00:01record the Q&A sorry um U so one
00:05question that's come up and that is very
00:07present for a lot of our our fellows is
00:09that mission in kind of how you
00:11communicate that Vision to other folks
00:13in fact tomorrow the the next the
00:15current fellows are um we're going to do
00:18a workshop for them about U framing your
00:21startup as a movement um so it's very
00:23relevant and would love to hear more
00:26about what that mission was early on and
00:28how it was communicated um and then um
00:32yeah just kind of how it may be evolved
00:34over time yeah so the sort of very high
00:38level Mission has stayed the same which
00:40is around um like universal access to
00:43education or um uh like enabling anyone
00:48everywhere to have access to Quality
00:51education some version of that like the
00:53sort of exact words have changed but it
00:55was sort of some version of that was
00:57sort of always the the sort of high
01:00level U Mission what's interesting with
01:02corsera is um it what evolved was sort
01:06of our understanding of what that vision
01:09mission meant so in the beginning like
01:12we actually thought a lot of the
01:13students were going to be University
01:15students and a lot like if you look at
01:17if you if you ever watched like Daphne's
01:18Ted talk back in 2012 it was really
01:21around the cost of college and pretty
01:23soon we realized that actually who our
01:26Learners were and what they wanted were
01:28mostly career learners who wanted to
01:31take classes um for their to for
01:35Economic Opportunity so for helping them
01:39you know learn new skills that can help
01:40them get new jobs and help them in their
01:42career and that was that was sort of a
01:44real Evolution same Mission but sort of
01:47a different manifestation of it than I
01:52anticipated um but really important and
01:54it was also kind of like a it had to do
01:57with this sort of changing of the times
01:59where like skills were starting to just
02:01change so quickly and people needed a
02:03way that was more Nimble to get the
02:06skills that they needed and corsair's
02:07product was sort of perfect for that um
02:11and so uh and so you know corsera became
02:14more and more career focused over time
02:17and um yeah so it was it was this sort
02:20of big bold high level Vision um but you
02:25know very high level um and then and and
02:29that vision you know of you know making
02:31it accessible keeping it high quality um
02:34working with really amazing instructors
02:37like all of that sort of stayed the same
02:39um but then a lot of things around it
02:44evolved awesome um yeah and I think it's
02:47super relevant to all the founders in in
02:49our space like everyone has a really
02:51exciting story to tell um and now it's I
02:54think it's about being able to implement
02:56it and kind of showing it every day um
02:58so I have two more questions that were
02:59asked kind of early when people shut up
03:01um and then I'll open it up for everyone
03:04so there was a question around the
03:05transition to uh kind of B2B um and you
03:10shared a little bit about hiring but
03:12also just curious like what what was
03:15that exploration like um obviously
03:17different skill sets require different
03:19customers um and yeah just curious to
03:23kind of as as you moved into this new
03:25model that it seems like you were very
03:27pivotal in in in launching how was that
03:30exp yeah so this is an interesting one
03:32this is also actually a good it's
03:33something like some of the founders I'm
03:35working with like it's something that I
03:37I um reinforce which is like
03:41um knowing when you kind of like need to
03:45innovate or um need to add on additional
03:49things to kind of continue your level of
03:51growth so at Corsair like basically what
03:53we saw was consumer growth was not what
03:56it needed to be um it was growing um
03:59it's just it still actually is not that
04:02predictable um and we felt like it sort
04:05of wasn't going to get us to sort of
04:07where we needed for our aspirations and
04:09so the CEO at the time who is Rick Leven
04:11did this big process called like the big
04:14bets process where he had like everyone
04:16in the company come up with sort of
04:17different ideas and sort of pitch the
04:20ideas and present the ideas um degrees
04:23was one of the ideas um uh selling into
04:28universities the content universities
04:30was another one and then B2B with
04:33companies was another one so I was sort
04:35of champion the B2B with companies and
04:37we actually lost so we we lost the big
04:41bet process and um and I was so sad
04:45about it um and so I went to the co and
04:49I was like Rick you have to like I like
