Alberto Arenaza, Transcend Network | The Future of Education [Ep. 18]

The audio and video are in Spanish. These notes are a translation.

Today, we have Alberto Arenaza, CEO and cofounder of Transcend Network, a global network of technology entrepreneurs working on the future of education and work. Transcend’s program connects education startups with entrepreneurs and investors in the education sector and the resources needed to help them find Product Market Fit.

In this interview, we talk about the future of higher education and the best practices for building a startup in the education sector.

80 entrepreneurs from the education sector, from 24 countries, have gone through Transcend and, together, have raised 23 million dollars. Some of the Latin American startups that have gone through its program are Collective Academy, Top E University, Laboratoria, and Edutive.

If you are an entrepreneur or want to found a company in education, you have to listen to this interview.

If you like the podcast, the easiest way to help us is by leaving a review with ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ on Apple Podcasts. It takes less than 1 minute and helps us convince the hardest guests to land, such as David Vélez, CEO and founder of Nubank, whom we would love to interview.

Connection with Education

[1:40] - How did Alberto arrive at the world of startups?
[2:43] - What is Minerva and why did Alberto decide to study there?
- An education model leveraged by technology
- Quality education for a fraction of the cost
- Innovation in admissions exams
[6:59] - What was the decision process like for leaving the University of Glasgow to go to Minerva?
- Little understanding from friends and family
- Personal conviction in the Minerva model
- Seizing opportunities and evaluating the opportunity cost
[10:27] - Why did Alberto feel that he did not fit in at the more traditional university?
- Lack of interest in the subjects being taught
- The feeling of not learning topics relevant to the present day

Challenges for Startups in Education and Transcend Network

[13:40] - What is Transcend Network and what problem or need does it cover in the sector?
- Connecting founders and sharing information
- A single source of best practices for building an Edtech startup
- Building the future of learning and work
[18:35] - What is the future of work?
- Legal and regulatory changes in employment policies
- Revolutionizing the traditional training model to meet the current market’s demand for skills
- Meeting needs and building better infrastructure for professional training
[21:47] - What challenges do entrepreneurs in Edtech face?
- The users of the product are usually not the buyers
- State regulation of education
- There is very little interest in measuring which education model works better
[28:02] - How does Transcend help entrepreneurs face these challenges?
- Differences between Transcend and an accelerator
- Building a united community
- Connecting founders with every player in the industry

Edtech Trends

[32:35] - What learnings did Alberto have at Minerva that helped him build Transcend?
- Active learning leveraged by technology
- Informal learning outside the classroom
[36:12] - Education trends in emerging markets like Latin America
- The integration of products for different parts of Latin America because of cultural similarities
- A decrease in bureaucratic processes inside schools
- Adoption of new products by the employees themselves
[44:20] - Recommendations for Edtech entrepreneurs on finding Product Market Fit
- Do not pretend that you have found the magic
- Discover what your user really values
- Focus on making a significant impact on a small group of users

Tweet Round

[49:48] -
- Recommended book: Travels with Herodotus by Ryszard Kapuscinski
- Changes in the Latin American startup ecosystem: broadening the definition of entrepreneurship
- Entrepreneurs to interview: Santi Yelmini and Pablo Villegas (Edutive), Tomás Pando (Mastermeup), Felipe Orduz and Roduflo Prieto (Disruptia)

Episode Mentions

You can find Alberto on Twitter and LinkedIn

Entrepreneurs: Santi Yelmini and Pablo Villegas of Edutive, Tomás Pando of Mastermeup, Felipe Orduz and Roduflo Prieto of Disruptia

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