“No Matter What, Make it Happen” with Daniel Pianko

I have the pleasure of interview Daniel Pianko. Daniel is co-founder and managing director at University Ventures. With over a decade of experience in the education industry, Daniel has built a reputation as a trusted education adviser and innovator in student finance, medical education, and post-secondary education. A frequent commentator on higher education, Daniel’s insights have been featured in national media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, TechCrunch, Inside Higher Ed, and The Chronicle of Higher Education

Jean: Can you share your story about how you got into the VC space?

My first VC-ish job was spending a summer as an intern for my now partner Ryan Craig. Ryan was nice enough to let me work for free for him at Warburg Pincus the summer between my first and second year of business school. The deal that I happened to work on became a home run — it was a unicorn before that term existed. I remember struggling with taking an unpaid internship despite having had a successful career pre-business school, but it was one of the best decisions of my professional career.

Jean: What kinds of startups do you typically work with?

We seek to identify and back entrepreneurs who are solving the greatest problems in higher education. I love working with entrepreneurs who…