Roy Scott hopes to repeat history, he said, drawing parallels between his company’s trajectory and the opening scenes of Walt Disney’s successful career in Kansas City.
“Anybody who knows me, or does their research on me, can see that my passion and my perseverance and my whole mission is to continue pushing Healthy Hip Hop until we become an urban Disney,” said the founder and CEO of the children’s music and learning platform.
In working toward that goal, Scott launched a crowdfunding campaign in late February through Republic with a minimum goal of raising $25,000 in grassroots investments. As of July 21, Healthy Hip Hop has exceeded its minimum goal — raising $54,893 thus far, according to its Republic page.
Click here to learn more about Healthy Hip Hop.
[pullquote]
What is Healthy Hip Hop?
Healthy Hip Hop is a platform that uses hip-hop culture, music, literacy and social interaction to improve learning environments, as well as works to create a safe social media experience for kids.
[/pullquote]Doubling the minimum goal doesn’t surprise Scott, he said.
“I’m an ambitious and optimistic thinker,” he noted. “Ultimately, the goal is that we hit a million dollars, which is how much money Republic allows [startups] to raise. I’m thinking if I can make a few strategic moves, we can still push all the way to a million.”
The campaign was originally set to close May 1, but Scott and his team extended the deadline to Sept. 1 — leaving about 40 days left in the campaign. Along with utilizing email and social media marketing tactics to raise funds, Scott plans to work with influential entertainers, athletes and entrepreneurs in the final push of the campaign, he added.
Funds raised so far will be used to expand the Healthy Hip Hop team and scale the business, Scott said, noting the startup just added an individual to serve as chief technology officer.
“We’ve been working diligently to get the product ready, and now we’re at a really good place with it,” he shared. “The next step is to strengthen the team. We are getting our processes in place to hire some key people.”
Healthy Hip Hop also launched an updated version of its mobile app Tuesday, Scott said.
“We listened to the feedback and made the new [user interface, user experience] a whole lot better,” he noted. “It is important we do our best to continue to understand what our users and customers like and want and are willing to pay for — and then build our product based on that.”
Healthy Hip Hop’s growth comes after a $500K bid from the Dallas Independent School District in Texas. Click here to read more about the news.
Scott encouraged community members to invest in Healthy Hip Hop, before the opportunity passes.
“What makes this so unique is that it’s not a donation — it’s an investment. Any money you put in translates to having shares in the company,” Scott explained. “… This is like having an opportunity to invest in Disney when they were on the ground floor. There’s a lot of high growth potential here. We’re doing something epic.”
This story is possible thanks to support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a private, nonpartisan foundation that works together with communities in education and entrepreneurship to create uncommon solutions and empower people to shape their futures and be successful.
For more information, visit www.kauffman.org and connect at www.twitter.com/kauffmanfdn and www.facebook.com/kauffmanfdn
