In the fall of 2025 I was invited to join the board meeting of a nonprofit university that’s reinventing itself. It has been clear for a while that higher education is at an inflection point, and I was asked to share some insights about tech startups and venture capital in the higher ed space.
🚀 Student growth is off the charts.
👨🎓 The leadership team is building its own AI agents for learning and administration.
❓ They’re experimenting with Socratic AI tutors that teach by asking questions, not by giving answers.
But transformation is never easy. The biggest headwinds aren’t technical. They are cultural.
“We have seen the enemy — and he is us.”
Funding gaps, alumni nostalgia, internal resistance — all the classic symptoms of a legacy organization in the middle of reinvention.
Still, the energy was unmistakable. A board that debates its own Uber moment. A team that understands the hunger to win must be bigger than the fear of losing.
The institutions that combine mission, technology, and courage to change won’t just survive — they’ll redefine what learning means in the AI era.
The future of education has never looked more exciting.
👨🎓 The leadership team is building its own AI agents for learning and administration.
❓ They’re experimenting with Socratic AI tutors that teach by asking questions, not by giving answers.
But transformation is never easy. The biggest headwinds aren’t technical. They are cultural.
“We have seen the enemy — and he is us.”
Funding gaps, alumni nostalgia, internal resistance — all the classic symptoms of a legacy organization in the middle of reinvention.
Still, the energy was unmistakable. A board that debates its own Uber moment. A team that understands the hunger to win must be bigger than the fear of losing.
The institutions that combine mission, technology, and courage to change won’t just survive — they’ll redefine what learning means in the AI era.
The future of education has never looked more exciting.
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