The GSV Big 10: Experts Only ♢♢
The GSV Big 10: Experts Only ♢♢
Tech Rex, YouTube U, Newsom & Desantis in Harmony...
Chart of the Week
The Big 10:
🚨 ICYMI: New Episode of Ed on the Edge ⬇️
On episode 19 of Ed on the Edge, I discussed major trends in tech and education with
, the founder of Daybreak Ventures and the author of the terrific Substack. Tune in!The Expert Economy | Point72 Ventures
YouTube is the largest education company in the world — 86% of its US viewers have used it to learn. The platform has removed friction, making knowledge acquisition both easier and more affordable while enhancing the quality of the experience. It’s free, ubiquitous, and fast..this all provides fuel to this fire. Plus, today you can produce a podcast or show from your home office with production quality that hardly looks different from what you’d see on CNN. Point72 is Steve Cohen’s successor to SAC.
Edtech is no longer a 4-letter word | Vinay Iyengar on Linkedin
As the kids would say...vibe shift. The conventional wisdom in the Edtech community has been that the sky is falling and the sector has not recovered from its COVID hangover. We happen to like to zig when others zag; there are a number of things to be optimistic about when it comes to the AI Revolution in education.
Legislators to take up bills on genocide education, campus protest restrictions, DEI training | Los Angeles Times
Rock, paper, scissors. Protests lead to restrictions, which lead to legislation, which likely leads to more protests. We’re all for legislators legislating, and clearly some of these hot topics need fresh eyes and guard rails.
How Duolingo Rakes in $500M Yearly When 80% of Its Users Don’t Pay | WSJ
Free is our favorite price. This approach is particularly effective in driving engagement and creating network effects. Once established, these factors make products highly monetizable. While the WSJ finds it magical that Duolingo generates $500m of revenue, it’s not a surprise to us (and neither is its $7.7 billion market cap). The company has a wildly loyal fanbase and it converts nearly 10% of users into paying customers.
Columbia President Minouche Shafik Resigns | The Free Press
A year into her tenure and three weeks before school starts, Columbia’s President has resigned. A University President has many constituents and the fatality rate speaks to the difficulty of the role.
The Dangers of “Digital Pacifiers” | CBS Evening News
Today, the average attention span of a human is 8 seconds. The average attention span of a gold fish is 9 seconds. Clearly, there is such a thing as too much screen time, but there also is an opportunity to increase the value of the content behind the screen. It might not be Hollywood Meets Harvard, but Sesame Street and Schoolhouse rock taught kids a lot while entertaining them.
Where Florida and California Agree: Banning Cell Phones in Class | Governor Gavin Newsom / Pensacola News Journal
Maybe we’re not so different after all. The alpha governors of Florida and California are in lock step when it comes to removing cell phones from classrooms. Our view is a bit more nuanced – we see some benefits of phones in class when used appropriately – but given these strange bedfellows, it’s clear the overuse and abuse of phones at school is a pressing issue that needs immediate attention.
What is unschooling and why is it stirring up TikTok? | Fast Company
Ice cream for breakfast, chocolate pudding for lunch, and licorice for dinner. While we’re at it, give the kids a non-stop TikTok fix. The purpose of education isn’t to take a random walk and do whatever tickles your fancy, but instead to create foundational knowledge that can be applied passions in order to thrive.
Udemy’s Founder Returns as CTO 8 Years Later | X
With 64 million learners, over 210,000 courses, and more than 75,000 instructors teaching courses in nearly 75 languages, Udemy has become quite the beast in the time since co-founder Eren Bali left eight years ago. The challenge and opportunity of implementing AI in learning was the magnetic pull that brought him back to his “first baby”.
BONUS: ASU+GSV Summit in the Arizona State University EdPlus Lookbook
This Week’s People Moves
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Who else is changing jobs? Get the latest data for the companies that matter most to you for free.
Elizabeth Hercher: Color ➡️ Duolingo, Senior Manager, Data Science
Kandace Young: Stack AV ➡️ Duolingo, Talent Acquisition Operations Manager
Daniel Schulze Zumkley: Staffbase ➡️ Go1, Enterprise Account Executive
David Hardin: Aurum Preparatory Academy ➡️ Build Urban Prosperity (Build UP), CEO
Julia Parashis: Handshake ➡️ LinkedIn, Enterprise/Mid-Market Sales Development - Sales Solutions