MINERVA MAKES FRIENDS: Ari Bader-Natal is both a clever and education-focused guy: He has been the "chief learning architect" at Grockit and a key early advocate of StartupWeekend. Next week, he moves to his next big thing: Minerva, the startup school, equipped with $25 million seed from Benchmark Capital, that is taking aim at Ivy league schools. Minerva, led by former Snapfish CEO, Ben Nelson, made a splashy debut in the spring. It, along with Udacity, Coursera and 2tor have sent universities without a big digital vision scrambling for binoculars to see their future. Ari says he finds Minerva's fusion of traditional university values (communities and a well-rounded degree program) and digital technology (online courses from everywhere) compelling. One practical task he might consider taking on: fixing up that website!