04:52know that this is going to work we had
04:54um L'Oreal with one of our first was
04:58actually our first customer
05:00um the head of Learning and Development
05:02had been like calling us you know saying
05:04that he wanted to like buy and was ready
05:07to sign for like ENT we didn't have an
05:08Enterprise product but like ready to
05:09sign for an Enterprise deal like we just
05:12we you know we had done the market
05:13research we knew that the at that time
05:15the sort of largest player was skillsoft
05:18who everybody disliked um and had
05:21terrible utilization like we we like saw
05:24the writing on the wall that there was
05:25this huge opportunity and that we could
05:30um convinced the CEO to basically give
05:33us one quarter um to try it out to like
05:36make see if we could build this B2B
05:39business um I transitioned my team most
05:42of my team which was like a lot of BD
05:44people and International Market
05:45development people to be ENT Enterprise
05:48sales people um and so and we just sort
05:51of like went after it for a quarter and
05:53then did like a million dollars in sales
05:56in the first quarter including L'Oreal
05:58and the one of the largest banks in
06:01India um the US Navy like a bunch of
06:03amazing customers and then Rick um was
06:07okay uh and one of the other bets had
06:10like fallen through at that point so
06:12Rick was like okay I see that this is
06:14going to work and then um basically
06:17resource it but I think the the big
06:19things there are like keeping an eye on
06:22when your business is plateauing um and
06:27making sure that you have enough kind of
06:29like seeds that you've planted to know
06:32where to go you know as that's happening
06:35um like had of course there are not
06:37launched Enterprise and not launched
06:39degrees which people thought was crazy
06:41at the time to be you know doing like
06:45three businesses at the same time um it
06:48would not have ipoed when it did like it
06:50would not it um the consumer business
06:53would not have gotten corsera to where
06:55where it is today and so I think as like
06:58the you know as leader of the company
07:00just like really keeping your eye on
07:05important awesome um cool so I think um
07:09I'm basically just gonna open it up for
07:11questions um I saw there's some really
07:14good questions in the chat um morza you
07:16had a first question around retaining
07:18the moat um do you want to ask it out
07:20loud yeah for sure um so one of the
07:23things that you mentioned was like in
07:24the early days like having that moat
07:26allowed you more flexibility to continue
07:30and so I guess my question is is like
07:31you built this moat of universities and
07:34you had these like Rocky periods where
07:36the product wasn't delivering what you
07:38needed it to and so like how did you
07:40keep those universities and the users in
07:42that mode happy as you guys were
07:44iterating on product like what did that
07:45balance look like yeah so um uh uh one
07:50of the things that actually gsv talks a
07:52lot about is about like you know
07:54structuring a business or finding
07:56businesses that where as your business
07:59grow grows um you the sort of Mo and
08:03competitive advantages become stronger
08:05and stronger and so for corera like you
08:08had your initial set of Partners the
08:10more the more students we added the
08:14stronger that Moe with University
08:16Partners became because they were they
08:18were increasingly given a choice between
08:20launching on our platform that had or
08:23launching on edex and we would have you
08:25know two to 3x the number of users which
08:28was what they cared about the most um so
08:32there was like at one level it was it
08:34was that the mo was reinforcing itself
08:38and as we grew that moat gets stronger
08:40and stronger and that's something to
08:41really think about it's not just that
08:42you have a moat it's that as you grow
08:46will you have a stronger and stronger
08:48Moe um and and corera you know platform
08:51businesses are great examples of this um
08:54which of course era was um and uh and
08:58and so that that was that was I would
09:01say the most important thing there was
09:03also a lot that you know course Hera had
09:05to do on the relationships with the
09:08universities and um you know that it was
09:11Rocky with certain Universities at
09:13different points and sort of trying to
09:14navigate that and um so there's a lot
09:17that was sort of on the relationship
09:19side um to keep them happy but the
09:23bigger thing was even when the
09:26relationship wasn't as good you know
09:29they effectively had a choice between
