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Proving The VCs Wrong: Entrepreneurship Has No Age Limit

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Hard to believe but when it comes to investing in a tech company, venture capitalists prefer the young and inexperienced to those who are wise and knowledgeable. Innovation is the domain of the young. Or, so some would lead you to believe.

Not.

“I went back to the drawing board,” said Emily Feistritzer, PhD. “I wanted to create tomorrow’s teachers for tomorrow’s students.” Her philosophy for developing teachers is based on 25 years of annual surveys among teachers to discover best practices that her previous company did and research from others. Teachers learn best by doing, with the support of peers — 10 to 15 people — who advise and provide feedback.

“The teach-the-teacher program would be digitally based so people could learn anytime and anywhere,” said Feistritzer. The technology platform would allow teachers to practice teaching in the field and get feedback from colleagues. Current tools such as Noodle, Blackboard and others were inadequate. She’d need to build it herself.

With 40-plus years of experience teaching, conducting professional teacher development and researching best teaching practices, Feistritzer thought she’d be able to raise $3 to $5 million. She had early success raising $250,000 in two tranches from the NewSchools Venture Fund, which raises philanthropic dollars and uses it to find, fund and support education entrepreneurs who are transforming public education.

More money was needed. As a serial entrepreneur, Feistritzer thought VCs would recognize the opportunity inherent in training 68 million teachers worldwide. “Many people considering becoming teachers are college graduates who are coming back to the labor force or are switching careers,” said Feistritzer. “They don’t want to go back to college.” Schools around the world are also waking up to the idea that teachers should be credentialed and be certified. VCs just didn’t understand the trends.

Behind closed doors, one VC snarled, “You will never be able to raise money.” He just wasn’t impressed by a nationally known expert on teacher education, who came out of retirement at the age of 75 to revolutionize teacher training by becoming a digital entrepreneur.

“Looking for money was taking just too much energy,” said Feistritzer. She turned to friends and family, raising $.5 million, negotiated a really good deal with a web developer and moved forward.

After two years of development, TEACH-NOW launched in 2013. The patent-pending, custom-designed platform trains and certifies teachers anytime and anywhere. TEACH-NOW has served people in 80 countries and 44 states. The  company has grown to 15 full-time employees plus more than 40 part-time instructors. TEACH-NOW has graduated more than 700 teachers and boasts a 92% teacher-to-school placement rate. Last year alone, the company generated more than $4 million in revenues and has a 25% profit margin.

Feistritzer credits her success to having an experienced team. Several are as seasoned and respected as she is. Having been a nun, she credits that training for her ability to be disciplined and and laser-focused, which were critical during the early lean start-up days of the company.

Take that, VCs! Who said younger is better?

How will you leverage your experience to start a company?

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