Stephen Gilfus
CEO
Gilfus Education Group
One of the original founders of Blackboard, Stephen Gilfus now heads up a growing education, technology and business consultancy with influence and clients throughout K-12 and higher education.
What was your first inclination that you might want to start businesses as a career?
From age twelve on I never hesitated to shovel snow, mow lawns and paint walls in the neighborhood for pay. I didn't hesitate to talk with neighbors and other homeowners about their needs and what I could do for them. I was never afraid to get my hands dirty.
Do you think there's a family-related stimulus behind successful entrepreneurs?
In my case yes. My father started construction and real estate companies before landing in finance as an investment advisor. In our family there was always a curiosity about how things work. We never stopped asking why things were a certain way, and we never wanted to stop learning.
Did college help propel you?
Absolutely. My undergraduate years at Cornell were focused on entrepreneurship and personal enterprise, a modified undergraduate business degree. It was cutting edge in the 1990s, launched at the same time as Babson College's entrepreneurial studies. Cornell employed a team study approach. While there I started CEO, Cornell Entrepreneur Organization, which still exists with hundreds of undergraduate members.
Describe the family connection in play during your Cornell attendance.
I was a legacy student at Cornell. Both my father and his brother attended there simultaneously twenty years earlier. Then my brother and I attended simultaneously, and his focus was also entrepreneurship and personal enterprises. We both won academic awards in Cornell's business consulting course in different years. Today he runs his own successful real estate and property management firm in upstate New York.
Describe the birth and early years of what became Blackboard.
As a teaching assistant at Cornell and as CEO of CEO, I met Dan Cane, then a student in my class and CEO member. Dan wrote a business plan for an educational web site, and his plan won an award. In 1997 we got together and co-founded CourseInfo, a precursor to Blackboard. As Cornell students we created software to support classroom instruction. While Dan wrote code, I acquired fifteen clients, among them Cornell, Yale Medical School and University of Pittsburgh. Each of us grew and nurtured a team. We then merged CourseInfo with Blackboard LLC, creating Blackboard Inc. in 1998. That was a busy year and a half.
When did you expect Blackboard to produce positive cash flow, and when did it actually happen?
We expected positive cash flow to happen much sooner than it actually occurred in 2004. The merger resulted in a staff of 14 people, and it took our sales longer than we expected to produce the necessary revenue. Also, we followed the venture capital route, which led to a further doubling of staff every eight to ten months. As soon as we cleared the profitability threshhold, in 2004 we took the company to the public market. We were one of a few companies that successfully made it through the dot.com era. One hundred million dollars of venture capital built a very strong brand.
How large a business was Blackboard at the time you left in 2007?
Annual sales were about $350 million with 1,400 employees serving 3,400 campuses globally. And growing.
Is the higher education industry especially fertile territory for entrepreneurs today?
Most definitely.
Why?
Education is at the core of our knowledge economy in a "flat world." The demand for quality education has been increasing for years and will continue. Astute entrepreneurs will help the industry satisfy demand by creating new technology, new content, more efficient operations and completely new business models. In my opinion we are truly seeing the emergence of "the business of education."
Name some start-up companies we ought to keep our eyes on.
Here are eight. ConnectYard. Wiggio. MoodleRooms. 2Tor. Flat World Knowledge. Inetoo. TopSchool. eThority.
Name some second-stage companies that you believe will have significant impact on the industry.
iStrategies and NuVentive are two. Each owns its niche and has happy clients. Each is meeting a need for better planning and transparency in the industry.