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This is a report card that no one wants to take home. Almost 40% of students who enroll in community college abandon higher education within a year. And when you focus on her first-year students who are low-income, that percentage rises to more than 50% of her.
Tade Oyerinde wants to turn that trend of failure around and has the vision to do so. He founded his online community, His College Campus (originally launched in 2016 as His Campuswire), which teaches students world-class teachers from institutions such as Princeton, Spelman, New York University, and Vanderbilt. Provides access to live classes. Oyerinde grew up homeschooled and attended the University of Leeds before dropping out to pursue entrepreneurship, so he knows the power of online learning all too well.
A big perk of attending the campus is that tuition is less than the maximum Pell Grant amount. This means that many students can earn an associate’s degree for virtually free. Federal Pell Grants provide tuition assistance to low-income students who “demonstrate special financial need,” and unlike student loans, they do not have to be repaid.
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Campus has received the highest valuation in the world of funding, raising $2,900 in Series A funding from notable investors including Discord founder Jason Citron, OpenAI founder Sam Altman, and Bloomberg Beta. won a million dollars. And just recently, Campus announced that the company had acquired its biggest investor to date (literally) in Shaquille O’Neal.
entrepreneur We spoke to Oyelinde and O’Neill about the business’ mission and how a 30-year-old college dropout was able to connect with, pitch, and ultimately bring this great man to campus.
Can you give us your campus elevator pitch?
Ojelinde: We’ve created a new kind of community college where anyone enrolled on campus can learn from professors who teach at top universities like Princeton, UCLA, New York University, Howard, and Morehouse. They will help him complete his first two years of college, earn an associate’s degree, and then transfer to a four-year school to earn a bachelor’s degree. We have worked hard to keep tuition costs low enough so that most students do not have to pay out-of-pocket. Government Pell grants cover the full cost of tuition, and we provide laptops to students who require them. We try to do whatever it takes for our students to be successful. Getting into college is great, but what really matters is getting your degree.
How did you connect with Shaq?
Ojelinde: After initial success in raising funds, forbes They told us stories about us. Someone on Shaq’s team saw it and reached out. To be honest, I thought the email was fake, but when I did a follow-up investigation, it turned out to be real. The rest is history.
Shaq, what did you see on campus with Tade that made you want to invest?
O’Neill: Well, 15 to 20 years ago, I heard Jeff Bezos say, “If you invest in things that change people’s lives, you’ll always get great results.” So he met Tade at an event in Las Vegas and they had a great conversation. There are three things he looks for when I invest. Passion, a desire to make a difference in people’s lives, and an exit strategy. I tried to shake him off a bit, but he just kept giving great answers. When he said “debt-free degree” and mentioned all the amazing teachers he had access to, I was like, “Oh, no. I’m not smart enough to go to NYU, but I want to learn from its teachers. So it all made a lot of sense to me.
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You’ve reached a level of success where you can just sit back and drive around in a nice car, travel around the world, and play with Charles Barkley all day long. Where does this drive to get things going in business come from?
Ojelinde: He can’t drive a nice car. [Laughs]
O’Neill: There are several reasons. The first is that I have seven children and millions of children who look up to me. My parents love to tell scary stories, and what they always told me was, “Professional athletes go bankrupt.” So they told me to go back to school and get my bachelor’s degree and get my master’s degree. I have two Ph.D. They told me to keep learning, and that’s what I tell the kids: “I don’t want any more basketball players. I want to be a surgeon.” And the best way to teach is by example. It is to list and show. You know, the lesson I learned was from Mickey Arison, the owner of the Miami Heat. One day while filming, I saw his son cleaning the locker room. I’m talking about picking up athletes and mopping toilets. I asked Mick about it and he said everyone should start at the bottom and work their way up as they learn. That really impressed me and that’s why I’m so interested in this education thing.
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Who would make you and Charles better classmates for a group project on campus?
O’Neill: Oh, me! I went to LSU. Charles went to Auburn.
Tade, it’s nerve-wracking to be in a pitch meeting with anyone, but you’ve met some big hitters and secured funding. How do you stay prepared and calm?
Ojelinde: To be honest, I say a prayer or two. When I have really big meetings, like the one with Shaq, I listen to Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.” I also get a lot of inspiration from great athletes.My favorite is Kobe [Bryant]. Sorry, Shaq! [Laughs] It’s just tapping into your killer instinct and knowing not to choke. And the best advice I ever got was from Sam Altman, and even before he said it, I was already following his advice. he said to me: “You have to tackle big, important problems. That’s what excites powerful investors.”
Shaq, do you have any parting advice?
O’Neill: I always tell people to take advantage of the access to information that is out there. When I was with the Lakers, a guy named Bill Bartka was an assistant coach and he said to me, “I coached Kareem.” [Abdul-Jabbar] And Wilt Chamberlin. ‘So I started listening to him and he raised my game to a championship level. The same goes for business. Considering all the information out there, I wish I was 16 now. In the past, if you had to write a book review, you had to go to your neighbor’s house to borrow an encyclopedia. It was the only way to access information not found in school textbooks. Now everything is instantly accessible. Was I young? I would be a genius now. He was almost as smart as Tade.
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