Welcome to yet another episode of the Build In Public Podcast! 🎉
Today's episode features Ariel Renous, co-founder and CEO of Augment.org. Â
Augment is a modern online alternative to the traditional MBA program. Augment's approach is to reshape education by leveraging online tools to offer high-quality business knowledge straight from the minds of the brightest business leaders. Partnering with experts in business education and world-class entrepreneurs from companies like Wikipedia, YouTube, Waze, and Shazam, they crafted an innovative MBA program. The fast-growing startup based out of Paris raised a $6 million funding round from top tier investors in 2023.
In this episode, Ariel and KP discuss the founding story of Augment, the evolution of business education over the years, the power of cold emailing influential people in Silicon Valley, lessons from building in public and more.Â
The list of topics covered and relevant timestamps are:
00:00Â Introduction
03:09Â Origin Story of Augment
08:35Â Cold Emailing Everyone in Silicon Valley
12:20Â The Power of Mission and Storytelling
29:45Â The Upside of Building in Public
30:04Â Lessons from Fundraising
33:07Â Building Augment
36:14Â Non-Zero Sum Game
39:45Â Finding the Right Idea
45:09Â Challenges Before Starting Augment
52:04Â Building a Team and Managing Challenges
Relevant links:
Ariel's handle on X: https://twitter.com/ArielRenous
Augment's website: https://augment.org/
KP handle on X: https://twitter.com/thisiskp_
KP's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/KarthikPuvvadaKP
Past guests on the Build In Public podcast include Gary Vaynerchuk (CEO of Vayner Media), Sahil Lavingia (CEO of Gumroad), Alexis Ohanian (co-founder of Reddit), Sheel Mohnot (Better Tomorrow Ventures), Gina Bianchini (CEO of Mighty Networks), Adam Draper (MD of BoostVC), Arvid Kahl (Author of Zero To Sold), Tiago Forte (author of Building A Second Brain), Mariam Hakobyan (CEO of Softr), Kat Cole (COO of Athletic Greens) and more.
Other episodes you might enjoy:Â