09:31launching on us or launching on a
09:32platform with a third lesser
09:35size cool thank you so much thank you m
09:39and Aram actually had a super relevant
09:41question on um of which modes are better
09:45in the tech space do do you want to ask
09:48it ask away yeah yeah uh hi Julia so uh
09:53especially in edtech and since you've
09:55seen this space also at a macro level at
09:58G USV so was interested to understand
10:01your take on especially in edtech what
10:04all are the kind of modes which work
10:06better than others and I think each
10:08industry has certain specific modes
10:11which work a lot better than others and
10:12in edtech how do you see that and
10:15especially in etic how to go about
10:17thinking around competitive modes you
10:19you talked about it like as the business
10:21grows that it it gets more intensified
10:23but what's a good way to think about
10:25competitive modes yeah it's a great
10:27question um so I mean I do think that
10:30like similar to other sectors like any
10:32any types of Moes can work like I think
10:35we've seen in we've seen in the past
10:38there are a lot of platform businesses
10:41um that have sort of a a two-sided
10:42Marketplace that that that uses that um
10:46Guild is like a three-sided Marketplace
10:48it's like even you know even stronger
10:50mode in some ways um uh but there's
10:54other advantages as well like you you
10:57know uh there I think think increasingly
10:59we'll see Moes around sort of use of
11:02data um which we haven't seen as much in
11:04the past but I think that there you you
11:06could have some sort of Moes around that
11:09um I I think I do think like uh um the
11:14brand associated with your partners like
11:16you know not as sort of uh it doesn't I
11:20guess it does reinforce itself like
11:21master class is a great example like you
11:24know once you acquire that many famous
11:27people other famous people want to come
11:29there and they're you know that's where
11:31they're going to want to be and so that
11:32does serve as sort of a mode and a
11:33competitive Advantage so I think it you
11:35know I think it can take on a number of
11:37different forms um and it's there isn't
11:41like a a real formula to it it really
11:43has to be driven by like what it is that
11:45you're trying to build but but just
11:47taking the time to think about like if
11:49we you know if we if we are
11:53successful um is it going to be just as
11:56easy for some sort of new startup to
12:00like come in and compete with us or or
12:04do we are we going to have sort of real
12:06competitive advantages over time um and
12:09just kind of like going through that
12:11process of of thinking it through um
12:14yeah and I would say like on the
12:16investing side that's definitely
12:17something that that like
12:19I've is you you think about because it's
12:22like okay this business you know if it
12:25grows um does that mean that it's going
12:27to be really strong or over time and
12:31make it easier and easier for them to
12:32compete or is it always going to be just
12:35like a hyper competitive um uh business
12:40so yeah those are the things that I
12:46you cool um so I think Reena just asked
12:50also a relevant question in this space
12:52um of kind of balancing me versus more
12:55kind of core products re do you want you
12:59yeah sure hi Julia thanks for doing this
13:02um I wanted to go back to your story
13:05about uh when the CEO was asking for
13:08people to pitch big bats and you had the
13:09idea of going B2B Enterprise and there
13:12were some other ideas floating around
13:16Founder how do you Rectify this Spirit
13:18of experimentation and encouraging new
13:22ideas and trying new things versus The
13:24Narrative that you might tell your
13:26investors or share with your investors
13:28where not completely all over the place
13:30but still maintaining focus and I'm just
13:32curious also as an investor you know how
13:34do you respond to some of those moments
13:37that you went through at corsera with
13:39some of your portfolio companies and
13:41seen yeah so that's such a a great
13:45question because Focus matters a lot and
13:48the faster you can focus um like the
13:51better um like the the faster you sort
13:54of know who your ideal customer is and
13:57the faster you can sort of like narrow
13:59your geography like the you know all of
14:02that like the the easier time you will
14:04have um in in finding success because
14:07you won't be pulled in so many different
14:08directions and you'll have a whole you
14:11know company kind of like working
14:12towards it um so I actually when I was
14:15leading the Enterprise business it was
14:16actually something that I thought about
