Steve Blank is known by some as “The Startup Whisperer" -- the guy that entrepreneurs turn to when they have questions about how to start or energize their business. He is also a serial entrepreneur, professor and investor who is perhaps best known for his books Four Steps to the Epiphany and The Startup Owner's Manual. (Full disclosure: He's also an investor in EdSurge.)
Last week, Blank stopped by our studio to cast his experienced and critical eye on the business of edtech. In a wide-ranging chat with EdSurge CEO Betsy Corcoran, Blank talks about about the history of the Silicon Valley, edtech’s commercialization problem, and whether entrepreneurship in edtech is really any different than regular tech.
Equally fun: Blank is running his own radio show, "Entrepreneurs Are Everywhere," on Sirius XM radio, in which he interviews entrepreneurs about what got them into the business. Edtech entrepreneurs he's interviewed include:
- Miriam Altman, co-founder and chief business officer of Kinvolved, which is working to improve high school graduation rates by increasing student attendance;
- Reetu Gupta, co-founder and CEO of CirkledIn, an online platform that compiles students’ school life achievements;
- Mandela Schumacher-Hodge, founder of The Startup Couch, which aims to help founders stay happy and healthy as they change the world;
- and yes, you guessed it: Betsy Corcoran of EdSurge.
Happy listening!
