Victoria Ransom is the Founder of Prisma — a cohort-based online school: “preparing 4-12th graders for a rapidly changing future, with an accredited, project-based virtual program where kids build real community.”
Raised on an asparagus farm near Bulls — Victoria’s journey over the past few decades is a truly inspiring one... she founded and led Wildfire, a social media marketing platform which rose to prominence helping brands build their presence on Facebook, before being acquired by Google for $450M in 2012; was honoured by President Obama as a “Champion of Change” for her accomplishments as an immigrant entrepreneur and innovator, picked up an MBA from Harvard; was named #19 on Fortune Magazine's 40 under 40 list, and so much more.
In today's episode, we discuss:
* The early days building Wildfire - building a culture and company that customers love as much as the product
* How the Google acquisition went down, integration and operating inside the belly of the beast afterwards
* What’s wrong with the current education system, why Victoria chose to exit the system + build a new school for her family.
* Strategies for developing resilience in children and what to expect in the future of education.
Referenced:
* Forbes 40 under 40 (2012): https://fortune.com/ranking/40-under-40/2012/victoria-ransom/
* Google's $450M acquisition of Wildfire: https://techcrunch.com/2012/07/31/google-acquires-wildfire/
* Obama White House - A Nation of Entrepreneurial Journeys: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2013/06/04/nation-entrepreneurial-journeys
* Prisma: https://www.joinprisma.com/
* Wildfire: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/wildfire-interactive
Where to find Victoria online:
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoriaransom/
* Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/victoria_ransom
Timestamps:
[00:00] Intro
[01:37] Three traits of a great founder
[03:31] Victoria’s origin story
[05:59] Pivoting from investment banking into adventure travel
[08:37] Building and scaling Wildfire
[11:46] Bootstrapping before raising money
[12:30] Wildfire's path to acquisition
[17:16] Why life after acquisition was challenging
[19:29] Prisma’s origin story
[24:41] Inside Prisma's education model
[30:19] The challenges of teaching kids resilience
[32:28] Prisma’s potential to scale
[37:34] Will college education become obsolete?
[39:24] Victoria’s biggest role model
[40:38] What it’s like founding a company with your partner
[42:04] Advice for Kiwi entrepreneurs
[43:49] What's next for Victoria and Prisma
[44:58] How to help Victoria
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