How a Broke College Student Co-founded a VC-Backed Edtech Startup

In this episode of Fund/Build/Scale, Nectir co-founder and CEO Kavitta Ghai shares how she turned her frustration as a college student into a fast-growing, VC-backed edtech startup. Kavitta discusses the leap from student to founder, how she built an AI-powered tool for classrooms without a technical background, and the tactics that helped her and her co-founder land paying customers early. She also opens up about navigating the venture world as a first-generation founder and reframing risk as a competitive advantage.

RUNTIME 59:59

EPISODE BREAKDOWN

(1:57) “ One day we said, ‘what if we stopped complaining and we actually did something about it?’”

(5:57) “ The idea for Nectir initially just sort of fell into my lap.”

(10:29) “ I was a communication major. He was an environmental studies major. We had no technical background at all.”

(12:50) “ To go from a broke college student to being a broke founder really doesn't feel like that big of a difference.”

(14:12) How they landed Nectir’s first customer — UC Santa Barbara.

(20:50) “ We have this philosophy that I call our ‘zones of genius.’”

(23:46) Why customer discovery should “ every single person on the team for as long as you possibly can.”

(27:03) “ When I go back and think about what we did best in that beginning period of time, it was starting with a very basic MVP.”

(30:47) “ It was a huge surprise and it was terrifying when I realized, ‘oh shit, I'm the salesperson.’”

(34:47) Kavitta shares her top recommendation for free founder advice — and one she had to pay for.

(38:43) “ I actually came into building Nectir with zero understanding of what VC funding even was.”

(43:38) “ You have to be willing to ask for what you want and it's the only way to get it.”

(47:24) “ Right this second is the best possible time to start your company.”

(51:50) “ It's not the thought of me sitting on a yacht one day that motivates me.”

(53:09) Nectir’s pilot program with the California Community College system.

(56:49) The one question Kavitta would have to ask a CEO before she’d take a job at their startup.

LINKS

• Nectir
• Kavitta Ghai
• kavitta.com
  • How to Crash the Silicon Valley Party
• California Community Colleges Launches Groundbreaking Pilot with Nectir AI
• Paul Graham essays
• What is FERPA?, U.S. Dept. of Education
• Entrada Ventures

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– Walter.