Steppingblocks

What Steppingblocks does

Steppingblocks is a data analytics SaaS company that provides U.S. higher education institutions with graduate outcomes intelligence and career exploration tools. The company aggregates demographic, education, and employment data covering 150+ million career paths, 25+ million employer profiles, 30,000+ job skills, and 1+ billion career milestones from hundreds of sources, and packages that data into role-specific products for three distinct university buyers: Career Services, Institutional Research & Leadership, and Advancement & Alumni Relations. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Steppingblocks was founded in 2017 and operates as a privately held corporation (Steppingblocks, Inc.).

The product portfolio includes the Digital Career Counselor (a student-facing career exploration and personality-assessment tool), Graduate Outcomes and Graduate Explorer (institutional research and reporting products), and AlumLink (an alumni relations and donor-identification product). The platform also supports a content and community layer through the DataU Podcast, an annual user conference, webinars, and free guides. Technically, the system is built on a structured-data analytics infrastructure, exposes a restricted API, integrates with social login providers (Google, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter) and Stripe for billing, and is delivered as a SaaS application with both institutional dashboards and student-facing access via university single sign-on.

Steppingblocks generates revenue through annual, quote-based enterprise SaaS subscriptions sold primarily via direct sales to universities. A self-service Digital Career Counselor tier is accessible to students through their university login, serving as a product-led complement to the institutional sales motion. The company has raised approximately $2.2 million in total disclosed funding across a 2017 round and two National Science Foundation grants (2018, 2019), and currently operates with 11-50 employees and a public logo base of roughly a dozen U.S. universities including University of Maryland Global Campus, Georgia State University, Florida International University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and University of South Carolina.

Name

Steppingblocks

Legal name

Steppingblocks, Inc.

Website

https://steppingblocks.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Steppingblocks is a higher education data analytics SaaS platform that provides U.S. universities with graduate outcomes data, career exploration tools, and alumni analytics. It serves Career Services, Institutional Research, and Advancement departments using proprietary data on 150+ million career paths.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Higher Education Analytics Software

NAICS

Educational Support Services (61171), Employment Placement Agencies (561311)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Employment Agencies (7361)

akta.pro primary industry

Career Services & Job Placement Platforms (Jobs, Recruiting, Employer Networks) (EDAFAMAM)

akta.pro secondary industries

Internship/Apprenticeship Matching & Work-Based Learning Platforms (EDAFAMAL), Career Exploration & Job Shadowing Programs (EDAMAKAC), Mentorship & Coaching (Career, Academic, Industry-Specific) (EDAMAKAA)

Keywords

• Graduate outcomes analytics
• Higher education data platform
• Career pathway software
• Alumni engagement analytics
• Workforce outcomes data

Headquarters

HQ city

Atlanta

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. University/Institution Subscriptions: SaaS platform subscriptions sold to universities for access to graduate outcomes data, career counseling tools, and alumni analytics. Pricing appears quote-based, varying by institution size and feature access. Annual subscription model with auto-renewal for institutional customers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Steppingblocks is a SaaS data analytics platform for higher education institutions that aggregates and analyzes demographic, education, and employment data covering 150+ million real career paths, 25+ million employer profiles, and 30,000+ job skills. It sells institutional subscriptions to universities to power student-facing career exploration (Digital Career Counselor), graduate outcomes reporting (Graduate Outcomes/Graduate Explorer), and alumni fundraising and engagement (AlumLink).

Product overview

Steppingblocks is a data-driven higher education technology platform offering a suite of products for student career success and institutional research. The core portfolio includes Digital Career Counselor (student-facing career exploration with personality testing and 150M+ career path data), Graduate Outcomes (institutional graduate outcomes reporting), Graduate Explorer (advanced outcomes data analysis), and AlumLink (alumni relations and donor identification). The platform also supports three primary institutional roles: Career Services & Student Success, Institutional Research & Leadership, and Advancement & Alumni Relations. Supporting content includes the DataU Podcast for thought leadership in higher education analytics.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Digital Career Counselor Student-facing career exploration platform featuring personality assessments, analysis of 150+ million real career paths by job title/major/school, salary insights, and skills data for scalable, self-service career guidance. Sold to university Career Services departments.
• Graduate Outcomes Institutional research tool providing immediate access to alumni data and post-graduation insights including demographic, geographic, and employment trends by major, graduation year, employer, and location. Sold to university Institutional Research offices.
• Graduate Explorer Platform for exploring and analyzing graduate outcomes data to understand the value of every degree program with access to rich academic and employer insights. Sold to universities for evidence-based program review.
• AlumLink Alumni relations solution using advanced alumni outcomes data to identify donors, download record-level data for actionable lists, and understand migration trends for better event attendance. Sold to university Advancement teams.

Quantifiable outcome

• 347% increase in student engagement at University of Maryland Global Campus
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers13 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

AI capability3 records

Feature6 records

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Handshake: Handshake is the leading career services and student employment platform for US universities, directly competing with Steppingblocks' Digital Career Counselor and Graduate Outcomes modules for the same Career Services buyer.
• Symplicity: Symplicity provides career services, CSM (accommodations), and student success software to universities, overlapping with Steppingblocks on Career Services and student engagement tooling.
• 12Twenty: 12Twenty is a higher-ed career outcomes and student success platform used by Career Services and IR offices, directly comparable to Steppingblocks' Graduate Outcomes and Digital Career Counselor products.
• Civitas Learning: Civitas Learning offers student success analytics to universities, competing for the same Institutional Research and Student Success buyer that Steppingblocks serves with its Graduate Outcomes platform.

Broad incumbents

• EAB: EAB is a large higher-ed advisory and technology provider serving enrollment, advancement, and student success functions across universities, overlapping with Steppingblocks' Career Services, IR, and Advancement modules as part of a much broader portfolio.
• Lightcast (Emsi/Burning Glass): Lightcast supplies labor market and workforce analytics data that underpins career outcomes and program review decisions at universities, competing in adjacent space with Steppingblocks' employer and career-path dataset.
• Anthology: Anthology (formerly Campus Management) provides a broad SIS and student success suite used by universities, competing indirectly for Institutional Research and Student Success budgets that Steppingblocks also targets.

Emerging players

• PeopleGrove: PeopleGrove provides alumni engagement, mentorship, and career networking platforms to universities, overlapping with Steppingblocks' AlumLink alumni relations and student mentorship use cases.
• GradLeaders: GradLeaders offers a career services platform with alumni mentoring, outcomes tracking, and employer relations tools — a direct functional analog to Steppingblocks' Career Services and AlumLink offerings for smaller institutions.
• Riipen: Riipen is a work-based learning and internship matching platform connecting students with employers, adjacent to Steppingblocks' employer and career-path exploration capabilities.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/steppingblocks
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/steppingblocks
• Xx.com/steppingblocks

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Steppingblocks