
And that's what motivated me togo into community colleges after
(05:50):
I got outta the military.
So I really appreciate your,your story because I think those
are the kinds of stories thatlead people to want to create a
better world, a better path, abetter environment for the kind
of people that, we grew uparound.
So how is advisory going andtell us what exactly are you
trying to, to do with this?
(06:12):
Startup.
Yeah, so Advisor Lee is goingreally well and just in short
Advisor Lee is building anationwide transfer platform to
connect transfer friendly fouryear universities with community
college students that haveaspirations to complete their
bachelor's degree Uhhuh.
like any startup, there's a lotof challenges early on and I
think one of the biggestchallenges for us was really
assessing and evaluating.
(06:32):
What is true and what is not inhigher education.
Mm-hmm.
As we know, there's a, there arebureaucratic layers and there's
a lot of rhetoric.
So we took a, we, we took anapproach to study the actions of
people mm-hmm.
Who are in higher education andvery simply put, who will join
the platform and who will bepart of this movement.
When you really think about whatwe're building, a lot of people
(06:55):
say things like thenon-traditional student, right.
And they use words like thenon-traditional student.
When in reality, when you, whenyou reflect on what higher
education has been forgenerations, higher education
actually has embraced thenon-traditional student.
The student who comes from afoundation that's extremely
established, usually ofprivilege legacies into a
(07:15):
school, right?
And is told that they're gonnago get a four year degree.
When you look at how manystudents are actually in
community college, that isactually the traditional
pathway, right?
That's the traditional pathway.
And so, When we think of whatadvisor Lee actually is, advisor
Lee is a representation of whatAmerica should be, which is an
institution.
(07:36):
Mm-hmm.
That allows merit-based capacitythat allows you to pull yourself
up by your bootstrap.
You can't do that if you're aboot list person.
Right.
And right now, when we thinkabout community college to
university transfer,historically there hasn't been a
boot for a community collegestudent to pull themself up by.
And there's, there's too manymoments that are driven by luck.
(07:57):
Mm-hmm.
Instead of by actual merit andopportunity.
Right.
And so what we're doing is we'reilluminating pathways to our
partner universities mm-hmm.
And help.
Mm-hmm.
And, and really focusing on thatsense of belonging, where
students understand theresources associated with
transfer.
Mm-hmm.
It's not just an articulationagreement if we only lean on
articulation agreements as the,as the sole interface.
Mm-hmm.
(08:17):
To help students transfer, thenwe're, then we're doing them a
massive disservice.
Right.
So, well, you you pulled acouple of threads there that I
wanna come back to.
First, this notion oftraditional versus
non-traditional students.
I mean, the reality in Americais that less than 40%, certainly
less than half, but somewherearound 40% of people enrolled in
(08:40):
a post-secondary institution are18 to 24 year olds.
So the reality is they are thenon-traditional student.
They're not the majority ofstudents.
The majority of students, youknow, somewhere around 60% are
older learners students who aregoing part-time working, raising
families, not going to yourtraditional residential college
(09:02):
experience.
when you talk about articulationagreements, it is about
information.
It's about accessing informationthat's clear, that's concise,
and that you can follow along apath.
both of us are former military.
We know how important it is tohave a plan of action.
And we're trained to follow thatplan.
(09:23):
Mm-hmm.
When I was a student, communitycolleges, somebody handed me a
clear pathway on how to transferto uc, Irvine, because uc,
Irvine needed enrollment at thetime.
They don't anymore, but at thetime they had these guaranteed
pathways.
And so that has always stuckwith me.
Mm-hmm.
So, It sounds like what you'redoing is trying to create that
(09:43):
clear plan for people of allbackgrounds, to be able to help
them navigate.
Absolutely, and I think the mostimportant thing is to understand
that there's various archetypesof students mm-hmm.
That build relationships in verydifferent ways.
And so when, when you werelikely going from community
college to, you know, uc,Irvine, it was, you know, there
(10:05):
were a lot of in-personinteraction.
I mean, even the way I grew up,like I, I remember a world
before Google before this thingwas sitting in our hand and
glued to our hand.
Yes, I didn't have a cell phonewhen I went to college, but I
didn't either when I first wentto college.
But I, I, I think one of themost important, actually I did,
I, I'd gotten one just before,just before I went.
(10:25):
But I think the most importantthing is to, to consider all the
different archetypes of studentsmm-hmm.
And who we're supporting.
Right.
So, you know, when we built anddesigned Advisory Lee, we
understood that there needs tobe different experiences
depending on the type ofstudent, but most importantly,
the student needs to be able tobuild relationships the way that
they do in today's world.
Mm-hmm.
In today's world, we haveLinkedIn, right?
We have Instagram, we haveYouTube.
(10:47):
We have.
You know, some people have talksand so we've kind of
revolutionized this concept ofonly focusing on articulation
agreements to say, mm-hmm.
There also needs to be anexploratory experience around
resources, around senses ofbelonging, around what does that
actually, that university offerstudents that is part of the
intangible value.
