Ankur Nagpal and Conrad Wadowski discovered that there’s a pack of people out there who are not traditional entrepreneurs. The co-founders of Fedora have dubbed them “teacher entrepreneurs” because they are willing to share their wisdom with others.
So where do these teacher entrepreneurs teach? Fedora: a platform for online courses where anybody can teach classes online on topics of their choice. Fedora takes care of the tech, so the teachers can take care of their students.
Nagpal and Wadowski are WeWork Chelsea members, and they are here to school us on building a business and pushing past uncertainties for what you believe in:
WeWork: Tell us how you guys met.
Nagpal: It was super romantic [laughs]. I think we first met when Conrad was running a Meetup in New York City called GrowHack, which was a collective of growth hacking enthusiasts.
Wadowski: We were having a lot of discussions with growth hackers, and somehow that connected to a core feedback process. That turned into us actually speaking at the event.
Nagpal: We kept in touch after, and that’s what set the mood to what became Fedora.
WeWork: Explain Fedora to someone walking down the street.
Nagpal: Fedora is the easiest way to make and sell courses online. We believe it should be incredibly easy for anybody to be an online teacher, and Fedora is the easiest way to get started. Prior to Fedora, the only way for people to teach online was to go to a marketplace, like Udemy or Skillshare. With Fedora, you can have an easy, profitable way to teach online without having to give up ownership the way you would if you went to a marketplace.
WeWork: Okay, so if you were to put up a course on a marketplace, they hold all the rights?
Nagpal: Yep. They own all your students, they keep a much greater percentage of sales, and they control the price to sell your course at, which is not great at all. Conrad and I were teaching on Udemy, and we realized that this is great to get started, maybe make two to three thousand dollars a month, but if you wanted to scale your business beyond that, it’s impossible with a marketplace. And that’s what got us to go into the first version of Fedora.
WeWork: What were you teaching on Udemy?
Wadowski: Growth hacking, actually. Ankur’s speech that he did at the Meetup actually turned into a course itself.
Nagpal: Yea, most of our content was in growth, but there were a couple of syndication deals we had where I worked with Aaron Marino, who was on Shark Tank. He had a ton of content on men’s fashion, so I helped him put his course on Udemy.
WeWork: So you’re constantly helping other people grow, which is awesome.
Nagpal: Yeah. But then we decided to get selfish and do it for ourselves.
WeWork: Do you have any advice for budding entrepreneurs?
Nagpal: A lot of people hold themselves back at various stages. I know people who are stressing about the business plan, not having the right deck, or on things that ultimately don’t matter. Just build something. It can be ugly, but just put it in front of people and validate that there is a business there. If I can give any advice, I would say that starting with a business plan and financial projections are not good starting points.
Wadowski: A lot of people are now saying, “Hey look, I’m an expert, or I know something about a particular topic.” With Fedora, “teacher entrepreneurs” can sell their product through an online course. I advice teacher entrepreneurs to start creating content on topics they are passionate about. Teach something small, and see if you can build traction with that before going all in and putting too much of your time into it.
WeWork: What was the biggest mistake you made so far?
Nagpal: I think the biggest mistake I made personally was waiting too long to scale the business out. It probably had to do with feeling like we weren’t ready. The first seven to eight months, I worked in a bubble doing almost everything myself. I will definitely not make that mistake again, and I’m very conscious of that now. I think Conrad’s biggest mistake was not coming onboard earlier [laughs].
WeWork: What makes for a good course?
Nagpal: Something that helps someone achieve an outcome. I think certificates are kind of stupid. I think the idea of completing a course for the purpose of completing a course is stupid. But if you can help cause change in someone’s life, that’s powerful. Our most successful instructor, BitFountain, helps people build iPhones. Their most popular course is only $79, and it teaches you how to build over 12 applications. People have paid for a $79 course and gotten a $20,000 raise after developing this new skill. That’s the kind of impact that I find cool and inspiring.
WeWork: Amidst all this, do you have any free time? What do you do in your free time?
Wadowski: I think working out can keep you sane and relieve stress. Ankur and I obviously hang out a lot, so we talk a lot about Fedora. Another thing I like to do is travel. Traveling allows you to keep some space from your business, whether it’s going to visit family or going to the Caribbean.
Nagpal: I like to stay physically active, or at least I try to, which takes up a lot of time. I went through a phase where I played a lot of squash. But then I lost to someone in their ‘70s, and I haven’t played since. I was super into it, participating in tournaments, ranking in U.S. squash rankings, but then I had a few bad games and I said, “You know what, I’m going to take the summer off.”
WeWork: What’s your favorite drink to end the day?
Nagpal: At WeWork, it tends to be beer, just because of proximity—there’s a keg in the office all the time. My favorite drink at the moment is Mezcal with lime.
Wadowski: Whiskey. It doesn’t matter what type. On the rocks.