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HOT TOPICS
- The Accelerator Conundrum
- The Startup Velocity Question
- Platform as a Service
- Man and Superman
- Web 3.0 = (4C + P + VS)
- The Future: End of Capitalism
- Capitalism 2.0
online education
Thought Leaders in Online Education: Executive Director of Academic Innovation at University of Pennsylvania, Bobbi Kurshnan (Part 6)
Bobbi Kurshnan: People who come to an incubator come because they’re going to get money. Hopefully, they’re going to finish the program and their company is going to be further along. Entrepreneurs who are doing something in education come to our program because they want to understand and not just to go out and do
Thought Leaders in Online Education: Executive Director of Academic Innovation at University of Pennsylvania, Bobbi Kurshnan (Part 5)
Sramana Mitra: What have you seen in that program? How many of the people that have gone through that program have actually started EdTech companies? Bobbi Kurshnan: They’re required to build a business plan as their thesis. It’s very interesting. I’ve compared the data from our incubator to our Master’s program. I think of this
Thought Leaders in Online Education: Executive Director of Academic Innovation at University of Pennsylvania, Bobbi Kurshnan (Part 4)
Sramana Mitra: I actually have seen a lot of bootstrapped companies that have reached even $20 million but they’ve taken more time to get there. I’m very much in favor of that model of building EdTech companies because it takes out all of these tensions in hyper-fast expectation. Bobbi Kurshnan: I agree with you. I’m
Thought Leaders in Online Education: Executive Director of Academic Innovation at University of Pennsylvania, Bobbi Kurshnan (Part 3)
Sramana Mitra: What is very successful? Bobbi Kurshnan: What do you define as very successful? Sramana Mitra: What I’m trying to gauge is are these going to be self-sustaining venture-funded companies. Is it going to be possible for these companies to grow at a rate where it makes sense for angels and VCs to invest in
Thought Leaders in Online Education: Executive Director of Academic Innovation at University of Pennsylvania, Bobbi Kurshnan (Part 2)
Sramana Mitra: How much equity do you take against the $20,000 initial funding? Bobbi Kurshnan: Between 6% to 8%. Sramana Mitra: That’s expensive. Bobbi Kurshnan: Yes, but these are early companies. Sramana Mitra: In my program, I advise people against going for these kinds of incubators that take 6%to 8%. I think it’s a terrible model.
Thought Leaders in Online Education: Executive Director of Academic Innovation at University of Pennsylvania, Bobbi Kurshnan (Part 1)
UPenn has both an incubator for EdTech ventures, and an entrepreneurship education program for EdTech. This discussion delves into both programs and more. Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing our audience to yourself as well as to UPenn’s online education activities. Bobbi Kurshnan: I am the Executive Director of Academic Innovation at the University of
Building Multiple Bootstrapped Education Software Companies: Lane Rankin, CEO of Illuminate Education (Part 1)
Lane was first a teacher, then a school and school district administrator. His background is not of a typical tech entrepreneur. However, his deep domain knowledge and relationships in the education field have propelled him to become a very successful EdTech entrepreneur. Great story! Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your entrepreneurial
Successful Pivot from B-to-C to B-to-B: Inkling CEO Matt MacInnis (Part 2)
Sramana Mitra: This thinking behind your startup is happening while you were still at Apple? Matt MacInnis: For probably six or nine months, we explored and brainstormed whether there was a viable business here. Sramana Mitra: Your observation that the future of textbooks was not just digitization of what already existed was the impetus to think