14:17a lot because you know in the beginning
14:19we was just we selling into companies
14:21and and by the way like and governments
14:23and universities like it was sort of all
14:25like that sort of a very broad umbrella
14:29um and so I I think first goal is like
14:33figuring out how to focus sometimes the
14:34only way you can focus is by
14:36experimentation in the early days so
14:38like you don't know yet who your target
14:41market is going to be and so the only
14:42way you can like figure that out is is
14:45having lots of conversations with
14:46different types of customers and then
14:48you know and then focusing but with a
14:50goal of like focusing as soon as
14:52possible is is um is the sort of
14:56orientation so I think first it's like
14:58like figuring out your focus um and
15:01figuring out as fast as you can how to
15:04focus um and getting you know learning
15:07and getting the feedback and information
15:08as quickly as you can to have kind of
15:10like your main thing that you think is
15:12going to drive the business um and then
15:15once you have that it's um it's I I
15:18actually do it like would think about it
15:20as part of like your goal setting
15:21process so you have goals and um work
15:26that you're trying to do that's aligned
15:28your sort of core and that's like what
15:30you know you want the whole company to
15:32be betting on it's what you want you
15:34know 80% or whatever percentage of
15:38people's time really focused on and sort
15:40of rowing towards but there's still some
15:43things you want to test you still have
15:45some questions about additional markets
15:47additional products like additional
15:49things that sort of fall outside of that
15:52core and what what I did on my team was
15:55make space for it so like have goals
15:58that are outside of the sort of core
16:00goals that are really more goals around
16:03experimentation and giving people time
16:06within your team to sort of devote to
16:08that and devote to that exploration and
16:11often those things they do take a little
16:13while to like mature and nurture and um
16:17but they can blossom into really big
16:18businesses or really big opportunities
16:21and so um so so it's that balance and
16:24like a concrete example is this is sort
16:26of within B2B we um we were not focused
16:31on selling into universities that was
16:33not sort of what we were focused on we
16:35were focused on selling into companies
16:37but we um we had a few universities
16:40approach us about buying and we sort of
16:43debated like this is outside of our
16:45Focus it's you know is this going to be
16:47a distraction or should we sign this
16:49University deal and kind of you know
16:51essentially have like an experiment in
16:53the wild see what happens see if it's
16:55something that's interesting and we
16:57decided to like we decided to H sign it
17:00but have it very clear to everyone in
17:01the company we are not building any
17:03features around this this is not our
17:04core target market this is not a like
17:07top priority this is an experimentation
17:09bucket and then um and then what we saw
17:13is that there was a big opportunity
17:15there and when the business was ready
17:19and when the size of the team was ready
17:21um corsera for campus became a big thing
17:24and they launched a whole sort of um
17:27business around that so that's how I
17:29would think about it I think of it as
17:32seeds got it thank you that's helpful
17:35and there were a few questions around I
17:37guess um how you guys worked as a team
17:40in terms like metrics or like processes
17:42um Penny I think you you asked about
17:44this if you want to ask your your
17:47question hi Julia um so kind of feing
17:50off of what you shared I completely
17:52agree on the focus thing I think there
17:54definitely needs to be like a core Focus
17:56that you organize your team around in
17:58then you have a separate track for
17:59experimentation and you have a clear
18:01hypothesis that you try to chase but
18:04from that point is there like what kind
18:06of thought process or metrics or
18:09Frameworks do you think people can use
18:12to decide at what point they need to
18:14call call out on it and drop that idea
18:17or it's about time that it becomes a
18:19full-fledged product because like
18:22personally in my team I find that there
18:23can be people who want to cling on for
18:25that another additional week or another
18:27month to see how that number moves um
18:31but how do you how do you navigate this
18:32space of where do you cut it off and
18:34where do you continue to
18:36validate that's a great question um
18:39that's a great question um yeah well the
18:43main process that we used around all
