Leader Spotlights

I remember when we formally incorporated LearningMate over 20 years ago. Before raising capital or getting clients, we had seven highly-talented people just working together, working hard to create something significant. We wanted to make a difference in education. It was a special time, there’s really nothing that can replace those early years when everything feels so uncertain, but you just keep going anyway.

Another memory that has stayed with me was signing our first major international customer, Elsevier. We helped them put content on Blackboard, managing to upload several courses much quicker than they expected. To me, this was the first moment where we looked at each other and thought, wow, we’re doing this. This effort led to a long-term relationship with them that we still have today.

So much excites me about our future. Our business model has proven resilient over time, growing steadily and compounding our growth.

Take for example the rapid proliferation of Generative AI technologies in the education world. LearningMate has spent over 20 years honing the art of teaching people. We are today perfectly positioned to extend this skillset to teaching the Large Language Models needed to power the next generation of Edtech. Along with our parent company Straive we are the single largest team dedicated to operationalizing the data to insights to knowledge continuum that is at the heart of the K12 to Higher Ed to Workforce talent pipeline.

We are a unique player in the ed-tech industry, with no direct competitors matching our scale and breadth of services. The potential is just enormous.

If I could go back 22 years, I would tell myself the importance of having experienced advisors and a strong board to guide us. Having a clear vision of the future and understanding our product-market fit early on would have been invaluable. We did find our way, of course, but it was more painful than it had to be. I would tell my younger self to take heart and keep going, surround yourself with people who value your work, and be flexible. We have done this! The point is, the sooner you can define your identity and market fit, the more confident you will be in your market position and you will be better off for it.