This Entrepreneur Wants to Tackle Education. The Whole Dang Thing.
Opinion: Education is a problem worth exploring and solving. This blog seeks to explore and solve the global education problem. Tall order? Yup. Let’s dive.
My name is Brandon Dufour, and I am an entrepreneur. Some may even add “successful” as an adjective prior to entrepreneur, but the relativity of the adjective makes it unnecessary. I am simply, an entrepreneur. Recently, I added a second (and far more important) title to my resume: Dad. Soon, Dad to Two. If you have children, you understand this title to outweigh all others on the resume, for now, and forever moving forward. If you do not have children, I assume you still understand the weight of what it is to be a parent. Simply put: it is the most important thing I have ever done, and I assume, will ever do. (Actually, tied for first with being a husband.)
An entrepreneur, in the simplest form, is a problem solver. It is a person who sees a problem, seeks a solution, and once found, is able to build a business around it. “Successful,” although relative, simply means the entrepreneur was able to build a profitable and sustainable business around said solution. Each step comes with a set of challenges and each step presents the possibility of creating a failed entrepreneur. If you don’t have a real problem, you can’t solve it. If you have a real problem but don’t create a meaningful solution, you have no business to build. And even if you solve a real problem with a meaningful solution, if you cannot build a business around it, you’ve simply had an idea.
The Dad Me presented a problem to the Entrepreneur Me: Education. Shortly after my son, Dante, was born, I found myself regularly thinking about his future. Everything was clearly defined: Go to school for 12 or 13 years, get into a well respected University, choose a major that can get you a job that affords your desired lifestyle, graduate and get that job. Simple.
But what if he hates school? What if the way that school is structured doesn’t work for his interests or learning style? If his Dad is any indicator, the structure won’t work for him. Are there alternatives to this path? Is the traditional school system the only acceptable path to college? Is college the only path to higher learning? Is this the only path to success?
These thoughts most often crossed my mind between midnight and 4am as I stare at my ceiling, unable to sleep. Sometimes I would take notes, others I would just swim in my imagination about the way it could be. Sleepless, I would ponder. And ponder. And ponder some more.
Simultaneously, in my other role as entrepreneur, I would spend my days at work looking at research about the future of business. My company, The Next Street, is a driving school headquartered in Watertown, CT. My father and I are business partners in this company that has taught me everything I know about building, scaling and maintaining a business. Strategy, finance, leadership, marketing, branding, selling, humans, culture, cash, equity, operations, fulfillment, emergencies, law, lawsuits, relationships, friendships built, friendships lost, disagreements, good decisions, terrible decisions, balancing, time management, coaching, managing…each a gear that wraps around the other gears forming an intricate web of things and ideas. When one thing or idea goes off, it is felt everywhere, and I learned it all from helping 16 year old kids (and their moms) get a driver’s license.
Autonomous cars started entering the regular news cycle 3 or 4 years ago (or at least, that’s when I started noticing it). It didn’t take long to realize that driver’s ed could be on the same path as Blockbuster or Kodak. In time, cars will drive themselves, and there will be no need for the service that currently feeds my family, and the families of our 125 employees. It all means too much to just let die, so my leadership team and I regularly talk about the future. We think we have a 10 year window of our normal business function of teaching new drivers to drive until there is a major disruption (Ridesharing/Autonomy/Both).
All of this started formulating into an idea for me. What if we tackle the education problem? What if we take everything we know about running an education business, and use it to think of a new way to seek, enroll in and manage learning?
I’m an entrepreneur. I do not have any certificate in education. And I’m not a scientist. I do not claim to have the solution, nor do I claim to have studied the history of education in the world. I’m simply an entrepreneur that recognizes a problem, and wants to solve it. This blog, and the content that will follow, is my attempt to figure it out, and build a meaningful business around it. I’d like that business to change the world of those it touches.
I hope, if this topic interests you, that you’ll participate in the conversation. If you know someone that could benefit from reading, thinking or participating, share it with them. I’m going to try to solve the problem. I hope you’ll challenge me, push me, join me, help me.
Until Soon,
BD