Would you fund a start-up company trying to disrupt the long-standing institution of higher education for $10 million?
Students played the role of venture capitalists and were posed that same question by StraighterLine founder and CEO Burck Smith on Friday at the college’s weekly Entrepreneur Fireside Chat presented by the College of Business and Economics and the TU Student Launch Pad on Friday.
Smith presented the same proposal he pitched to investors for series C finding two years ago. At the end, he asked who was ready to invest. There was only one taker.
In reality, the real pitch wasn’t a success back in 2014, but the company found funding through other outlets and turned its first profit early last year.
With a background in public policy and journalism, Smith founded StraighterLine in 2009 as a solution to the rapidly growing costs of higher education, which he calls unsustainable.
“I saw a big problem I thought I could fix,” he says.
StraighterLine provides an online credit pathway for students to transfer into accredited universities to earn their degrees. Students can take online courses for a fraction of the cost they’d pay at community colleges or other institutions with a guarantee that their online credits will transfer to partnering institutions. The service mainly attracts non-traditional students, who happen to make up more than 65% of higher ed students.
The company is growing with 15,000 enrolled students and more than 100 institutions in its network that accept transfer credits.
Smith likened StraighterLine to other web and mobile-based businesses that are disrupting the status-quo such as Uber, Draft Kings and Air BnB.
“There are some really big opportunities that are challenging existing policies,” he said.
Entrepreneur Fireside Chats are open to the community and are held on Fridays through Oct. 28. The next chat is Sept. 30 with Carolyn Yarina of Sisu Global Health.
