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Key people at Zinch.
Zinch was founded in 2007 by Sid Krommenhoek (Founder).
Zinch provides a digital platform connecting prospective students with higher education institutions, streamlining admissions and recruitment. Students build comprehensive online profiles detailing achievements and interests. This system enables colleges to efficiently discover and engage with suitable candidates, facilitating targeted recruitment and scholarship matching, enhancing student-institution interactions.
Co-founded by Mick Hagen, Brad Hagen, and Sid Krommenhoek, with Cache Merrill as CTO, Zinch emerged from recognizing students' difficulties navigating college searches. Their vision created a centralized digital network democratizing higher education access, empowering students to find ideal pathways and streamlining institutional connections with diverse talent.
Zinch serves high school students seeking higher education and colleges actively recruiting diverse student populations. The company’s vision fosters successful, equitable connections between students and global educational opportunities. Through intuitive discovery and engagement tools, Zinch aims to broaden higher education access, supporting institutions in building vibrant, academically strong student communities.
Key people at Zinch.
Zinch was founded in 2007 by Sid Krommenhoek (Founder).
Zinch was an educational technology company that operated a platform helping high school students discover scholarships, build profiles akin to college applications, and connect with colleges for networking and recruiting.[1][8] Launched in 2007, it enabled colleges to search and contact student profiles, streamlining admissions and scholarship opportunities for users while serving educational institutions seeking talent.[1] The company grew to 15 employees before being acquired, marking its role as an early player in edtech matchmaking.[1]
Zinch emerged as a research project at Princeton University in June 2006, founded by students Mick Hagen, Brad Hagen, and Sid Krommenhoek, who launched the public platform on March 12, 2007.[1] The idea addressed gaps in college admissions by creating a two-sided marketplace for students and schools, gaining early traction through profile-based networking.[1] Key figures included CTO Cache Merrill, who led engineering for six years before founding Zibtek with Zinch's core team, and later leader Anne Dwane, founder of Military.com, who ran operations.[1]
Zinch rode the early 2000s edtech wave, capitalizing on rising college competition and digital profiles amid expanding online education tools.[1][8] Its timing aligned with social networking's boom (e.g., Facebook's growth), enabling profile-based discovery when admissions were shifting online. Market forces like increasing scholarship needs and college recruiting demands favored it, influencing the ecosystem by popularizing two-sided marketplaces in education—paving the way for platforms like LinkedIn Learning or Handshake.[1]
Zinch's acquisition ended its independent run, but its model endures in modern edtech firms emphasizing AI-driven matching and virtual recruiting. Post-acquisition, its legacy supports ongoing trends like personalized admissions amid remote learning surges. As edtech evolves with AI and global access, Zinch-like innovations could resurface, potentially revitalizing scholarship platforms for underserved students—echoing its original mission to democratize college opportunities.[1]
