How Kush Patel Built a $25 Million Business from Scratch—And How You Can Too

Kush Patel is the co-founder of App Academy, a pioneering coding bootcamp that introduced the income share agreement (ISA) model to tech education. With a background in finance and a deep passion for unlocking access to opportunity, Kush helped scale App Academy from a modest, bootstrapped startup into a $25 million revenue business with global reach. In this episode, we dive into Kush's entrepreneurial journey, from launching the first free cohort on Hacker News to transforming lives through coding education. We discuss:

• How growing up with an entrepreneurial father shaped Kush’s mindset
• His transition from hedge fund finance to tech entrepreneurship
• The origin story behind App Academy and why the ISA model was revolutionary
• How Kush scaled the company from 20 students to thousands worldwide
• The challenges of transitioning from in-person education to online learning
• Why bootstrapping gave App Academy a competitive edge
• Leadership lessons from growing a team from zero to over 100 employees
• His current focus as Board Chair and why he’s investing in personal growth and health
• Much more

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Where to Find Kush Patel

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kush-patel-3490994b/

Where to Find the Host

• X: https://x.com/davj
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davjphillips/

In This Episode, We Cover:

(00:21) Entrepreneurial inspiration from family.

(04:49) Coding bootcamp's innovative launch.

(09:46) Selecting students for coding class.

(12:49) Income share agreements in education.

(15:19) Launching and iterating contracts.

(19:04) Growth channels for App Academy.

(23:02) In-person coding bootcamp launch.

(27:17) Continuous product improvement strategies.

(30:39) Hiring for high potential talent.

(35:09) Online education challenges and opportunities.

(36:11) Online education community building.

(42:11) Freemium model and brand equity.

(44:39) Product funnel management strategies.

(49:29) Bootstrapped company growth success.

(51:35) Building a sustainable business.

Referenced:

• App Academy: https://www.appacademy.io/
• Hacker News: https://news.ycombinator.com/
• Income Share Agreement (ISA): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_share_agreement
• Twilio (Early hiring partner): https://www.twilio.com/
• Massdrop: https://drop.com/
• The Coding Bootcamp Market Landscape: https://www.coursereport.com/reports