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Thought Leaders in Online Education: Ray Martinez, Chancellor of WGU Texas (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: Tell me a little more about WGU.

Ray Martinez: WGU was founded 16 years ago by a group of governors who were representing western states. This is back in 1996 – a little more than 16 years ago. In 1996 at a meeting of the Western Governors’ Association, the idea of using technology to help expand the capacity of adult learners to have access to higher education was discussed amongst a group of about 14 to 15 governors. These governors were at that time the Chief Executive of their respective states and in a position to really do something about that.

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Scaling a Fat Startup: MongoDB CEO Max Schireson (Part 1)

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

The technology startup market is red hot in 2014, and private company valuations have sky-rocketed. MongoDB has raised over $200 million, and is trying to disrupt the Database market. The company they see most often in deals is Oracle. A very interesting case study of a company with huge ambition.

Sramana: Max, let’s start at the beginning of your story. Where are you from and what were the circumstances of your upbringing?

Max Schireson: I was born and raised in Canada until I was 7. My parents were hippies living in a commune and I spent the first year of my life in a tent. I lived in Boston from the time I was 7 until I was 12. Since then, I have been in the Bay area most of the time although I did spend a second stint in Boston while my wife was finishing medical school. >>>

Thought Leaders in Online Education: Ray Martinez, Chancellor of WGU Texas (Part 1)

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

Adult education is becoming more of an issue. Competency-based learning that ties into employment directly is necessary to mitigate the unemployment problems in America and elsewhere. WGU has an interesting model.

Sramana Mitra: Ray, let’s start by giving our audience a little bit of background about you as well as your institution.

Ray Martinez: My name is Ray Martinez. I’m the Chancellor of Western Governors University (WGU) Texas. We go by WGU Texas. I have worked primarily in higher education policy over the last seven years. I’ve worked in various aspects of public policy either at the federal or state level for most of my career over the last 25 years or so. >>>

Canadian Real Time Big Data Company’s Excellent Thought Leadership: Terapeak CEO Kevin North (Part 7)

Sramana: Was Terapeak based in Toronto as well?

Kevin North: No, it was based in Victoria, BC. It was on Vancouver Island.

Sramana: What was the financing strategy of the company before and after? >>>

Bootstrapping to $20 Million in Charleston, South Carolina: eGroup CEO Mike Carter (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: You seem to have a regional emphasis. Does that mean that your sales cycle has been an in-person sales cycle?

Mike Carter: Yes. Traditionally, our sales process has been person to person. We have invested quite a bit in our digital presence and we are doing things from creating ourselves as an inbound type of destination. We have clients that are national and global and spend time on the West Coast. We will travel to where they require us to be.

Sramana Mitra: These are however clients headquartered in Carolinas mostly?

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Canadian Real Time Big Data Company’s Excellent Thought Leadership: Terapeak CEO Kevin North (Part 6)

Sramana: What was the state of the company when you came in?

Kevin North: There were some really good people who had been making great technology. The founders were great and they understood Big Data very well. The only issue was that their organization was not scalable. The goal was to turn it into a scalable company.

Sramana: What did that look like? What were the metrics you were tracking? What pieces did you put in place to make the company scale? >>>

Bootstrapping to $20 Million in Charleston, South Carolina: eGroup CEO Mike Carter (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: How did revenue track in that timeframe?

Mike Carter: The first 10 years, we were very immature from a strategy standpoint. It’s only been in the last five years that we evolved in what we’re doing, in terms of investing, and saw a much more strategic approach emerge. Quite honestly, there’s an aspect of not only attracting but developing talent. The Southeast isn’t always known for being at the forefront of the technology industry. I think that’s beginning to change somewhat in the recent years. Being able to emulate success elsewhere has delayed us because we’re always following behind. >>>

Canadian Real Time Big Data Company’s Excellent Thought Leadership: Terapeak CEO Kevin North (Part 5)

Sramana: What kind of intelligence is the analytic engine capable of producing? I imagine the merchants are the paying customer so I am interested in what you can do for them and what the engagement or pricing model is.

Kevin North: The customers are the merchants that are selling on eBay. We have a range of customers, some are small and some are very large. They pay either $30 a month or $240 a year to get access to our analytics. We provide analytics around product trending, competitor behavior, and anything else around product behavior.

We can help understand product behavior in different regions. We have merchants who use us for cross-border trade. Anything that shows you the way a product behaves in your competitor’s environment as well. We can show them what options perform better and what other inventory competitors are selling better. We have complete visibility not only over what you have, but over what you don’t have as well. >>>