The communities that studentscan be part of when they go to
(11:08):
that university.
Mm-hmm.
If the student identifies asLatino, is it a Hispanic serving
institution?
Right.
Because maybe that's whatthey're looking for.
Is it a faith-based institution?
Mm-hmm.
But at its core, advisor Lee isbringing together and
standardizing the concept oftransfer so that students can
have a single resource that theycan go to that's reliable and
trustworthy.
Mm-hmm.
With committed institutions thatwill support them.
(11:28):
Mm-hmm.
And we do not prof work withfor-profit institutions.
Well, that's good to know.
That's good to hear.
Yeah.
is part of the solution herecreating networks of individuals
who are trying to follow similarpaths?
Absolutely.
Yeah.
That's great.
You, you you might have ourproduct roadmap in front of you,
but the cats cats out of thebag.
Absolutely.
(11:48):
So this summer we're gonna beworking on connecting students
to students.
Ah, great.
So that they can build thatsense of community as they think
about transfer.
Especially when you think aboutspecialized institutions mm-hmm.
Where a student may otherwisenot be able to find that sense
of community.
Mm-hmm.
So you know, we just partnerwith Mount St.
Mary's.
Right.
Mostly they're focused onenrolling women.
Right.
(12:08):
Unless it's their evening andonline program.
So how do we think about womenwho are most likely faith-based
or interested in a faith-basedinstitution?
Mm-hmm.
Connecting with others.
And also then, you know, movinginto Mount St.
Mary's together, we know thatcommunity.
Is really important ineverything that we do.
Right.
So as we think about that, themost important thing is that we
invite leaders to the table tomake ethical decisions about how
(12:31):
we use this information withstudents and, and the data and
make those connections.
Mm-hmm.
Ethics really matters.
And as we continue to build,we're very fortunate to have
partnered with LuminaFoundation.
Mm-hmm.
ECMC Foundation, strataEducation Network.
As well as our currentinstitutional investors who
actually are very, very alignedwith us on how do we think about
the ethics behind what we'redoing.
(12:52):
Great.
We have impact metrics as well.
one of the things in myexperience is a challenge for
transfer students is this, thisnotion of, you know, you're
hanging out at a communitycollege campus, you've got to
know the campus, you got to knowthe people, you got to know the
faculty, and all of a suddenyou're thrust on a big four year
university campus and you know,your graduate school alma mater
(13:13):
is a great example.
You see Berkeley it's reallytough for a transfer student to
land on a campus like uc,Berkeley.
And, and not have all theinformation that say, freshman
admits have about theinstitution.
How, how do you think abouthelping students when they land
on a college campus ensuringthat they're successful?
A lot of the Advisory Leagueexperience is about helping that
(13:34):
student really understand whatthat institution is before they
get there.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
And so one of the biggestchallenges, or that has been a
challenge in the past wasphantom applications.
Mm-hmm.
Which is a community collegestudent just applying to a four
year university because, youknow, they.
You know, did their journey,they did maybe an articulation
agreement pathway, right?
They never really correspondedwith the institution.
(13:56):
They never felt like theinstitution wanted to correspond
with them.
Right.
And so I think the mostimportant thing is that they
feel that sense that theinstitution wants them there.
Mm-hmm.
And so really through theAdvisory League platform, we
work to curate that experienceand we actually do counsel and
advise a lot of our partneruniversities on how to even
think about the messaging andoutreach that they do for
students.
Right about the things that getstudents engaged, because we see
(14:17):
the engagement for the studentson the platform.
Mm-hmm.
We know the things that theywanna see.
And so when we get to work with,with enrollment teams and
universities, we really, reallysee it as a partnership and to,
to kind of like, you know, takethat a step further.
There's no such thing aspartnering with advisory.
And being removed from the Platplatform.
Mm-hmm.
If you actually have studentswho have pathways to your
(14:38):
institution, it, it really verymuch is kind of like a marriage.
You know, if there's 10 studentson the platform that want to go
to your school, that dream ofgoing to your institution, we're
gonna know it.
Mm-hmm.
And so then it becomes therelationship that we have with
the enrollment team to thinkabout addressing those students
and supporting them.
Mm-hmm.
So it's really exciting for us.
So you mentioned something inyour original description of how
(14:59):
you partner and you mentionedtransfer friendly universities.
just the fact that you have tosay that, I mean, you would
think that every four yearuniversity would be transfer
friendly, that would want thekind of talent and diversity
that come from a communitycollege campus.
But how, how do you, how do youdefine.
The kind of partners you wannawork with in your four year
(15:21):
university partners?
Yeah, that's a great question.
I, I wish that were true thatevery university would consider
that the backbone of Americaneducation is community college.
Mm-hmm.
That when you think about trulycreating a nation that, every,
that every student can have theopportunity mm-hmm.
To succeed.
Mm-hmm.
(15:42):
Community college should be a,not an afterthought, but a first
thought.
Mm-hmm.
