Introducing InStride, ASU’s For-Profit, Preferred Provider Strategy for Growing Online Enrollments – Inside Higher Ed
Two public presentations at last week’s ASU GSV Summit, plus an exclusive interview with ASU President Michael Crow, offered new information and insight about ASU’s plans to launch an online, for-profit, workforce training initiative.
Smart entrepreneurs seek large, underserved markets and have a special interest in those rare markets that are “evergreen” – markets that refresh themselves. They leverage (or exploit) the competitive advantage of their product(s) or service(s). And smart entrepreneurs also use “other people’s money” (aka OPM) to launch and grow their operations.
These three factors – market opportunity, competitive advantage, and OPM – strike me to be the appropriate reference points for framing InStride, ASU’s new, online, for-profit, “learning services company.” Information about ASU’s plans for this new for-profit first broke on March 19th. Then on Friday, April 5th, there was the ASU-InStride press release, three days ahead the annual gathering of education entrepreneurs, innovators, and investors at the ASU GSV Summit in San Diego. The press release announced the new company and formally proclaimed ASU’s goals for this venture: