Obviously The Future Katelyn Donnelly and Arvind Nagarajan

What is the current state of college admissions? What social good do elite universities offer society, and how are they trying to do it better?
We discuss the state of elite universities with Matthew Rascoff, the Vice Provost for Digital Education at Stanford University.  
Matthew is one of the most innovative administrators in the industry and a leader who puts ideas into action. He is pioneering new digital models to bring credit-bearing Stanford classes to lower-income high schools across the US. 
With digital learning, Matthew is reaching upstream to build more effective bridges for young learners.
‘Insiders realize that the assessment system underpins the entire education system.’

Tune in this week to hear from a leader that will make you feel bullish on elite universities
We cover:
* Matthew's journey from a horrible high school experience to a resurgence in college
* The role of standardized testing in college admissions and prediction of performance
* Admissions is one of the most creative areas of higher education today
* The challenge of finding venture outcomes for “new measures of merit.”
* Matthew’s venture to have Stanford offer credit-bearing courses to Title 1 high school students to increase access for low-income students.
* The continuous challenge of professor-to-student ratio in higher education and the difficulty of scaling course quality
Please comment below.
We’d love to hear your thoughts, reactions, and questions.
Show Links:
* Teaching at Harvard with an AI Faculty Co-Pilot by Jeff Bussgang
* Baumol’s Cost Disease Theory
* The Child is the Teacher: A Life of Maria Montessori
* A Collection of Essays by George Orwell
* Private universities have public obligations. Providing education to students from modest backgrounds isn’t a novelty at Stanford. It is part of who we are as an institution and dates back to our founding documents. By Matthew Rascoff
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What is the role of story in technology and humanity? Is Elon Musk one of the greatest storytellers of our generation?

Damien Walter is a "rockstar critic" in science fiction and fantasy. He runs a 30,000+ member Science Fiction community and hosts the popular Science Fiction podcast and YouTube channel, where he explores the myths underpinning our society through modern entertainment.
‘Story is the physics of the human world.’

We discuss Damien's reaction to Marc Andreessen's Techno-Optimist Manifesto and explore the future of storytelling, AI, and education.
Damien's thoughtful views reinforce several Avalanche VC theses - from efficacious edutainment to the importance of online communities.
We cover:
* Reaction to Marc Andreessen’s Techno Optimist Manifesto as a neo-religion
* How Science Fiction narratives are embedded in technology companies
* YouTube is the largest university in the world, but this is more evident outside the Western world
* We are going back to an oral culture: speaking and listening
* Gender imbalance in the Science Fiction community
* Imagining the most productive part of a career between 13 and 19 years old
* Book Recommendation: The Philosophy Of History by GW Hegel

Please comment below.
We’d love to hear your thoughts, reactions, and questions.

Show Links:
* Stellar Crisis, the web’s first complete multi-player strategy game
* JG Ballard vs Andreessen Horowitz on Science Fiction podcast
* The Dangerous Philosophy of Ursula Le Guin - Video on YouTube
* The Ocean of Story - Damien’s Kickstarter for a new video project


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How do you make a feature film as a high school student? What is the role of school when you demonstrate excellence outside the classroom?
Wesley Wang is a filmmaker, an 11-time national chess champion, and a sophomore at Harvard. His first significant film, nothing, except everything, a coming-of-age short movie that has won many awards and gone viral on YouTube with 2.7 million views.
We talk about Wesley's approach to learning and building his career in film. He treats every film like a startup and constantly improves his skills and products.
At Avalanche, one of our theses is that everyone is an entrepreneur or will have to learn to think like one. We like businesses that are platforms and tools that catalyze this reality. The internet is the great equalizer as the gatekeepers are removed.
We cover:
* How Wesley thinks about building his career and reputation in filmmaking
* How technology played a role (or not) in his path to playing chess at a globally competitive level
* Wesley reflects on his choice to stay in high school and enroll in Harvard instead of homeschooling or going to Hollywood
* What is better validation: Film festival awards or views on YouTube?
* Wesley flips the conversation and asks us about our experience on the frontier or low-cost private education and why Katelyn founded Avalanche VC
* Preserving optionality is a trap. Why finding your passion and niche can help you grow.
nothing, except everything.
Please comment below.
We’d love to hear your thoughts, reactions, and questions.
Show Links:
* Wesley Wang’s YouTube Page
* Watch now: nothing, except everything
* Wesley Wang on IMBd
* A24 Films
* Pearson's Quest to Cover the Planet in Company-Run Schools
* Wesley’s Book Recommendation: Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting
* Film recommendations: Mulholland Drive and Sound of Metal



This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit obviouslythefuture.substack.com

Why do great schools have empty spots? Why don’t schools compete fiercely for students? How does reducing microfrictions increase economic growth?

