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Thought Leaders in Online Education: Katya Andresen, CEO of Cricket Media (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: You’ve taken seven years to build $17 million in revenue. That’s not a timeline that fits in the venture capital framework. The venture capitalists are looking to build hundred million dollar companies in seven years. This is what I’ve been really concerned about. For a long time, venture capitalists basically just decided not to invest in educational technology. Some sectors like adult education and for-profit universities got some money. But largely, educational technology was not a segment that people were willing to invest in.

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Building a Fat Startup with a Massive Patent Portfolio: Cleversafe Founder Chris Gladwin (Part 4)

Sramana: You said you funded the seed round yourself. What were the milestones and accomplishments of that seed round?

Chris Gladwin: I used not only capital but in the early rounds I was also able to use equity as a way to compensate initial employees. You can provide equity to people when you form the entity and that is the only time you can do it tax free. I did not form the actual entity for around 18 months when we did our A round. >>>

Thought Leaders in Online Education: Katya Andresen, CEO of Cricket Media (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: I’m very interested in the business model. That’s one of the issues that we’re seeing in the Edtech industry. The business models are weak.

Katya Andresen: I agree with you. It can be really hard to monetize a social network. That is not our model. Our model is that we have consumers – parents, grandparents, uncles, and aunts. They want to pay for their kids to have access to content and to be able to safely connect around that. That’s a proven revenue stream for us. The other side of our model’s emphasis is not that we have this relationship with Smithsonian. It’s just a nice thing that allows us to develop things and offer them for free in some cases. >>>

Building a Fat Startup with a Massive Patent Portfolio: Cleversafe Founder Chris Gladwin (Part 3)

Sramana: What came next?

Chris Gladwin: I started Cleversafe in 2004.

Sramana: What was the core idea driving Cleversafe?

Chris Gladwin: There were two aspects. First and foremost was the market. At that time, it appeared that the demand for data storage was going to grow rapidly and that has indeed been the case. It has been growing faster than Moore’s Law. I realized that there was going to be a demand for data storage, and more and more things that were capable of creating data would be used. >>>

Thought Leaders in Online Education: Katya Andresen, CEO of Cricket Media (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: I’d like to double-click down on some of these use cases and examples. Why don’t we pick three or four different scenarios, which are really interesting ways in which your customers and users are using the products.

Katya Andresen: I’ll give you a couple of relevant examples. We have a product coming out in about a week or two, which we did in partnership with a startup in Palo Alto called Kindoma. It’s an app that accesses your family graph. Again, it’s this idea of great digital content to read and share, and at the same time allowing family members to interact around that content with the child safely online. This is the one I referenced before. It’s called Story Bug and it allows me, in real time with video, to read a book together. >>>

Building a Fat Startup with a Massive Patent Portfolio: Cleversafe Founder Chris Gladwin (Part 2)

Sramana: What did you do after Lockheed?

Chris Gladwin: Lockheed was a very good experience because I got to learn what it meant to be a customer of technology products, particularly an enterprise customer. I essentially spent my time evaluating products. Eventually, I felt that I wanted to start building the technology instead of evaluating it.

I switched over to Zenith Data Systems, which had been one of our biggest suppliers. At the time, they were the largest manufacturer of portable PCs in the world. I worked there for about five and a half years. I purposely moved myself through the different functions involved with building technology products. I managed development for a while, followed by product management, and product marketing. I helped with sales as well. I learned all the different things. >>>

Thought Leaders in Online Education: Katya Andresen, CEO of Cricket Media (Part 1)

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

It almost always is the case that Edtech companies don’t have solid monetization models. Cricket media is experimenting with models that are worth understanding. This interview also further elaborates on the issues raised in one of my articles, Are We In A Golden Age of Edtech?

Sramana Mitra: Let’s introduce our audience to Cricket Media. Tell us what you do and what trends you are aligning with.

Katya Andresen: We’re a children’s education media company. We provide award-winning content for learning on a safe and secure learning network. >>>

Building a Fat Startup with a Massive Patent Portfolio: Cleversafe Founder Chris Gladwin (Part 1)

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

There aren’t many sub $100 million technology companies that can boast of a strong patent portfolio. Cleversafe is that rare exception, and hence, a tremendously valuable company with robust revenue growth in a $20 billion market.

Sramana: Chris, let’s start with your background. Where are you from? What is the genesis of your entrepreneurial journey?

Chris Gladwin: I was born and raised in Ohio. Like you, I went to MIT, which was transformative for me. It opened my eyes with respect to technology and technology-based businesses. That led to me becoming a technology entrepreneur. >>>