Sell the app to schools as a phone policy after students asked for it

Kenneth SchlenkerTotally organically. I had here that one day, maybe we'd work with colleges, but working with schools to high school was not something that I thought about. But what happened was it started last year, we literally got an email from a high school in Los Angeles, Harvard-Westlake, that essentially what happened is they had asked their students, "Basically, the state is telling us we to ban phones, what should we do?"

Kenneth SchlenkerStudents got back to them, and said, "Many of us are using this app called Opal. We're using it on our own. No one's telling us to do that, but maybe you should reach out to them."

Kenneth SchlenkerThey had reached out to us to see if we could do something together. We found that it was interesting actually to do that. What we've done is we built Opal for Schools. What it is, it's a phone policy that schools can use to help their students focus and thrive. The way it works is the students download the Opal app. Then when they walk into campus, when they walk into school, the banned apps are blocked in their phone, but they can still access …

Kenneth Schlenker… we're actually scaling in across the states with many high schools around the US. It really becomes a very interesting new area for us, not only because again, super aligned around mission. We really, really like that. I think it's a whole chapter we could open. But it's a much smarter way to actually do phone and policy rather than taking the phones away. We're actually teaching something to kids to get a tool that they can use after school.

Kenneth SchlenkerFrom a business perspective, it makes sense because it really helps position Opal in the family. People talk about it on a local community level as well because every student uses it. Helps a lot as well. But yes, it's a new distribution for us that is super interesting and extremely mission aligned. Because we need to make sure that education is still, and continues to be an important effector for progress. We can be a part of that.

David BarnardAnother aspect to it too is that those students will eventually graduate, become professionals, want the tools, and no longer have it provided by the school. It's also growing up that next generation of pro users who are professionals who can afford the more expensive tier and stuff.

David BarnardAre you able to share in broad strokes what that financial arrangement looks like? Are schools actually paying per student for this or are you just giving it away for that eventual benefit?

Kenneth SchlenkerWe do charge schools for deployments, and using this service a per student fee that is very competitive compared to alternative solutions. We do charge schools. But, for sure, the benefit for our businesses expands way beyond that revenue. That's why we're able to charge cheaper prices to schools because of that kind of other value that it brings to the business.

David BarnardYeah, that makes it a whole new world for a consumer app founder to be writing contracts with school districts. Are you ramping a sales team or how are you handling that?