American Student Assistance
Finding new revenue to future-proof existing career support for US teens
Tags
Career-readiness resources from American Student Assistance (ASA) enable young people to make informed choices about their futures. The US non-profit aimed to build a new revenue model so that it could offer these resources free forever.
To enable ASA to realise this ambition, we brought a wide range of expertise and capabilities to hypothesise, build, and validate multiple new business model options that could achieve sustainable long-term revenue.
The result of this effort is TeenVoice, a revolutionary teen insights platform with unique on-demand teen engagement, connecting organisations eager to listen with engaged teens ready to share. Its wider impact will be in securing the future of life-changing career support for millions of US teens.
Future-proofing a powerful mission
American Student Assistance (ASA) is a US non-profit on a mission to revolutionise the school-to-work journey for every child in America. Through ASA’s digital platforms, students have access to resources to help them explore and experiment with different careers.
For ASA, future-proofing its ability to offer these resources for free was a key ambition. To achieve this, it aimed to develop a new revenue model, focused on unlocking new value from its digital platforms.
The resources we provide through our digital platforms are central to our mission to build a generation of successful individuals, ready to realise the future they envision. So, establishing a self-sustaining revenue model to underpin provision was – quite literally – mission critical.”
Bringing sustainable new growth to life
We worked with ASA to identify and realise the right opportunities, bringing in our expertise from a wide range of disciplines to hypothesise and develop viable new business model opportunities. Drawing on expertise in digital, growth strategy, business model development, and customer experience design, we created an innovative new business model. This effort leveraged our proprietary methodologies from Alpha Business Model generation, through Total Customer Experience design, and B2B Demand Landscape identification, resulting in the launch of a brand-new digital product and revenue stream.
“When we started looking for an innovation partner, we were searching for experts who were builders as well as thinkers – a team that could come up with creative ideas and also build them out into a real-world solution,” explains Colarusso. He concluded, “In PA, we found the perfect match.”
We demonstrated our creativity from the start, proposing ways to shape a new revenue model that leverages unique IP and assets from the core career-support platform.
Understanding what was different and valuable about ASA’s digital ecosystem was key. We were looking to unlock new value that went far beyond simply generating advertising revenue from the platform’s social media channels.”
Working side-by-side with the ASA team, we identified multiple business model hypotheses that could deliver sustainable new revenue. Through market analysis, customer understanding, and ROI potential, we narrowed to a new digital research product to help brands connect with and learn from teens.
Accelerating innovation
With the right opportunity identified, we drove the innovation forward. This included designing a two-year vision for the product, identifying business operation needs, testing the model with the market, and establishing a user experience framework for the digital build. We went on to define the target customer segments, separate critical launch features and functionality from those further out, and design the pricing model. Finally, we produced a detailed go-to-market plan.
Our approach is all about finding the fastest path to impact. We moved through each stage of innovation with purpose, clearing barriers at pace, yet balancing speed with a responsible and principled approach.”
Finding the fastest path to impact
Our laser-focus paid off. In collaboration with the ASA team and partners, we hit the 24-month timeline to bring a new, revenue-generating product to market ahead of target. TeenVoice launched just 18 months after our partnership with ASA began.
TeenVoice offers brands vital insights via surveys, pulse checks, and expert insight reports, into how teens see the world while giving young people the ability to actively take part in shaping the world around them. Most importantly, this innovative product empowers ASA to maintain and grow school-to-work resources for young people – transforming lives by giving teens the information they need to realise their dreams and ambitions.
From day one, this felt like a true partnership, with a shared ambition for the product.”
The new business aligns perfectly with ASA's mission. It’s a great example of how we love to work with organisations that share our commitment to a positive human future.”
Explore more
