- Startups - Sebastian Thrun of Google X and Udacity - TWiST #271

0:30 Welcome everyone, I have Sebastian Thrun of Udacity here with me today.

1:45 Thank you to Scott Walker of Walker Corporate Law. If you need a lawyer, call Scott at 310-288-6667.

4:00 Sebastian, welcome to the program. Explain to the audience what Udacity is.

5:30 What happened after the class really picked up steam?

6:00 How many people took the course and how many finished?

7:00 Do you believe that the university system is worth the money people spend?

9:00 Why did it take Khan Academy and others to change education? Why wasn't it done inside of universities?

12:00 Who are the co-founder of Udacity?

13:30 Does your success make Stanford less valuable?

14:30 Will kids be going to Stanford in 20 years or will they be taking courses on Udacity?

16:15 What will the role of teachers be in the future?

19:30 Let's talk about the business model.

20:45 Is the price sustainable?

21:15 Did you give up a large amount of personal wealth to pursue this?

24:30 Thank you to Squarespace! To get 10% off, go to squarespace.com and use the code TWiST7.

27:15 I heard that you had top VC firms vying to fund Udacity. Tell me about it.

28:45 Why did you go with Charles River Ventures?

30:45 What founders do you try to model yourself after?

33:30 What is the role of the teacher?

34:30 If this fails, what will be the reason it fails?

37:30 What about gamification: badges, rewards, etc. Is it worth it?

39:00 Do you think that it's possible to turn the public education system around?

41:00 Congratulations on the early success and I look forward to having you back on. We'll see you all next time on This Week in Startups.

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FOLLOW ON TWITTER

Jason: @jason

Sebastian: @sebastianthrun

Squarespace: @squarespace

Walker Corporate Law: @scottedwalker

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