18:44this was okrs like that was sort of our
18:47organizing um uh organizing tool it was
18:52both what allowed us to be really clear
18:54about what areas were in focus and kind
18:57of which areas were more
18:58experimental it allowed for sort of all
19:01of the sort of really rich conversations
19:04up front on a quarterly basis which
19:06might might be too long of a basis for
19:08like a very early startup but at a
19:11quarterly basis to have kind of the sort
19:13of really rich conversations about do we
19:17is this quarter the quarter that we're
19:18going to devote more time to X
19:21initiative knowing that it's going to
19:23like you know you you only have so many
19:25resources so knowing that there's a
19:29H or you know is this a um is this the
19:32quarter that we don't that we don't
19:34devote to it and one of the things that
19:36I think is hard that that that like when
19:38these decisions are made outside of the
19:40context of like some sort of larger
19:42planning process is they happen in
19:44isolation and they you don't have to
19:47consider all the trade-offs that you
19:49have to make in order to prioritize it
19:51and especially for the sort of
19:53individual contributor or the manager
19:54that's leading that effort they don't
19:56have the same sort of full visibility
19:59that you have um or that sort of
20:01somebody like more senior has and so
20:04they don't see the trade-offs they're
20:05like you know I mean Enterprise is great
20:08I mean sometimes it works out well but
20:10like you know they but they don't see
20:12the trade-offs of like okay well that
20:13means that we're not going to do X um
20:16and so uh and so and so yeah I think as
20:20much as you can figuring out how to push
20:22it into a larger planning process where
20:25you have really where you have really
20:28Rich debates and discussions and like um
20:31this is also getting to like how do you
20:33like Empower your team and make it so
20:34that they feel heard and like you know
20:36you want to have them pushing hard for
20:38these ideas that you believe in um but
20:41they that they believe in um but they
20:44need to recognize the trade-offs and so
20:47fitting into that process allows you to
20:49and allows them to say yeah this is a
20:52cool idea but do we really want to
20:54divert x amount of resources from this
20:56thing that is working in order to go
21:04you um so I I saw that Anna had a
21:07question around Partnerships and kind of
21:10I think a quality control around those
21:11Partnerships do you want ask
21:14Anna oh sure hi Julia um I have a
21:18question on um I guess how you learn
21:21about like how School protector brand
21:23reputation as a partner for Cera is
21:26there anything that they will keep like
21:28exclusively at school versus online and
21:30are they still struggling with like that
21:32concept of like what to keep online what
21:34to keep in school and how do you you
21:37know how do you um for course era help
21:40them decide what is uh valid for them to
21:43be online and vice versa yeah such a
21:47good question um and it and it and and
21:49definitely it's a moving Target so
21:51universities are very protective of
21:53their brands and fairly you know fairly
21:58conservative and fairly slow in terms of
21:59how they move and so I mean in the
22:01beginning when we first launched corsera
22:03a lot of Partners didn't even want to do
22:05paid certificates like that was too much
22:08for them like even though these weren't
22:09for credit like the idea of doing a paid
22:12certificate was like way too much
22:14Princeton didn't do it for like three or
22:16four years until after we had we had
22:18paid certificates because they were like
22:20I don't want to give away a certificate
22:21with with um Princeton's brand on it
22:24even though it was you know obviously
22:26not for credit and um uh so it's uh it's
22:31been an evolution I would say like and
22:33it's sort of little by little in terms
22:35of what university how universities are
22:37are kind of willing to think about it
22:38and what they're willing to do um and
22:41they're trying to navigate this like
22:44very different world um uh yeah and so
22:49it's it's it's hard like it's
22:51interesting like there's you guys are
22:53probably familiar with a company called
22:55ameritus um which is sort of at this
22:58point actually pretty large um and it's
23:01a uh they partner with top universities
23:04as well and they basically host their
23:06executive um education programs it's
23:09more of a higher touch experience um
23:12it's uh universities make a lot of money
23:15off those programs corsera can't like
23:17they will not let corsera touch those
