Colleges committees make major decisions, but a lot of the collaboration is done by shuffling file folders of papers and through long email chains. Interfolio, a 15-year-old DC firm, saw the opportunity two years ago to build a collaboration SaaS platform that allows members to weigh in on new hires, who gets tenure, and curriculum decisions. The 35-person venture-backed company has scooped up clients like Brown, Boston College, and Tulane and wooed board members like Ernst & Young Technology founder Jim Hunt and Parature founder Ching-Ho Fung.

Steve Goldenberg, a Michigan native, launched the company three days after graduating from Georgetown in ’99. (Did he take time to backpack through Europe after school? Probably not, unless he's a real fast walker.) Initially the company offered a service allowing scholars to store their career credentials online and be able to submit them electronically. The company still offers the service, but its focus is the committee collaboration platform, part of a $3B global market. Interfolio raised a $1M series A round last year and is raising more to move the product along faster and add people to focus on enterprise sales and marketing.