Thought Leaders in Online Education: Achieve3000 CEO Stuart Udell (Part 5)

Stuart Udell: I have the pleasure to be one of only two members of the EdTech community who are part of the American Association of School Administrators’ new commission for student-centered and equity-focused education. The goal of that organization is to create a blueprint for the future of American education.

While there was a lot of good in the old model, it’s not good enough anymore. There’s a ton of investment coming in. There’s a lot of private equity investment for the middle-sized and larger companies in the space. It’s a really exciting time for us to take learning to a new level. That’s true in the school level and in higher education. 

Sramana Mitra: Tell me a bit about Achieve3000. How long have you been around? What’s been the trajectory? Is it bootstrapped? Funded? Private-equity funded?

Stuart Udell: We were founded 20 years ago. The founder bootstrapped it for the first decade. She took in some regional investors and friends and family funds. Over time, there was a need to accelerate growth and professionalize. She brought in private equity investors. About three years ago, she stepped out, and I came in. We are blessed to have Insight Venture Partners as our primary investor. They’ve been fabulous. They’ll do everything from growth equity on to major control positions.

We also are at a very interesting time. Just a couple of weeks ago, it was announced that we are being acquired by McGraw-Hill. McGraw-Hill, in and of themselves, was acquired by Platinum Equity. We will be joining forces. We have the storied brand in McGraw-Hill. Achieve3000 will be one of their centerpieces. We’re all very excited about it.

Sramana Mitra: Congratulations. You’ve been in this industry for a long time. From your vantage point, what are some open opportunities where you would encourage new entrepreneurs to start new EdTech companies?

Stuart Udell: The first place is to what COVID has done to shift the landscape. There are certainly lots of options. I would be excited about consumer education services for kids and families. We do know that with a lot disruption, lots of parents are unhappy or feel that there are challenges with remote or hybrid schooling. If I were thinking about deploying time, effort, and money, the consumer education space is very exciting in terms of providing direct services to kids.

Sramana Mitra: Homeschooling effectively.

Stuart Udell: It could be homeschooling. It could also be supplemental services. I’ve known folks who say, “I’m putting my kids in remote school. What else should I do?” I tell them to give them extra reading and math practice. I don’t care if they’re a high-performing or low-performing kid. High-quality and targeted practice is important for growth.

Then there are a couple of other areas. Literacy in general. We had 15 million struggling readers in the US before COVID happened. We do know that there is an acceleration of the achievement gap. They tend to have some correlation to socioeconomic disadvantage. The other area is career education and exploration – that notion of trying to take real-world opportunity, whether it be relevant college experience or career experience. What that means in terms of a product, I’m not sure.

Sramana Mitra: Wonderful discussion. Thank you very much.

This segment is part 5 in the series : Thought Leaders in Online Education: Achieve3000 CEO Stuart Udell
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