Grant Aldrich is the Founder and CEO of OnlineDegree.com, a company that has made it its mission to make higher education affordable and accessible to everyone, particularly working adults. Grant shares more about what prompted him to create his company and how he managed to create so much traction to get over 1,400 colleges involved, as well as some of the challenges he has faced and overcome in this journey. John and Grant also explore the economic model behind the business and how Grant is able to keep the platform 100% free for students. Tune in to find out more about how Grand is helping to fix the very broken education system.

 

Key Takeaways:

[:18] John introduces his guest for this episode — Grant.

[:53] John and Grant discuss the broken education system.

[2:18] What were some of Grant’s successes and failures in business?

[11:33] Grant shares more about his personality and compulsion to build.

[15:19] How did Grant get into the online education industry?

[17:32] Grant decided to tackle the issue, not of teaching people things, but of getting people a degree. He explains more about his thought processes toward this.

[19:30] What are some of the challenges that Grant has had to overcome?

[26:09] Grant explains the process of creating pathways for students to various universities.

[27:46] What’s the economic model behind this business?

[34:20] Grant shares more about what it was like entering the industry as an outsider and having to start from scratch.

[36:07] How does Grant fund his business?

[40:15] How does Grant deal with the problem of a student taking classes for a certain university but then not getting accepted by them?

[43:18] John and Grant discuss the dynamic that both universities and students don’t care for the initial 101 classes that are mandatory.

[46:03] How long has OnlineDegree.com been in operation and how it is progressing?

[52:04] Grant shares a personal anecdote of his own experience with college and how that led to the genesis of OnlineDegree.com.

[54:49] What are some of the challenges Grant still faces in this industry?

[58:07] Check out OnlineDegree.com and share the information about Grant’s work.

 

Mentioned in This Episode:

Grant Aldrich on LinkedIn

OnlineDegree.com

Entrepreneurs’ Organization

Vistage

Jordan Peterson

12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, by Jordan B. Peterson

Singularity University

Colorado State