When I think of a transferfriendly four year university,
it has less to do with prestigeand more to do with an
institution of access.
And it's all relative.
Right.
So traditionally, highlyselective institutions can be a
little bit more they might seemharder to partner with.
(16:02):
Mm-hmm.
But it really comes down to theteam.
Mm-hmm.
The enrollment teams that welike to work with are the ones
that are.
That lean into the concept ofaccess and equity, and that
actually will work with us tounderstand the perspective of
the students that, that they'llenroll.
Right now, I will say that wehave to work on behalf of the
enrollment teams as well.
So the enrollment teams, thevice presidents of enrollment,
(16:25):
they do have objectives thatthey have to meet, but it's our
job to communicate those truths.
To students.
Mm-hmm.
And if we partner with aninstitution like a community
college or a transfer centerdirector, making sure that they
have the most relevant, updated,timely information, cuz that
stuff changes year over year.
Mm-hmm.
And there's no way for everytransfer center director in
America Right to know what, whatevery single university's
(16:47):
enrollment initiatives are thisyear.
They change all the time.
But it is good if we have thatrelevant information to be able
to arm those transfer centerdirectors and the teams at the
community colleges.
Mm-hmm.
If they do wanna partner withus.
So again, focusing on bringingforward the most motivated
individuals in the space thatwant to continue to lean into
creating opportunities and thoselucky moments for students.
(17:09):
Right.
let's talk a little bit moreabout you.
You know, you're relativelystill young founder and
entrepreneur.
Given all the challenges thatwe've heard about in the news
lately, the near collapse ofsvb, the challenges in the
interest rate environmentaccessing capital, how has that
(17:33):
been impacting you and, and yourcompany and, and what kind of
partners do you seek to help youkeep going?
That's a great question.
We're very fortunate that we hada really successful funding
round last year.
Mm-hmm.
We brought in sufficient capitalto operate in, you know, more
than enough over the next yearfor Advisory Lee.
(17:55):
And I would say also the growththat we've seen in the first
quarter, we brought on TexasTech University.
Wow.
Emerson College, Hawaii PacificUniversity, Mount St.
Mary's, the University ofDenver.
We brought on Los AngelesPacific University, which is our
online partner.
Mm-hmm.
And and university of Arkansas,Fort Smith.
(18:16):
And in Q2 we expect to bring on20 more partner universities.
So that's great.
In terms of growth, we have alot of growth happening right
now at Advisory Lee, so that, sothat kind of hedges us from a
lot of the economic conditionsthat are happening.
Mm-hmm.
But I would say for any newentrepreneur thinking about
getting into a space, andspecifically in education
mm-hmm.
(18:36):
The most important thing is tosurround yourself with
practitioners that are doing thethings that you hope to, to, to
create in the world.
Mm-hmm.
So, as an entrepreneur, my jobis not to be anything more than
a medium for which others canachieve their objectives.
Mm-hmm.
And so a student can achievetheir objectives of transfer
(18:56):
because I can go find.
A VP of enrollment who wants toachieve their objectives of
enrolling a student.
Mm-hmm.
From community college.
Mm-hmm.
Similarly, if a transfer centerdirector wants to positively
impact the lives of studentsmm-hmm.
They can work with us to helpwork with their students.
Mm-hmm.
So I think the most importantthing is to consider why we're
(19:17):
doing things and to do it with asense of conviction.
Right.
To work really, really, reallyhard and understand that nothing
comes easy.
Right?
That you have to do all of thejobs in the company if you have
to, to have integrity behindthat, like military style,
right?
And to have extreme discipline.
I watched Kobe Bryant videosevery day and the, the mentality
that I took from the militaryand from sports, right?
(19:39):
Being able to play football andrun track at Air Force Academy
is the same that I take toadvisor Lee.
All right.
Well, Mamba forever.
Yeah.
So as we begin to wrap up we'rehere at asu, G S v.
What, what excites you abouthanging out at asu G S V?
Anything interesting that you'reseeing going on?
Yeah, well, this was the mostexciting part of it for me.
I, I was competing with a sale aconference university
(20:03):
conference.
And I would say the mostinteresting thing is having come
to these conferences in the pastyears, years in the past coming
here and seeing the familiarfaces and just knowing that.
You know, with consistency anddedication, we've brought on
some of the top foundations,right?
And being able to see kind ofthe progress that advisor Lee
has been able to make year overyear.
And just knowing that next yearwe're gonna make even more
(20:24):
progress and, you know, havejust thousands more students
we're gonna be able to work withand support and I think that's
the most exciting part of A S UG S V.
Well, that's great, Manny.
Thanks for taking the time tojoin us here on the rant.
I appreciate you being with usand appreciate the work that you
guys are doing.
Thank you.
Thanks very much.
All right.
Thanks for joining us here onthe rant.
(20:45):
We've been listening to myconversation with Manny Smith.
Look forward to moreconversations while I'm here at
ASU G S V, so we'll be back withyou shortly with more episodes
of the rant.
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