

MIT junior dropping out to work on education startup he founded 5 years ago - asuth
http://quizlet.com/blog/leaving-mit-to-make-quizlet-even-better/

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mattdeboard
I can't fathom dropping out of MIT with only a year left. Maybe he won't ever
need the piece of paper, but surely MIT doesn't cram American History and
Introduction to Communications in the senior year.

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jakarta
Many top schools have a policy which allows students who drop out to come back
and finish up their degree if they want. So it is not a risky decision.

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snikolov
As an MIT student, I can confirm this. I know someone who came back after 5
years to finish his last semester, and one of my TAs this term joined the
military and came back after 10 years.

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gamble
The reason they do this is because dropouts hurt their ranking, while
indefinite leaves of absence don't.

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gregdetre
Quizlet's awesome. I take my hat off to Andrew Sutherland for making it all
happen while working as a full-time high school and university student. It's
not easy.

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shantanubala
Heck. From what I hear, being a full time student at MIT can be pretty
challenging on its own. I only know a couple people at MIT, but they've all
talked about how challenging it is (in an enjoyable way).

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mwytock
Congratulations on your success. However, I think you should finish your
degree. Online flash cards are not the Future of the World.

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vecter
Arash Ferdowsi left MIT as a junior to cofound Dropbox w/Drew Houston. Turned
our pretty well it seems :)

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burgerbrain
Success stories are cheap to rattle off. We don't hear about the countless
failures though, precisely because they were failures.

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qq66
But Quizlet already has tons of traction. It's not some shot in the dark.

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cjtenny
:( not even one more year? What about 6.172 this fall?

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cabinguy
I remember him announcing Quizlet on the short-lived TechCrunch Forums. I was
impressed then and I am impressed now.

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dpatru
Technology is driving huge changes in the education industry. First the price
of the technical information that comprises "an education" going to zero. The
information that used to exist only in textbooks is now mostly available for
free, or almost free. I have a relative in medical school who tells me that
when med students need the details of a disease or medication or other medical
topic, they just look it up on Wikipedia or another free site.

Second, the price of the learning technology is dropping. Quizlet is an
example. It is getting easier to actually learn the material and verify that
learning has taken place.

What hasn't happened yet, but what seems to be the logical next step is
cheaper or free credentialing: a trusted organization vouching for a person's
mastery of a body of knowledge.

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jarek
In accordance with signalling theory, for cheaper or free credentials to get
any traction, obtaining them will require a very significant investment of
time and effort.

Kind of like a degree.

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dpatru
Traditionally, if you wanted to become competent, you went to trusted school,
worked hard at the course of study provided by the school, and if you
completed the course requirements, you got a degree in which the school
declares you competent. This was expensive because it was expensive for the
school to provide a course of study that made students competent. The school
needed to pay for great teachers as well as materials (books) and facilities
(libraries, labs). Great teachers, materials, and facilities could not be
found except at the expensive schools. The school also tested students but
testing made up an insignificant part of the total expense.

Now the costs of providing the education is going to zero. Instead of highly
paid teachers lecturing tens of students at a time, Sal Khan is making video
lessons that are viewed by tens of thousands. Instead of expensive textbooks,
Wikipedia provides better information for free. Instead of recitation hours in
a classroom, students are tutoring each other online or testing themselves
with flashcards.

Traditional educational institutions are being left with a shrinking value
proposition. They screen students (admission). They verify that students are
doing the work and learning (testing). They graduate students (certifying).
These functions are not what traditionally justified their high cost.

Of course becoming competent requires significant time and effort _on the part
of the student_. But this doesn't mean that the means used by the student need
be expensive. One can become very physically fit without joining an health
club and hiring a personal trainer.

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daimyoyo
While I wish him the best of luck, I'm not sure of the timing of his decision.
After all, it's not as if people won't need help learning new things next
year. Plus, he's got great traction so it's unlikely he'll be friendstered
before he graduates.

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abbasmehdi
How do you make money? If you don't mind me asking..:)

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shantanubala
There's some advertising on Quizlet and a premium version called Quizlet Plus,
but I'm not sure (from a user's perspective) if that's bringing in a ton of
revenue.

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abbasmehdi
yea, freemium plus ads is a classic rev model but usually doesn't work for
niche markets. Licensing their engine to third parties is an option they could
explore too...

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shantanubala
Also, I think the free offering is extremely robust to the point where the
paid version is mostly a purchase to help support the company rather than for
actual features.

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abbasmehdi
Yea, but that is a good enough explanation if it's a hobby, but if its a
business they need to have a viable financial model.

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chopsueyar
How is this different from what the Khan Academy is doing?

