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By Jeff Miller
In the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the anthrax mailings that followed, Americans are drinking more, according to the National Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.
In addition, 1999 and 2000 showed an increase in alcohol-related auto accident fatalities, breaking several consecutive years of declining deaths.
All the more reason, said chief executive Brandon Busteed, for Newton-based company Outside the Classroom to enter the retail market and sign a partnership with Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).
Busteed’s company got its start earlier this year with a $2 million investment from Boston’s Common Angels. The angel group usually invests only in hardcore software companies, but investors said Busteed’s company mission was so compelling that they had to support it.
Outside the Classroom began by selling online courses on alcohol education to universities. It takes about two hours to complete and includes streaming media, synchronized slides and an interactive case study that drives home critical points. Students take surveys before and after the course to measure its success.
The company counts 67 universities as its customers, including Harvard, Duke and Johns Hopkins universities.
“We’re not totally satisfied with where we are,” Busteed said. “But we’re getting to profitability. Certainly 2002 will be a big year for us.”
One component of having a big year will be its new partnership with MADD.
“We’ll be doing some programs with them,” Busteed said. “We’re looking at state-based programs with public offender courses.”
In addition, Busteed will make the courses available to consumers using the MADD brand name and marketing the product through MADD’s newsletters or its Web site.
“The feedback we’re getting from parents was that they wanted the same material that their sons and daughters were getting,” Busteed said. “It’s at an intellectual level that’s already fitting for adults in general, so there wasn’t much to do in the way of tweaking.”
Outside the Classroom’s courses deal only with alcohol abuse, though Busteed said customers are “nipping at our heels to move into other areas like ‘club drugs’ or cocaine.”
Busteed’s not ready — yet.
“We don’t have enough data points,” Busteed said. “We know what they need, but we don’t know how they plan to use them. It’ll be a year or so before we offer new topics.”
“We don’t have enough data points,” Busteed said. “We know what they need, but we don’t know how they plan to use them. It’ll be a year or so before we offer new topics.”
The company expects to close on new funding in the next few months, Busteed said.
“It will probably be the last time we’ll need more dough,” Busteed said.
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