1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Heather Hiles, Founder and Managing Partner at Imminent Equity (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: One of the reasons why we got attracted to Udemy as a platform to work with is because of the reach and democratization. There is no barrier to entry. Has Udemy made an impact in the startup ecosystem?

Heather Hiles: It has. It has been transformative for people around the world. It’s one of the reasons that I was so thrilled to be asked to join the Board of Directors in 2020. Over my 35 years, I’ve become a bit of an expert in how to upskill people. I had just come from building the first state-wide community college online teaching program of actual competencies and job technical skills to underemployed people in order to upskill them.

When I left that, I was able to join the Board of Udemy. Udemy has 50 million people on our direct-to-consumer marketplace. 80% of our courses are completely free. The other 20% costs somewhere between $40 and maybe a couple of hundred per class. You can take classes from technical and non-technical experts who know the industry standard bar none. Anyone can take these courses.

It’s a game changer not only to democratize access to education but also to disintermediate it. Rather than taking a course from an academic who spent his entire life optimizing his position in academia which is about research and not about creating in industry. You really get to hear from the experts who built the code. You get to hear from the experts and most of them are outside of universities and colleges. It’s very special. It does change life and opportunity for people.

I’ve been told that 5% of us worldwide are actually entrepreneurs. I’ve met hundreds myself who learned a skill to do what they needed to do. There are professionals who need to learn new skills. Udemy happens to have the largest library of technical courses in the world. We do have an offering that’s affordable to everybody.

Sramana Mitra: You brought up your experience with community colleges. I think a lot of the black community use community colleges to learn. Is that correct?

Heather Hiles: I wouldn’t say proportionately more than other populations. I wouldn’t want to mislead people and say that we have a major presence in community college. We’re underrepresented in all types of university systems.

Sramana Mitra: So I guess the question then becomes how do you bridge the knowledge gap both on the technical side and on the startup business side? There are a couple of ways to do that. Udemy is a great example. That can actually get you there. Another possibility is through community colleges. The way I see it is that Udemy should work with these community colleges and set up more of a formal structure.

Heather Hiles: 100%. The problem for most community colleges is limited budgets and a huge need. We were solving a particular problem at Calbright. The majority were women who were single mothers working three jobs who didn’t have time to invest in an AA degree or any other degree without having one job.

This segment is part 4 in the series : 1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Heather Hiles, Founder and Managing Partner at Imminent Equity
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