1. Tell us about your company and the problem it solves, or its benefit to learners or educators.
Pathify is the leading digital engagement hub for higher education dynamically delivering personalized information and updates to students, alumni and staff for a more inclusive, connected campus. Through our expansive and evolving integration library, we empower institutions to connect and communicate information across systems, including SIS, LMS, email, calendars and events, student ID cards and more. Trusted by over 175 colleges and universities, Pathify is the preferred student communications portal solution over homegrown or SIS-packaged platforms.
2. Where did the idea come from to create your company?
The idea for Pathify took root during my time at Monash University alongside my classmate and Pathify co-founder, James McCubbin. As we approached the completion of our degrees, we couldn’t ignore the stark contrast between the sleek, user-friendly design of everyday consumer apps and the clunky, outdated systems universities relied on. While modern tools offered seamless interfaces, advanced search functionality and personalized experiences, most higher education systems failed to match the same level of efficiency and engagement.
This glaring gap sparked countless discussions with peers and staff at Monash and other Australia universities, fueling our determination to address the problem. Those conversations ultimately laid the foundation for Pathify — a groundbreaking EdTech SaaS company. With a mission to simplify and enhance the college experience, we set out to create a platform that provides a highly integrated and hyper-personalized approach to student engagement.
3. Tell us about one challenge and how you overcame that challenge?
At the onset of Pathify, one of our biggest challenges involved integrating with the outdated technical infrastructure of core higher education systems. Initially, we relied on APIs to pull data from major university systems. However, many of these systems, built decades ago, lacked modern, robust APIs, making seamless data transfer difficult.
We realized we needed a more adaptable solution, one that could connect data and information to Pathify in various methods and formats. We considered licensing a middleware platform but ultimately decided against it, as it was not commercially viable for our needs. Instead, in 2018, we made the strategic call to build our own middleware layer.
Over the past six years, we’ve continuously refined and enhanced our middleware platform, creating a robust set of integrations with the most commonly used systems in higher education. Today, our platform supports over 100 out-of-the-box integrations, a capability made possible through our innovative approach. This middleware not only solved our initial integration challenges but also positioned us to deliver scalable and flexible solutions for our clients.
4. What are you most proud of?
Throughout Pathify’s history, we’ve stayed true to our mission of making students’ lives easier by empowering them to engage with the opportunities their schools offer. This dedication enabled us to create a platform that over 1 million users rely on every month. Reaching this milestone reflects our unwavering commitment to our vision for the future, and it’s incredibly rewarding to see the positive impact our platform has on students and institutions alike.
5. Where do you see your company in 5 years?
Over the next five years, we anticipate significant growth for Pathify, with plans to deploy our flagship Engagement Hub solution at over 500 institutions worldwide, reaching more than 5 million monthly users. We will continue expanding integrations with a wider range of systems and developing innovative features to further enhance the value we deliver to our customers. The next 18-24 months will be a pivotal period for Pathify as institutions increasingly prioritize technology solutions that deliver measurable ROI for their constituents. This shift presents a major opportunity for us to demonstrate the value and impact of our platform.