Professor Chris Neilson is not your typical founder. He was born in the heart of Silicon Valley to undocumented immigrants from Chile. He is a former elite professional rugby player and has advised education policy for governments across the globe, the World Bank, and the IDB. He is a Professor of Economics and Global Affairs at Yale and has devoted his career to helping partners make the best education choices.
Chris has always believed that the market inefficiency in the schooling market was fixable, that technology-based solutions are inevitable, and that he would be leading the charge to build them.
In this episode, we talk about Chris’s childhood education experiences, his early entrepreneurial and athletic leanings, his successful research career at Yale & Princeton, and his most recent venture as CEO of Tether Education. At Tether, he is implementing his research at speed and scale. Tether is creating a connected network of schools and students through a digital platform. No school would be left behind.
What does Chris see as obviously the future?
* The middle class in Latin America is growing.
* As people get wealthier, education grows as a percent of GDP.
* Governments aren’t getting efficient at the same rate. They are slow to keep up with new technology and updated regulations.
* Despite the increase in digital innovation within the education sector, there is a risk that access to quality education may become even more unequal than it is today.
* Ensuring efficient and equitable access to education requires a well-designed digital platform infrastructure to provide a  well-functioning market of choice, promote competition, and speed up the adoption of innovations. 
* Governments and small businesses in education will need help to stay connected to the frontier of technology and innovation and not fall behind. 
Today, Tether and Chris prove this thesis by matching parents to schools and daycares across Latin America and tethering schools to a platform to increase digitization.
Chris is an unstoppable force with a massive vision and an insatiable desire to succeed. In the full interview, learn more about his journey and what he’s building at Tether.
We cover:
* Removing ‘micro frictions’ to achieve more economic growth
* Increasing choice and competition in the school and daycare market
* Fixing equity gaps by providing a platform for better decisions
* The digital divide in schools is even bigger post-Covid
* Academia vs Startup life: Having skin in the game with your VC
* Being an athlete, learning quickly, and building a team

Please comment below.
We’d love to hear your thoughts, reactions, and questions.

Show Links:
* Chris Neilson’s research homepage.
* Tether Education
* Seeing Beyond the Mirage: Ensuring every child has access to a high-quality education.
Note:
Avalanche VC is an investor in Tether Education. Katelyn is on the advisory board.



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How do you design human connection at scale? Can emotional intelligence be learned? What’s the best way to handle being roasted online?

Kind, Curious, and Open-Minded. These are the core values that Elle Beecher is building The Board Walks community around. She aims to unite people for energizing conversations, growing as humans, and connecting with people who share a "learn something, teach something" mindset.
Elle calls The Board Walks ‘a quaint idea.’
It sounds simple: weekly five-mile walk on Saturdays kicked off with a highly intentional set of ground rules and hosted by a hand-selected and intensely trained guide to set the values.
Elle has invented and productized The Board Walks over 60+ weeks of iteration to generate ‘planned serendipity.’ She also discusses the type of feedback conversations she has on almost every walk. Her approach to community management is rooted in constructed feedback and offering a road to redemption for people when they violate a ground rule.
We talk about Elle's masterclass mentality and response to being roasted on Twitter for her walks, her second viral tweet about change connection at an airport, and how she helps community members improve emotional intelligence through feedback.

Elle is just getting started. The Board Walks are currently held weekly in Austin and San Francisco. Starting in early 2024, she is expanding to ten cities around the United States and is gearing up for global demand.
We cover:
* Responding to a viral Twitter roast
* Creating planned serendipity: the magic of The Board Walks
* Enforcing shared community values: Kind, Curious, Open-minded
* Scaling The Board Walks by inventing in real-life experience parity 
* Intentional product design for building human connection and learning at scale
* Why it’s okay to take things personally

Please comment below.
We’d love to hear your thoughts, reactions, and questions.

Show Links:
* It’s Personal. Locker Room Speech by Deion Sanders
* The original Twitter roast.
* Elle’s second viral tweet. “What advice would you give for choosing a life partner?”
* The Board Walks homepage and newsletter
* Elle Beecher on LinkedIn


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit obviouslythefuture.substack.com

How do you build fanatical learning communities online? How does one ‘manufacture relevancy’?
We dive deep into the world of Warren Carlyle, a professional community-building strategist who works with purpose-driven brands & influencers to build highly engaged online communities and wildly successful social media campaigns. He is also the founder/CEO of OctoNation- The Largest Octopus Fan Club, a nonprofit organization that inspires ocean conservation by teaching the world about octopuses. OctoNation has over 1 million members and educational content that inspires and enthralls millions each week.
Warren is a neurodivergent thinker who has studied ‘the games people play’ to capture people’s attention and influence their behavior. He now exclusively works with creators & community builders who can facilitate nuanced conversations at scale that make people a better person.
Warren has recently worked with Emily D Baker to build a massive legal learning community called Law Nerds. Emily has the most live concurrent viewers of any streamer on YouTube that's not a gamer (~300k).
Listen to the full episode or watch it on YouTube to discover how Warren went from studying classical saxophone to a New York fashion photographer to building and advising some of the largest online communities.

We cover:
* Using the Octopus as a wedge to inspire wonder of the ocean
* How brands start small and niche to grow big
* What it takes to grab and earn attention to create entertaining and educational programming
* How Warren overcame initial rejection from the academic community 
* Working with Emily D Baker to create a legal literacy community using pop culture commentary.

Please comment below.
We’d love to hear your thoughts, reactions, and questions.

Show Links:
* OcotNation homepage
* Efficacious Edutainment
* Warren’s homepage
* Learn from Warren: Profitable Community Academy


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit obviouslythefuture.substack.com