Life Changer

Life Changer

ALEX TONELLI ’06

TONELLI GREW UP FAST. AN ORPHAN raised by his grandparents, he was couch surfing with friends by middle school and “not on a great track,” he admits. Tonelli also played hockey, and one day an athletic trainer took him aside to tell Tonelli he had potential, not so much in hockey but in life in general. The trainer recommended some boarding schools Tonelli should apply to and suggested possible scholarships. That conversation changed his life, Tonelli says, and put him on a better path. He enrolled at the Hotchkiss School and then earned a government degree at Dartmouth and an M.B.A. at Stanford. It’s safe to say Tonelli is well on his way: He’s a serial Silicon Valley entrepreneur, having cofounded Funding Circle—a lending company valued at more than $1 billion—and now works as a partner in entrepreneurial project manager Endurance Companies.

Sipping coffee in a San Francisco café, Tonelli compares one’s life path to roads. Once you’re on a good highway, he says, you’re more likely to be successful. “But it’s not the highways that are broken. It’s the on-ramps.” Last fall Tonelli started Vocate, a company he hopes will offer on-ramps for young people. Vocate is an online platform that connects students with internships and entry-level jobs. “Our online process takes students through levels where at each point they work through activities in three areas—self-understanding, skills, professional development. At each new level they ‘unlock’ employers,” he says. The company launched at Dartmouth and has already placed 500 students and recent graduates from three schools. Tonelli hopes to add another dozen schools to his roster by the end of the year.

Keith Chapman, Adv’12

!Viy mission is to unlock students'potential."