Goalsetter is a savings and gifting online platform to help kids learn to save money. The idea is to get kids excited about saving money and it lets families and friends give meaningful gifts that support their big dreams (e.g. college) and smaller dreams (e.g. a new bike, concert tickets). The founder of Goalsetter, Tanya Van Court from Brooklyn, New York, is pitching her business on Shark Tank on Sunday, March 10. She has the good fortune of presenting her business in front of billionaire Mark Cuban who invested in Brightwheel (an app designed for early educators and parents) and ChangED (an app that rounds up transactions to help pay off student loans).
Prior to founding Goalsetter, Van Court was a Senior Vice President of Digital Marketing at Discovery and Nickelodeon where she ran pre-school and parenting digital products including NickJr.com, Noggin.com, and NickMom,com. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in industrial engineering at Stanford University. Not only does Van Court have the right resume and education, she has also lined-up an impressive list of advisors including the COO of Sesame Workshop (Stephen Youngwood), and President of Capital One Investing (Yvette Butler).
Van Court might make being a mom and an entrepreneur look easy but her life hasn’t always been easy. During an interview, Van Court revealed that she lost her mother at the age of 6 and lost a child when she was 36. “I have seen how tough life can be, yet I’ve also seen that pain can be the birthplace of purpose. I believe that the only way to see the beautiful, amazing sunrises that life offers is to make it through the dark nights – because we all experience those times, and it is definitely true that the dark always precedes the dawn.” New episodes of Shark Tank air Sundays at 10 pm on ABC, right after American Idol. [Related: 27 Favorite ‘Shark Tank’ Products at Amazon — New List]
