Why Education Startups Do Not Succeed (2011)
Education startups often struggle due to a fundamental misunderstanding of the market. Entrepreneurs typically view education as a quality issue, while the average consumer sees it as a cost concern. Opportunities exist in servicing underserved populations and in international markets, rather than targeting the middle class in the U.S.
- ▪Most entrepreneurs in education build the wrong type of business, thinking of education as a quality problem.
- ▪The average person views education as a cost problem rather than an investment.
- ▪There are significant opportunities in education for servicing the poor in the U.S. and building companies in Asia.
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| Original publisher | Avichal Garg |
| Canonical URL | https://avichal.com/2011/10/07/why-education-startups-do-not-succeed/ |
| Publication time | Tue, 19 May 2026 09:10:47 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-05-19T09:34:57.479Z |
| Last seen | 2026-05-19T09:34:57.479Z |
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Why Education Startups Do Not Succeed October 7, 2011October 7, 2011 ~ avichal I co-founded PrepMe in 2001. We were one of the first education companies online and the first purely online, personalized platform. We were acquired in 2011 by Providence Equity-backed Ascend Learning. In the last month, I’ve had 3 VC firms bring me in to chat with their partnership about education and 6 independent entrepreneurs reach out to me about their new education startup. This is a summary of what I tell them in person. Note: I am going to make some generalizations below. Clearly there are nuances around education policy, economic policy, technology, and more. But this is a blog post, not a book, so take it for what it’s worth. These views are my own, not PrepMe’s (or Spool’s).
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