From PC Magazine to CNET to Yahoo to Guitar Hero to Chegg, Dan Rosensweig has had a fascinating front-row seat in seeing (and sometimes driving) the paradigm shifts in tech as it has evolved from the PC to the Internet to the cloud. In this wide-ranging and fast-paced conversation, Dan shares his thinking behind leaving Guitar Hero to join a then simple textbook rental company (Saying ‘hey I am the CEO of guitar hero’ then going to say ‘i rent textbooks’... you can imagine how that went in the ‘coolness’ category). He also describes how he has completely transformed and expanded Chegg's digital offerings to, in his words, "realign the education system" to meet the needs of the students they serve. Enjoy!  

Details:

• 0:00~1:39 Introduction
• 1:39~2:30 Who is Dan?
• 2:30~10:39 Early job experience
• 10:39~15:38 Working at Yahoo and his meeting with a young entrepreneur with a social media site
• 15:38~18:26 Passion for music and Guitar Hero
• 18:26~27:08 Pathway to Chegg
• 27:08~27:39 Word from NGPF
• 27:39~32:40 Dan's innovations at Chegg
• 32:40~37:10 The modern college student and money
• 37:10~40:59 The future of online learning
• 40:59~49:01 Changes in higher education
• 49:01~50:30 Conclusion

Resource mentioned:

• Chegg website

Quotes:

• “Saying ‘hey I am the CEO of guitar hero’ then going to say ‘i rent textbooks’... you can imagine how that went in the ‘coolness’ category.”
• “I think we are seeing curriculum evolve but we aren’t seeing unit economics evolve yet in colleges but I think we are going to in the next 5 to 10 years.”
• “What we are trying to do at Chegg is to realign the education system faster with the needs of who it's supposed to serve, which is the student.”
• “We encourage every school to look at the question: how does your curriculum relate to the jobs of the future in your communities?”

--------------------

Looking for other top podcasts? Here are a few of the favorites from our podcast archive:

• State of Financial Education in the US  (includes NGPF's own Jessica Endlich)
• Conversation with Investing Legend Charlie Ellis
• Leader of the F.I.R.E. Movement JL Collins

About the Authors

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.

Ren Makino

Ren started interning at NGPF in 2014, and worked part-time through high school and college. With his knowledge growing alongside NGPF, he joined the team to work full-time after graduating from college in 2020. He is also the producer of the NGPF podcast. During his free time, he likes to try out coffees from different roasters across the world.