Life 101: Mothers of college kids create product to help students master survival skills Life 101: Mothers of college kids create product to help students master survival skills (July 28, 2004)

By Jennifer Nuckols
Special to the Almanac

Most college freshman are eager to embrace their new-found independence and apply the life skills they have acquired during the past 18 years. Yet while these new college students may be very adept at say, standardized tests, they may not be so well-versed in the skills of daily survival, such as knowing what to do when their wallet gets stolen, how to fill out a medical history form, or how to pay their bills on time.

Diane Brandt of Menlo Park and Susan Rothstein of San Francisco, both Stanford MBAs and both mothers of college students, have come up with a product they think can help: a sleek and approachable binder created to assist students -- and reassure parents -- as the students begin life on their own.

The concept was to create a compact and portable device -- handy at college or at home -- where students can store important documents, record key information, and find tips on such topics as banking, bill-paying, health care and travel.

Called the CollegeCase, the binder hit the market this May and is the first product of Ms. Brandt's and Ms. Rothstein's company, named Captio Corp. after the Latin word that means "to capture."

From experience

The $29.99 CollegeCase grew out of Ms. Rothstein's experience of sending her first son off to college and receiving frequent calls from him at moments of crisis, such as when his wallet was stolen, when he lost his e-ticket, and when he unknowingly incurred a large finance charge, says Ms. Rothstein.

She put together an impromptu binder for him and later joined with Stanford business school classmate and friend, Ms. Brandt, to form Captio Corp. and market their idea on a larger scale.

The creation and marketing of a consumer product is different than any of their previous business ventures.

Ms. Rothstein has held senior-level management positions for nonprofits.

Ms. Brandt most recently worked as partner and co-owner of Trinity Advisors, a firm on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park that advised institutional investors in large lease transactions. Raised in Minnesota, she graduated from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, with a bachelor's in business administration and psychology. She received her master's from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1978, and two years later settled in the Bay Area.

Both Ms. Brandt and Ms. Rothstein sent sons off to college the same year. Both students will be seniors this fall, and both now use the binder, the moms say.

"We've been through this: For any parent, it will be clear that we are credible," says Ms. Brandt.

Early successes

The new company's marketing speaks directly to students, she says.

"But since the CollegeCase hit the shelves, we've found that many of the purchasers are parents or other adult friends of the students," says Ms. Brandt.

Their first big success came during the period of high school graduation, in which they sold approximately 1,500 units. The binder is sold at 20 gift, stationary and luggage stores in the Bay Area. Twenty-one stores in the South also recently began carrying the product, as well as two stores in New York. It's also sold on the Internet at www.captio.com.

The women entrepreneurs have plans for 10 more similar organizers, including one for young families, one for people just entering the work force, and one for adults who take care of their elderly parents.

How it works

The CollegeCase is stiff translucent plastic binder with a slot in front, called the "hatchback inbox," for temporary storage of documents, such as bank statements and unpaid bills, that the student can readily locate when they are ready to deal with them.

The binder has bright orange dividers separating each section: property, banking, bills, health, travel, school, employment and miscellaneous. The dividers have pockets where relevant documents can be stored, and each section has written tips and checklists.

From its conception the binder was seen as a merger of a book with a filing system.

"Filing systems don't tell you how to set up. Books take a lot of time to read. What we wanted was a marriage of the two," says Ms. Brandt.

Other design goals were that it be lightweight, portable, and easy to set up. Ideally, parent and student can set it up with all the important information in just two hours, she says.

Each section has references to non-commercial Web sites that can provide more information on the topic, and a quote related to the section's subject. For example, on the "banking" divider, is a quote from Pablo Picasso: "I'd like to live as a poor man with lots of money."

Text sections are not intended to give advice, says Ms. Brandt, or to harp at students to not spend too much money. Instead, she says, the idea is to provide "tools and instructions to help students make their own decisions."

Testimonials

Acquaintances of the CollegeCase's creators were invited to use one of the prototypes during the last academic year.

Stacy Hills of Atherton used the CollegeCase during her freshman year at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. "It kept me organized," she says. "It definitely made it easier to find things." Her one recommendation is to have more space for miscellaneous items.

Aubrey Rawlins of Menlo Park used the CollegeCase during his freshman year at New York University. "Diane did a good job of thinking like a college student (in the design)," says Mr. Rawlins. He would like to see even more categories so that he could further subdivide his bills, for example. He plans to use it during the next academic year as well.

Laura Reininger, owner of Edwards Luggage at the Stanford Shopping Center, says that the product has sold very quickly in her stores and that people were buying four to six units at a time to give as graduation gifts. She is sending one with her daughter when she leaves for college next month. Ms. Reininger asks: "When are you coming out with one for (me to use in) my home?"

INFORMATION

In Menlo Park, the CollegeCase is sold at Village Stationers, located in downtown Menlo Park at 1111 Santa Cruz Ave., and at Academic Trainers, 1075 Curtis St. It also can be ordered online. For more information, go to www.captio.com.

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