What triggered your interest in education innovation?
My passion for education innovation was sparked when I founded a social enterprise aimed at helping students from underrepresented backgrounds navigate career decisions. By providing mentorship and support, I saw firsthand how critical and impactful it is to give students access to the resources they need to thrive. This experience led me to work with various universities and companies on initiatives focused on equity and access.
What inspired you to join Rethink Education as an investor?
I crossed paths with the Rethink Education team over two years at edtech conferences and events, and I found our values were deeply aligned. With my experience starting my career in finance, being an early hire at a workforce-focused startup, and leading Stanford Graduate School of Business Impact Fund, joining Rethink felt like the perfect opportunity to combine my skills and passion.
Rethink Education’s portfolio, featuring companies like Guild and Pathstream, exemplifies how mission-driven businesses can create both social impact and financial success. I was drawn to their commitment to addressing critical workforce development challenges, a cause that resonates with my personal mission of advancing economic mobility for individuals from low-income backgrounds.
Have you explored other roles in the education innovation ecosystem? How did your previous work experiences and time at Stanford help you decide to become an edtech investor?
Before committing to full-time investing, I explored several roles in the education and future of work ecosystem. At Stanford, I tested three potential paths: operator, entrepreneur, and investor. I worked as an operator at FutureFit AI, enrolled in the Graduate School of Business (GSB)’s Startup Garage class to experience entrepreneurship, and served as Chief Investment Officer for the GSB Impact Fund.
Through these experiences, I discovered a deep passion for investing. The GSB Impact Fund played a pivotal role in honing my skills—crafting investment theses, sourcing deals, conducting due diligence, and supporting portfolio companies.
The connections I made through the GSB Impact Fund were equally invaluable. I gained deep insights from the Investment Committee members, including Heidi Patel, Charles Ewald, Val Red-Horse Mohl, Valerie Shen, Amit Seru, and Paul Pfleiderer. Additionally, organizing training sessions with experts like Charles Hudson and Ilya Strebulaev enriched my understanding of venture capital and expanded my professional network as many of these individuals have since supported me in my career..
It became clear to me that investing was the path where I could create the most significant impact, combining my interest in education with a strategic approach to scaling mission-driven companies.
What were your most memorable education innovation experiences at Stanford?
Two experiences truly stand out:
- GSB’s Startup Garage class with Matt Glickman was a defining moment. I conducted over 100 interviews with teachers across the U.S., diving into the challenges they face in achieving economic mobility. This led me to prototype potential solutions that could transform their experiences.
- Leading the GSB Impact Fund gave me the opportunity to directly shape the future of education innovation by supporting early-stage companies and making decisions that aligned financial returns with social impact. We were able to invest in education companies such as Floreo and UBITS.
How do you see the future of education evolving? What will be the role of technology?
The future of education will increasingly focus on skills-based learning, which will play a critical role in shaping hiring and project allocation decisions. This shift will enable more equitable access to career opportunities, allowing individuals to be judged on their capabilities rather than solely on traditional credentials. Technology, particularly AI, will facilitate this transformation by providing adaptive, personalized learning experiences and assessments that highlight specific skill sets.
However, with this shift comes the need to manage risks, particularly in addressing potential bias embedded in AI systems. It’s essential to ensure that technology remains a tool for inclusion, not exclusion, by continuously refining algorithms and maintaining transparency in how skills are evaluated and recognized.
What’s one unique criteria you look for when evaluating potential investments? How important is learning science and efficacy when deciding your investments?
One unique criterion I prioritize is a founder’s ability to truly understand the pain points of their target learners or workers. Learning science and efficacy are paramount in my investment decisions. While I believe in the transformative power of technology, it must be backed by research and evidence showing that it actually enhances learning outcomes. We invest in solutions that are not only innovative but demonstrably effective in making a real-world impact.
What advice would you give to Stanford students interested in catalyzing education innovation? And to students interested in becoming education investors after graduation?
For those passionate about catalyzing change, dive into the problems that excite you by conducting interviews with individuals who are constantly affected by those problems. Understand where the exact pain points are and use that to brainstorm potential solutions.
For those who are interested in becoming investors, start thinking like an investor before you officially become one. Develop an investment thesis around the areas of education innovation you find most exciting. Ask yourself, if you had your own capital to deploy, what types of education innovation companies would you invest in and why? What problems within education are you most interested in solving? Then research how large the market is and how transformative a potential solution be.