A family-built college discovery tool led by an educator and a tech community advocate, born out of a deep passion for education, individual growth, and opportunity. We help students go beyond the raw numbers to find where they will actually thrive — not just where they fit on a spreadsheet.
Impacted by a layoff from a prominent software company in October 2025, Jeff needed to take a break to mentally regroup between jobs. After a couple promising leads turned out to be bad fits, something felt off. Maybe it was time for something entirely new. He took a larger step back for the winter. As a family, we discussed everything from private consulting to opening a cat café with a friend!
Meanwhile, Jamie has always known what she wanted to be when she grew up — a teacher. It's never crossed her mind to do anything other than help children reach their full potential. In the 25 years that she's been affiliated with the public school system, she has guided countless young people. But even while focusing on that career, she has always sought and found additional creative outlets for her drive to educate others through mentorship, writing, speaking, and creating tools for other educators.
The Cap to Quad software itself began as a family inside joke. Our high school freshman son joined us to watch a Thanksgiving college football rivalry game (the Iron Bowl, if you're wondering) and asked why the two teams would care about each other. He thought, apparently, that one of the teams was from the Pacific Northwest. It was not. As a way to tease him, Jeff started building a map in his unemployed free time, dropping school logos on it. Eventually, the whole family realized it was actually helpful. We shared it with our son's friends and other parents. People loved it and asked for more.
Cap to Quad morphed from a simple map into a full set of college discovery tools. More kids signed on to check it out. Jamie became more invested in the idea. Jeff found a sense of purpose that had been missing. Even our kids got involved, offering their ideas and creative talents. We created Academic Uplift as a company to offer additional tools across all facets of educational communities. We were off and running!
Why do we share this family story on the page about our product and team? Because of the idea that the very thing you need might be just over the horizon and yet undiscovered. That's really the whole point of Cap to Quad. Many of us grow up following a path on rails. When it comes to your education, even if you know you want to go to college, you might default into looking at the same small handful of schools as your friends and family. For some, that is perfect; for many others, it's not, but it is so hard to know where to look to break the mold. That's where tools like ours come in. Education is a journey. We hope that Cap to Quad can help you follow yours.
These are the principles that inspired us to found our company. They guide every feature we build and every decision we make.
A small family team with a big mission to make college search simpler and within reach for every family.
Start your free trial to discover hundreds of colleges on our interactive map and begin your college journey today.
