Thought Leaders in Online Education: Jim Donohue, Chief Product Officer, Cengage Learning (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: Alright. So I understand exactly where your position is now. Obviously, you’re at a very interesting point of the history of your industry. As the Chief Product Officer, you’re looking at the industry. As you said, you’re looking at the digital strategy. So talk to me about what other digital trends that you

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Thought Leaders in Online Education: Jim Donohue, Chief Product Officer, Cengage Learning (Part 1)

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.  Cengage is one of the three major publishers of educational texts and materials. In this interview, we explore a range of trends in higher education with Jim Donohue, their Chief Product Officer. Sramana Mitra: Let’s start, Jim, with an introduction for our audience to Cengage and

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Thought Leaders in Online Education: Interview with Shaul Kuper, CEO of Destiny Solutions (Part 7)

Sramana Mitra: Absolutely. I am not totally convinced about the Coursera business model and whether it is going to scale to the extent to support the amount of venture funding they have raised. EdX is a different story, because it is non-profit funded. As long as they sustain themselves, they are going to be fine.

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Thought Leaders in Online Education: Interview with Shaul Kuper, CEO of Destiny Solutions (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: Let’s say I am a consumer, and I sign up for a course in economics on the site of Cornell. I am a consumer, not one of Cornell’s business customers. Then I want to find a job. When I go to the Cornell website, are the resources I am able to access specific

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Thought Leaders in Online Education: Interview with Shaul Kuper, CEO of Destiny Solutions (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: You have been in the continuing education space for a good decade or more. What are the trends of the industry? Shaul Kuper: What is interesting to us, having dealt with continuing education for so long, is that about two years ago presidents of the universities woke up one day and realized that

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Thought Leaders in Online Education: Interview with Shaul Kuper, CEO of Destiny Solutions (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: Ten or 12 years later, where do you stand? What percentage of your business is product versus customization services? Shaul Kuper: In the early days it was not uncommon for a school to pay a few million dollars for customizations, and it would take a year or two to implement. Now we are

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Thought Leaders in Online Education: Interview with Shaul Kuper, CEO of Destiny Solutions (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: What year was that? Shaul Kuper: In 2001 we got the deal and in 2002 we delivered the product. SM: So by 2002 you had a reference account in education. Did you go after other education companies?

Thought Leaders in Online Education: Interview with Shaul Kuper, CEO of Destiny Solutions (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: Who was your first large website design for? Shaul Kuper: Our first large client was a children’s performer named Sharon, Lois & Bram, very well known performers in Toronto – children entertainers. I approached them and said that we could make a great deal for them – download music, they could sell their CDs

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