23:19programs like it's but but ameritus is
23:23more of like a wh Lael solution and they
23:24feel more comfortable with their brand
23:26and with that level of Revenue
23:28with the Meritus in a way that they
23:30don't feel comfortable with
23:32corsera it's just I mean it is it's it's
23:35super interesting so I don't have like a
23:37um clear answer I would just say that
23:39it's sort of evolving and I think
23:40universities are figuring it out now
23:43there's like interesting Trends around
23:46professor's Brands like the professor
23:49and the professor's brand themselves
23:51kind of taking prominence over the UN or
23:54not prominence but becoming their their
23:56own brand like when you see like the
23:58rise of subpc and like the rise of sort
24:00of all these platforms that allow for
24:02individual individuals to kind of have
24:06distribution um and that's something
24:08that universities now are trying to
24:09figure out like what does that mean that
24:12the professors might be in like these
24:15independent brands of the
24:17University um that's very confusing to
24:20them so yeah it's a very and then you
24:24know what I'm mostly talking about here
24:26is top universities once you get into
24:29the sort of next ranks down you have all
24:32sort they have all sorts of issues
24:34around their business models that
24:35they're trying to figure out and like
24:37just survival so it's like it's a very
24:40interesting Dynamic time to be working
24:45space thank you Julia um so one topic
24:48that's pretty tough of mind for for
24:50folks in in this room and generally
24:52interest end is fundraising and kind of
24:54the really early stages and uh Chris had
24:56a great question around
24:58how kind of how the mission came into
25:01how you communicated that Vision in a
25:03way that showed integrity and um in in
25:06in your fundraising process but I Al
25:08actually wanted to ask you kind of a
25:09larger question um you mentioned that
25:11there were some tough times with
25:12fundraising at CA and I would love to
25:14just hear more about what the
25:15fundraising Journey was at Cera however
25:18much you were able to to share um and
25:20then I guess as a follow up how did the
25:22mission play into uh that fundraising
25:25process yeah so uh corsair's fundraising
25:29Journey was sort of a little bit
25:31different than most companies I mean you
25:32had Andrew in and dafne koher and
25:34Stanford Princeton University of
25:36Michigan and University of Pennsylvania
25:38like as partners as the like sort of
25:41fund you know that's sort of pre- rais
25:43what the what the company was and so the
25:46company went straight into raising an a
25:48it raised from Klein of Perkins and Nea
25:51which at the time like the generalist
25:52funds were not touching education so it
25:55was actually like a really big deal that
25:57you had to generalist fund investing in
25:59it um then corsera went out for his its
26:04series um and I think it was like a 15
26:06million it was by today's standards it
26:08would be like you know on the larger
26:11side but not you know crazy large but at
26:13the time it was like very large series a
26:16um and then uh we of course they
26:19acquired a lot a lot of Partners just
26:20started launching its business model and
26:22decided to go out for the series B um
26:26which we did a very large series B this
26:29was in like 2013 so maybe a year a year
26:33a little over a year after it launched
26:35year and a half um at like a 350 million
26:40valuation um yeah so it was at the time
26:43it was crazy because it was corsera had
26:45less than a million in revenue and it
26:47was all off of the promise of what we
26:50could deliver and and the university
26:52Partners um so that was a series
26:55B and then you know fast forward the
26:58challenge with raising with a very high
27:00valuation this is a good Founders lesson
27:03it worked out for corsera but it can be
27:05hard is that you then have to live up to
27:07it so like corsera you know went from a
27:10million in Revenue less than a million
27:12in revenue and it needed to get to a
27:15scale that could justify evaluation you
27:18know you're trying to like essentially
27:20double each each time you raise but at
27:22least not go down um so you know trying
27:26to get EV valuation of like you know 500
27:29million or so that's a big jump um and
27:33so that's where like it got hard where
27:36we when um and I wasn't I wasn't
27:40directly involved in like the series C
27:42but it was um but it that's where it got
27:45hard like where it was you know you
27:47don't have the revenue to sort of
27:49support the valuation that you want um
