Via Signals vs Noise:
The largest school in the world is run (and taught) by one man. Simple, direct, clear, no frills, no tricks. Just a computer blackboard, YouTube, a great attitude, a gift for straightforward teaching, and a love of sharing. Sal Khan is a new hero. Find out more about the Khan Academy.
And as if that isn’t cool enough, here’s Sal from the Khan Academy FAQ’s:
How are you funding/making money off of this?
It has also been self-funded so far. My time is really the main investment. I quit my day job as of September 2009 to work on this full-time so I will be digging into my savings until I can figure out some way to get funding. I could be aggressive with advertising on the site, but I don’t want to do that until I have to. I am speaking to some foundations that might enable Khan Academy to get to the next level. If you know of potential partner foundations who would agree that there is no better way to educate and enlighten the world, they shouldn’t hesitate to email me (sal ‘at’ khanacademy ‘dot’ org)
Khan Academy is a IRS-recognized 501c3 not-for-profit organization. My goal is to make it self-sustaining in the next five years.
Are you interested in turning this into a business? Maybe with some VC funding?
I’ve been approached several times, but it just didn’t feel right. When I’m 80, I want to feel that I helped give access to a world-class education to billions of students around the world. Sounds a lot better than starting a business that educates some subset of the developed world that can pay $19.95/month and eventually selling it to some text book company or something. I already have a beautiful wife, a hilarious son, two hondas and a decent house. What else does a man need?
With that said, if you are a social venture capitalist and are looking to deploy capital with the highest possible social return per dollar invested, we should talk. I think you’ll find that there is no more measurable, scalable and high impact way to educate the world.
Amazing.
Makes me think of my last post. What if you were scared of more fascinating things? What could you do?
