In higher education both students’ and faculty members’ schedules are complicated on their own. Trying to coordinate schedules for advising or meetings compounds the difficulty.

SpeedFaces aims to make the process easier for everyone involved by allowing students to schedule meeting times with faculty, conduct meetings via video conferencing, retain chat notes as well as other features through the Internet.

The concept started with co-founder Ross Hamilton’s wife’s idea of virtual speed dating. When Ross pitched the idea to (other co-founder) Robert Kehaya, it morphed into possibly networking people face-to-face over the Internet.

“We launched V1 [version one] of SpeedFaces in May 2014 as a networking tool for alumni and raised capital soon after,” Kehaya said in an email. “With more funds and CastleBranch as a channel partner we decided to rebuild and improve the platform.”

Kehaya knows what a difference technology can make for struggling students.

“Growing up with a learning difference known as dysgraphia – the inability to write by hand coherently – was not easy for me,” he said. “I’ll never forget the day an elementary grade tutor took my pencil and paper away and said, ‘Writing is just not going to work for you. We are going to try this instead.’ She set the first digital typewriter I’d ever seen in front of me, and my life was changed forever. That was the moment I learned that a tool could remove an obstacle and help me overcome a frustrating personal condition that otherwise could not be resolved.”

Kehaya attended two boarding schools between seventh grade and high school – the Fay School and Asheville School. He credits his experiences there to his success.

“The support I received there enabled me to be able to learn for the rest of my life. My passion is for SpeedFaces to be that level of support for other students,” he said.

In May of this year, they signed 30 programs from around the country for the pilot group. The University of North Carolina Wilmington assisted in refining the pilot program over the summer, and SpeedFaces is currently rolling out the pilot to five schools at a time.

“[We] will begin adding more programs in preparation for 2016,” Kehaya said.

Their chief clients are advising departments and student services departments at universities around the country.

SpeedFaces is being used in town, as well.

“On a local level, [UNCW’s] Cameron School of Business is excited to offer more frequent advising sessions to extension students, so SpeedFaces offers a big advantage when reaching out to distant learners,” Kehaya said. “Our cloud-based system facilitates increasing the quality of advising while decreasing overall administrative costs, which is really important to administrators.”

Kehaya says the response has been strong so far.

“Students love our self-scheduling feature and having easy access to their advisors,” he said. “With the average median student to advisor ratio at 300:1, advisors and administrators have a hard time serving students with antiquated tools and processes.”

They’re continually adding new features. The next release is slated to include screen sharing, note exporting and private notes. Kehaya keeps the legal side of things in mind as well. “Regulatory compliance is also an important aspect of higher education, so we are very focused on ensuring FERPA and ADA compliance in all our features,” he said.

Support from the local tech community also has been key, Kehaya said.

“tekMountain and CastleBranch are a part of a growing ecosystem bringing modern entrepreneurship and technology development typically associated with places like Silicon Valley and New York to Wilmington,” he said. “I’m proud of what our community has accomplished while staying true to the quality of life and character we all care so much about in this region.

“Moreover, I’m confident tekMountain and the growing Wilmington startup ecosystem will remain a force of empowerment and innovation for years to come, and I’m humbled to be a part of that movement.”