27:53and and then people started questioning
27:55the business model even though there
27:56were users the users there was like low
27:59completion there was sort of you know
28:01questions about the activity of the
28:03users and then um and uh and um yeah so
28:09that that's I think that's why it was so
28:12hard because we had such a large series
28:14B and such a gap in revenue and once you
28:18get to like you can raise on promise in
28:21like on your it's harder now but like
28:25then you really could but actually maybe
28:28um like seed series a series B like you
28:30have a really big Vision you have some
28:32like traction not not Revenue you're
28:35you're you're raising on like the sort
28:36of Hope and the promise you can do that
28:38maybe through the series B but like once
28:40you get to series C you're only dealing
28:43with growth investors they are
28:45evaluating you next to growth companies
28:49they are looking at your revenue and
28:50your metrics and they just can't they
28:53can't get there um unless you have
28:55metrics and data that sort of is aligned
28:58to um what other companies look like at
29:00that stage yeah we'll cross that bridge
29:05there cool and I think we we only have
29:08about three minutes left uh but there
29:10was one question that I really liked
29:11from Cameron about something we've we've
29:14talked about in the past Julia I'm
29:16excited to hear your take um K do you w
29:18to close us off with your question yeah
29:22sure let me find it in
29:24the represent what I said accurately um
29:28so I would say this is like a
29:30philosophical maybe uh potentially
29:32ethical question as well um who do you
29:36believe is responsible for retraining
29:40adults at the rate that is being asked
29:44of folks uh in today's kind of like
29:47emerging technology World um and
29:50specifically what I mean is like higher
29:52education seems to be failing at it
29:54employers are not doing a great job
29:56either government's not really offering
29:58any benefits for anybody to do this very
30:00well and then like individuals are
30:03taking out so much set and it's not
30:05necessarily producing the outcomes they
30:07want either um do you have any thoughts
30:10like how we should be approaching that
30:12on like a stakeholder level yeah yeah
30:15it's it's such an interesting question
30:16definitely one that I'm thinking a lot
30:20um uh like I think there's sort of two
30:22levels to the question like one is like
30:25who should bear responsibility for it
30:30and then the second is like who's
30:32incentivized to um sort of bear
30:35responsibility for it um and in some way
30:38so I think I'll actually focus on the
30:39second because it's a little more um
30:42like tangible in terms of how it then
30:44leads to like potentially new
30:46businesses in some ways I actually think
30:49all four stakeholders all three
30:51stakeholders are um incentivized to care
30:55about this so compan companes as an
30:58example um they you know it's they need
31:03people who have the skills that are
31:04going to allow them to compete um and
31:07they also know that employees care a lot
31:10about training and development and they
31:12want to be able to retain those sort of
31:13workers and so they offer those sort of
31:16benefits so uh employers like I think
31:20there is huge incentive for employers to
31:23care about reskilling and retraining and
31:25I think there's a ton of opport to kind
31:27of rethink what that looks like you know
31:30Guild obviously is a great example of of
31:32employers investing in it um but you
31:36know most of udm's business at this
31:38point is B2B you know corsair's business
31:41B2B um udacity's is probably more B2B
31:44than b2c at this point like it's like
31:46there's been um there has been a real
31:49sort of growth there and I think that's
31:50only going to continue um so employers I
31:53think are incentivized I think um you
31:56know individuals obviously are also
31:58incentivized like they want to get the
32:01jobs that they need it's you know
32:04unfortunate though that that that they
32:07are you know many people are paying for
32:10universities and then still have sort of
32:12major gaps between um the between the
32:18experience that they're having in school
32:19and what they need in the workforce so
32:22and then and so then the question is
32:23like well what about universities like
32:25are universities going to figure out how
32:27to fill that Gap are they going to sort
32:30of like like kind of what's going to
32:31happen there and that's like a super
32:34interesting question like and I it's one
32:37of the challenges with the university
32:39unlike companies is you have so many
