RallyPoint

Last updated
RallyPoint
Company type Private
Industry Professional Networking
Founded2012
Headquarters Boston, Massachusetts
Key people
David Gowel (CEO)
Yinon Weiss (Co-Founder)
Aaron Kletzing (Co-Founder)
Website www.RallyPoint.com

RallyPoint is a privately held American company founded in 2012 by military veterans Yinon Weiss and Aaron Kletzing at Harvard Business School. [1] The company is a professional network serving the US military and its veterans, and has been called "LinkedIn for the military," [2] [3] [4] [5] . The community allows current military members and veterans to connect, explore career opportunities both inside and outside the military, and engage on topics important to the military.

Contents

In April 2012, RallyPoint won $10,000 for placing as runner-up in the Harvard Business School Business Plan Competition [6] and on October 23, 2012, RallyPoint won $100,000 from MassChallenge after competing against over 1,300 other ventures. [7] The company raised private funding after both of these events. [8] [9]

RallyPoint was launched out of the Harvard Innovation Lab at the Harvard Business School, [10] and is currently headquartered in Middleton, Massachusetts.

History

The company's two co-founders, Yinon Weiss and Aaron Kletzing, first met in Iraq in a remote combat outpost northwest of Baghdad in 2008. [11] Several years later, the two ran into each other again as students this time at Harvard Business School. [3]

In 2016, Army Veteran, David Gowel (author of The Power in a Link [12] ) became the company's CEO and a member of the board of directors.

In November 2016, RallyPoint was named one of the top 5 Veteran-Founded Startups in America in Forbes. [13]

In 2020, RallyPoint announced a partnership with Amazon Web Services to address military and veteran suicide risk. [14]

In 2023, The Department of Defense's (DOD's) Military OneSource Spouse Education & Career Opportunities program identified RallyPoint as an online network the military community can use to help create a positive experience when joining, serving, and transitioning out of military service to Veteran life. The DOD published a video explaining how military spouses can use RallyPoint to further their careers and quality of life. [15]

In October 2023, Harvard University's psychology chair, Dr. Matthew Nock [16] provided an interview to Federal News Network referring to his work with RallyPoint as a "promising new avenue to help prevent suicides among veterans." [17]

In January 2024, Dr. Nock released research [18] with collaborators from MIT and Amazon about Dr. Nock's work with RallyPoint utilizing machine learning to predict and intervene with suicide risk for the military community on RallyPoint's platform. This work was performed under a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Direct to Phase II [19] contract awarded by the U.S. Air Force AFWERX program with RallyPoint as the prime contractor.

In July 2024, Zeta Global (NYSE:ZETA) CEO, David_A._Steinberg announced a partnership with RallyPoint to enhance experiences and increase support for the military community. [20]

Company

Website

RallyPoint is a professional network available to all US military members and veterans, [21] [22] described by Forbes as "LinkedIn on steroids for members of the military." [23]

Information of users and connections is sorted based on the military structure, such as rank, specialty, duty position, and duty location. [24]

According to the Huffington Post, RallyPoint is "solving two problems by creating both an easy-to-use professional network within the military, as well as the most technologically advanced employer-to-service member matching network in the country." [25]

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References

  1. ↑ McGregor, Jean (12 Nov 2012). "New social network aims to help military members plan their careers". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 7 December 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  2. ↑ Empson, Rip (13 Nov 2012). "Iraq Veterans Launch RallyPoint: A LinkedIn For The Military (And Life After)". TechCrunch. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  3. 1 2 Landry, Lauren (16 Aug 2012). "Two Harvard Business School Grads Create RallyPoint: LinkedIn for the Military". StreetwiseMedia. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
  4. ↑ Cruz, Victor (12 Nov 2012). "Iraq War Vets Have the Right Stuff: LinkedIn for the Military". Wired.com. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  5. ↑ Carlyle, Erin (2 Jan 2013). "Forbes Up And Comers: Joe Poulin, Cody Hopkins, Aaron Kletzing". Forbes . Retrieved 18 May 2013.
  6. ↑ "Harvard Business School Holds 16th Annual Business Plan Contest". HBS, Inc. 25 April 2012. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
  7. ↑ "2012 MassChallenge Winners". MassChallenge, Inc. 2013. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
  8. ↑ Landry, Lauren (18 Dec 2012). "RallyPoint Raises an Additional $1 Million from Angel Investors". StreetwiseMedia. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  9. ↑ Wagner, Kurt (1 Aug 2013). "Meet 3 serious LinkedIn imitators". CNN Money. Retrieved 14 Aug 2013.
  10. ↑ "Long Term Residents". Harvard Student Agencies. 2013. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
  11. ↑ Gallagher, Matt (2 October 2012). "Business Lessons from Iraq: Post-War Military Networking". Time Inc. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
  12. ↑ Gowel, Dave (1 Jan 2011). The Power in a Link. ISBN   978-1118134672.
  13. ↑ "The Top 25 Veteran-Founded Startups in America". Forbes . 11 Nov 2016. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  14. ↑ "Enabling faster intervention of military community suicides". aboutamazon.com. 12 August 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
  15. ↑ "An Official Defense Department Website MilitaryOneSource". myseco.militaryonesource.mil. 1 May 2023. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  16. ↑ "Matthew K. Nock, Ph.D., Director". nocklab.fas.harvard.edu. 1 January 2017. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  17. ↑ "A promising new avenue to help prevent suicides among veterans". federalnewsnetwork.com. 30 October 2023. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  18. ↑ "Detecting suicide risk among U.S. Servicemembers and Veterans: A deep learning approach using social media data". osf.io. 3 January 2024. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  19. ↑ "AFWERX Open Topic". afwerx.com. 11 July 2024. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  20. ↑ "Zeta Global Partners with RallyPoint to Enhance experiences and increase support for the military and veteran community". finance.yahoo.com. 2 July 2024. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  21. ↑ Karol, Gabrielle (24 May 2013). "RallyPoint Aims to Connect Vets, Service Members with Jobs". Fox Business. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  22. ↑ Twomey, Matt (27 May 2013). "Jobs for Vets: RallyPoint, Others Put Sights on Ex-Military". CNBC. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
  23. ↑ Adams, Susan (31 May 2013). "RallyPoint Wants To Be LinkedIn For The Military". Forbes. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
  24. ↑ Burke, Adrienne (1 July 2013). "RallyPoint: Building a Social Network to get 2 million veterans back to work". Yahoo Small Business. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
  25. ↑ "The Harvard Business Plan Competition's Answer To Veteran Unemployment". TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. 1 August 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
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