This Ed-Tech Startup Raised $20M+ to Increase Software Development Education in Developing Countries w/ Ariel Camus (CEO)

In this episode, Shamus Madan interviews Ariel Camus, discussing his entrepreneurial journey and the creation of Torastai and Microverse. They delve into Microverse's unique business model and its impact on graduates' salaries. They also discuss the challenges of expanding Microverse's reach, the future job market, and the importance of passion in entrepreneurship.

Ariel Camus is the Founder and CEO of Microverse, an online school that helps anyone become a high-paid software developer. The best part? The startup takes advantage of Income Sharing Agreements (ISOs), so there is a $0 upfront cost.

Microverse has raised over $20M+ and was part of the Y Combinator 2019 Batch. Thousands of people from over 100 countries apply to join Microverse every month, and hundreds of remotely-employed alumni from Colombia to Nigeria are making 3-10x their previous salary working for companies like Microsoft, VMware, Huawei, and Globant.

Before starting Microverse, Ariel was the Co-Founder and CEO of TouristEye, a mobile app for planning trips and discovering new things to do while traveling. He grew the app to 1M users in 180+ countries before selling it to Lonely Planet in 2013.

After the sale, Ariel worked as a Senior Product Manager of Lonely Planet's website, with over 150 million unique visitors annually.

Now at Microverse, Ariel is making it easier for people in developing countries to obtain jobs in software development.

Twitter of Host: @mbitpodcast

Twitter of Guest: @arielcamus

Learn More About Microverse Here: https://www.microverse.org/

(0:00) Introduction and Background of Shamus Madan and Ariel Camus (2:05) Ariel Camus's journey into entrepreneurship and software engineering (7:02) Ariel's experience building Torastai and the transition to Microverse (14:34) Microverse's unique business model and payment structure (20:42) The impact of Microverse's training on graduates' salaries (24:15) Challenges and strategies for expanding access to Microverse (27:33) Reflection on the future job market and the impact of digital transformation (30:21) Comparison of Microverse and Lambda's business models (35:12) Explanation of Microverse's peer-to-peer learning model (40:10) Ariel Camus's advice for aspiring entrepreneurs and the importance of passion (43:27) Shamus Madan's reflections on running MBIT and the wrap-up of the interview