32:42Divergent interests that are all in one
32:45entity and so it doesn't think like in a
32:48monolithic way like you you have sort of
32:50different stakeholders so you you know
32:53you have a lot of people within
32:54universities who are philosophically
32:56opposed to aligning universities in a in
32:59a tighter way with the labor market like
33:02that's you know what they will say is
33:03that that is not the purpose of
33:05University the university is sort of for
33:07or more broad-based education and it's
33:09actually insulting that you would sort
33:11of um that you would like have that as a
33:14role um a lot of professors also like
33:17there's a sort of hierarchy with
33:19professors the professors who do the
33:21more applied work it's like it's sort of
33:24lower status and the people that do the
33:27more theoretical work and so there like
33:29and that's like deeply entrenched within
33:33universities on the other hand like you
33:36know students are sort of voting with
33:38their feet in terms of where they're
33:40going and and what they want I think
33:44continue um a and there's sort of this
33:48big business opportunity in the lifelong
33:50learning space and so you know they are
33:54investing in Executive Education
33:57through you know partnering with
33:58companies like ameritus or you know
34:00partnering with corsera on lifelong
34:02learning or developing programs like e
34:05Cornell um and they do see there as
34:08being a lot of money and a lot of
34:10opportunity there they're partnering
34:12with Guild which they think is like a
34:14you know huge huge opportunity for them
34:16as well so I but it's it's not all you
34:21know coherent in this like you know
34:24University sort of rethinking their for
34:27universities rethinking their identity
34:29and putting forth something that's sort
34:30of more career aligned rather you see
34:34yeah rather you see them both offering
34:36more Executive Education and more career
34:38courses to sort of a different
34:40population but continue to you know be
34:43pretty abstract and theoretical in their
34:45undergraduate education so yeah so I
34:48don't know if that that helps I think
34:49everyone should be responsible I think
34:51government has to be involved otherwise
34:54like it's just going to create a more
34:56inequitable system system like at some
34:57point like it has to um but it's
35:01complicated and I know the like Obama
35:04administration thought about how you
35:08to institutions Beyond universities it
35:12never really got anywhere and it just
35:13starts getting complicated um but
35:16eventually it'll it'll I think it'll
35:19happen amazing thank you Julia um so I
35:22know we're at time we're gonna close it
35:24in a minute but I also wanted to see if
35:26there's I know you're starting something
35:28new and I don't know if you can still if
35:30you can yet share what you're going to
35:31be working on but wanted to give you a
35:33minute in case there's anything that
35:35kind the transcend Community can support
35:36with now that you're going back to the
35:38operational side any asks or anything
35:41that the transcend uh Network can can
35:44us yeah that's a great question I'm I'm
35:48um I'm sure there's lots of things but
35:50it's the I mean I would say the biggest
35:52thing like one of the reasons that like
35:54sort of inspired me to sort of you know
35:57go back to the Opera side and
35:58specifically you know start my own thing
36:01was working with so many Founders over
36:04the last three years and just being so
36:06inspired by um what you all do um and
36:12how like you know how much you know
36:14courage it takes to like take that jump
36:16and like how um big each of the early
36:21victories is even though they they can
36:23like feel small like so uh yes so uh I'm
36:28sure there's sort of lots of areas that
36:29I I know that there's tons of areas that
36:31I need help in um but but I I think yeah
36:35what I would just say is just like you
36:37know I think I'm starting a company
36:38because of my experience over the last
36:41three years being really inspired by
36:42early stage entrepreneurs like
36:43yourselves amazing well if there's
36:46anything that kind of we can mobilize
36:47this community around uh just just let
36:50us know um so we have a closing ritual
36:52as I think you've seen a few times Julia
36:54we close our calls with uh trying to go
36:57off mute if we can putting our hands in
36:58the middle and then saying at the count
37:00of three saying go team so uh if you can
37:03please join us everyone and thanking
37:05Julia for being here so I'll go three
37:11team team thank you Julia thank you
37:15thank you everyone for coming bye Julia
