Knowledge Is Power
Profile of educational software company Blackboard Inc.
By Michelle Prather •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Most college campuses touted Internet connectivity by 1997. Butas co-workers in the higher education technology practice at KPMG,Michael Chasen and Matthew Pittinsky, now both 28, discoveredstudents were mostly e-mailing and "studying" Quake andDoom. Intent on maximizing the educational benefits ofschools' Internet infrastructures, Chasen, a Georgetown MBA,and Pittinsky, a Harvard Education School alum, quit KPMG andrented a Dupont Circle, DC, brownstone under the name BlackboardLLC (now Inc.) to create a software solution.
Four months later, Blackboard scored revenue through a1,600-college/university consulting contract. Enter a dozen morebodies into the two-room, desk-dense brownstone, already atcapacity with two guys and a dog.
Continue reading this article — and all of our other premium content with Entrepreneur+
For just $5, you can get unlimited access to all Entrepreneur’s premium content. You’ll find:
- Digestible insight on how to be a better entrepreneur and leader
- Lessons for starting and growing a business from our expert network of CEOs and founders
- Meaningful content to help you make sharper decisions
- Business and life hacks to help you stay ahead of the curve
