Almost at 1000

Unf^cking Education, no. 1.5

May 30, 2025

Are you reading this on the toilet?

It’s all good if you are.

I was just curious.

Anyways, speaking of the toilet, I’m going to try and get more regular with sending these notes.

School update

As a reminder, we’re working on building a national network of 5th-12th grade schools dubbed (for now) The School of Entrepreneuring.

We’re looking at launching the first one in NJ (Essex/Morris county for my Jersey peeps) and then our plan basically boils down to world domination.

But yes - we are trying to build a national network of schools that we hope one day will rival and be an alternative to our public education system.

Anyways, we finally found a couple of sites we like along with towns/cities who want this type of education in their area and so things are finally moving. Finally!!

Expect some big news in the coming months. And if you got 35-50,000 sq ft of space zoned for school use lying around, definitely hit me up.

Silly college degrees

I recently gave advice to a fresh grad who was having a tough time landing a job (see below for my specific script/gameplan). My advice boiled down to you gotta show you can do the job as telling is no longer enough.

I think this is a general trend and one today’s students need to understand.

TBH, I think many students already understand this and want to create (a la their YouTube creator fascination) so this is probably moreso that their parents need to get with the program. It’s what I call The Proof Economy (as compared to our ol’ school Parchment Economy which is dying).

The Parchment Economy—that centuries-old system where formal credentials and institutional validation serve as proxies for capability—is losing its monopoly on opportunity. The elaborate dance of transcripts, recommendation letters, diplomas and prestige markers is becoming increasingly irrelevant in field after field.

Conspiracy theory fodder

I recently saw some data about teaching becoming a less prestigious job, and it got me going down this rabbit hole which ended at student:teacher ratios.

After digging into an unhealthy amount of research on the topic, here’s the punchline:

Class size reduction is best thought of as a political decision. Past evidence suggests that it is a very effective mechanism for gaining voter support, even if past evidence also suggests that it is a very ineffective educational policy.

Professor Eric Hanushek, Stanford University

Realizing this kinda sucked tbh as I liked the simplicity of student:teacher ratio, but alas, it’s garbage. My deep dive into the student:teacher ratio scam is here.

If you like conspiracy theories, I allude to one in here. LMK what you think.

Amazing young entrepreneur

We recently gave a $1000 Formidable Fellowship grant to 11th grader Claire Warta who has built a Christian keychain business

In 4 months, she has:

  • generated $974 in revenue

  • She taught herself how to make NFC keychains

  • Established her 1st retail distribution partner

She’s a complete bad@ss.

She’s another reminder that the next generation will be our most entrepreneurial ever.

Job search advice to recent grad

I gave this advice to a fresh grad who is having a tough time finding a job

What would you add to make this strategy bulletproof?

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

Juliana,

You're in marketing so although I'm not sure exactly what area of mktg, let's say it's product marketing.

Here’s the plan

1. Find 3-5 companies you'd love to work at

2. Look at the product pages on their website or their product-related emails or whatever

3. Redo the product copy, design, etc in a way that makes them better (mark them up, rewrite them, etc)

4. Send that to the CEO/founder of the company and say:

Hi ABC,

I really love what XYZ Company is doing.

I love it so much that I redid 3 of your product pages to make them resonate more with your customers.

I'd love to know what you think.

And if you like them, I'd love an opportunity interview for the open product marketing role you have on your team.

How's that sound?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Juliana

And if they don't write back, followup in a few days

Good CEOs/founders love this type of thing cuz it shows initiative and you are showing vs just telling

You've "de-risked" yourself even as a fresh grad cuz they can see you are hard working, creative, ambitious and good at what you do

The beauty of this strategy is that even though it's free, 99% of people won't do it so those that do immediately stand out.

Alright, that’s good for now.

If you liked this, share it with a friend.

If you hated it, share it with an enemy.

I love you.

Anand

P.S. I’m almost at 1000 subscribers btw so thank you for being one of the early believers.

P.P.S. I think you can reply to this, and I’ll get it. Would love to hear from you. If it doesn’t work, hit me up at [email protected]