Episode 284: Opening the Door to Accessible Education with Adrián Ridner, co-founder and CEO of Study.com; Mountain View, CA, USA.

Imagine if, within 9 years of starting a company, you could grow to have 34 million people a month interacting on your platform. And that is the story you will hear today from Adrián Ridner.   Driven by a mission to provide life-changing and accessible education, Study.com is one of the largest online learning platforms for K-12 through college and beyond. With learners and educators representing more than 11,000 schools, Study.com is focused on supporting students, teachers, and the teacher pipeline. The platform also seeks to make college-level education accessible and friendly for the non-traditional student and help professionals prep for and ace licensing exams.   Here are the highlights of our conversation:   - The Personal Why: Hailing from Argentina, having lived in four countries, and learning three languages (Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil, and the US), Adrián's experience of assimilating into the education systems has influenced his passion point around it. Adrián also highlighted the personal aspect of his journey, as he is the first in his family to graduate from college and has a brother with special needs who has been able to go farther than doctor's projections.   - Global Impact:  Adrián revealed that he co-founded a company in October 2015, which has since grown to support 30+ million learners and educators a month. He is particularly proud of the university-level courses that span a variety of topics and can transfer to listed colleges. They project that these courses have saved students almost $475 million in tuition costs over the last five years.   - Accessible Education and Social Impact:  Study.com is proud of its investment in social impact programs, including "Keys to the Classroom," which aims to increase the diversity in the teacher workforce and help aspiring educators become teachers. The program's success was attributed to the collaboration of all stakeholders involved.   - Study.com: Adrián's Journey and Success: Adrián and his co-founder built two other companies before study.com.  He emphasized the importance of understanding the market,  thinking strategically, and learning from your failures.  Study.com was a 'bootstrap' venture that has paid off, as the business has enjoyed sustainable growth and profitability from the first year.   - Keeping Balanced as a CEO: Adrián spoke about his family, particularly his twins, and his passion for soccer. He also shared his interest in AI and its potential for personalized learning. He expressed his excitement about the opportunities AI presents while also acknowledging the potential risks it poses. He shared his recent readings on AI, including "Co-intelligence" and "The Coming Wave."   About the guest: Adrián Ridner is co-founder and CEO of Study.com, an education platform supporting more than 34 million learners and educators a month across K12 curriculum, college courses and test preparation. As a Latino EdTech founder and first-generation college graduate, Adrián has spent the past two decades focused on making education accessible for under-supported learners.   Adrián has been committed to advancing personalized and engaging learning at scale for students of varying needs in the U.S. and across the world. Study.com's short video lessons and online courses help students achieve their educational goals and degrees needed to unlock economic opportunities.     Connect with Adrián: Website: https://study.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianridner/   Connect with Allison: Feedspot has named Disruptive CEO Nation as one of the Top 25 CEO Podcasts on the web, and it is ranked the number 6 CEO podcast to listen to in 2025! https://podcasts.feedspot.com/ceo_podcasts/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allisonsummerschicago/ Website: https://www.disruptiveceonation.com/ Twitter: @DisruptiveCEO    #CEO #brand #startup #startupstory #founder #business #businesspodcast #podcast  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices