We recently connected with William Glass and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, William thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Growing up I had multiple members of my family file bankruptcy, saw my parents relationship fall apart due to financial stress, and saw how not getting this one thing right impacts our relationships, happiness, and own sense of self-worth.

That led me down the path of becoming an avid personal finance junkie consuming all of the books, podcasts, and articles I could about building wealth. After a few, years at my corporate job I got frustrated with the entire industry as access to personal financial information, tools, and products has grown, outcomes have not improved. There are still 145 million Americans with less than $1,000 in a savings account.

That led me to a deep dive into the industry to understand how to actually create systemic change that will improve financial outcomes at scale. I reconnected with a college friend, Andrew Holliday who was burning out in investment banking. Together we started Ostrich a financial habit building app for college students to become financially independent.

Neither of us were technical and we learned how to use no code tools to build our first product, bootstrapped up until last year, and have now raised a $200k in capital.

Ostrich’s mission is to ensure the next generation becomes financially independent.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I’m William Glass, co-founder & CEO of Ostrich and host of the Silicon Alley Podcast. My mission is to improve financial well-being globally. Ostrich provides a mobile app to college students transforming their finances on the path to financial independence. The app uses game-like social challenges, rewards and community to drive better outcomes.

Specifically Ostrich has been focusing on student-athletes as the new NIL (name-image-likeness) laws provide opportunities for student-athletes to make money. Many states and schools require financial literacy and Ostrich is able to make financial literacy actionable so students achieve real outcomes.

I’m most proud of the feedback we get from students about how Ostrich has transformed their financial situation in a short-period of time. From avoiding credit card debt to starting an investing account years earlier than they would’ve otherwise. Additionally, Ostrich partners with athletic departments and school administrators who want to go beyond financial literacy to real financial outcomes. It’s been incredible seeing the feedback from colleges and universities who are seeing their students more engaged in their finances and graduating in stronger financial position than previous graduates.

I also host the Silicon Alley Podcast providing a platform for entrepreneurs from all industries and backgrounds to tell their stories. Additionally, I own rental property and was a successful tech sales rep before starting my own business.

In 2014, I was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship where I taught English in rural Thailand for 14 months. I’m originally from Alabama, graduated from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida and now reside in New York City.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

When my co-founder Andrew Holliday and I started Ostrich, neither of us had built a tech startup. We interviewed potential customers and users in surveys and focus groups and then started testing and building.

Our initial focus was on serving too broad of an audience. We looked at niching down based on profession, age, income, and location, yet we never made any decisions.

Ultimately, we ran multiple pilots, one with an employer and one with college students. We found that we had great results across both cohorts except serving an employer with employees at various life stages would be more challenging. Ultimately we ended up pivoting to focus on college students due to the ease of reaching those students and the fact their financial lives are simpler than older adults.

Once we got focused on the college market we identified a unique go-to-market opportunity focusing on student-athletes. 13 states require schools to provide financial literacy programming to student athletes as a part of their NIL laws. Ostrich is now uniquely positioned to help schools meet and exceed the requirement through our app.

Since then, Ostrich has signed multiple partnerships in the college and NIL market. Our conversations with schools are more focused and the value proposition for both the school and students is clear thanks to the pivot.

I wish we had been more focused earlier but the pivot taught us that being focused is incredibly important in the early days and can present unique opportunities.

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

There’s a new marketing opportunity that has just opened up in the last couple of years and that is thanks to NIL laws. College athletes are now able to monetize their name-image-likeness through brand sponsorships, promotions, and social media. As you’d expect, the top athletes in the most popular sports are predominantly getting large NIL deals.

Yet, many college student-athletes want to do NIL deals and are willing to promote brands at a reasonable price. Ostrich working directly with student-athletes has direct access to this group. Given Ostrich’s target demo of college students we’ve been using NIL to expand within a college campus partnering with student-athletes. Our tactics include sponsored challenges to group chat marketing and creating user generated content.

More brands and small businesses should leverage NIL opportunities to reach GenZ.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://getostrich.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/willyg_iii
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/williampglass3
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/williampglass3
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/williampglass3
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SiliconAlley
• Other: https://siliconalleypodcast.com

Image Credits
William Glass, Scott Cook