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The Boyz of EdTech is a fast-paced, insider-driven podcast that explores the evolving world of K–12 education through multiple lenses—district leadership, entrepreneurship, operations, and relationship-building. Hosted by a dynamic panel that includes a former superintendent, startup founders, and edtech operators, the show blends frontline experience with candid conversation about what’s really happening in education today.
Rick Fernandez [00:00:01]:
Welcome, welcome, welcome to the boys of EdTech. We're going to take you on a journey through the ecosystem of K12 from the lens of the superintendent, a super connector, a founder, a rev ops whiz kid, and an old school OG that knows anything and everything about the world. K12. First up, let's get to our panel. Our our guest, a part of the team. I'm coming to the one, the only. Jacob. You're up first, bud.
Rick Fernandez [00:00:29]:
Let's hit it.
Jacob Kantor [00:00:30]:
Hey, all. Excited to be here with you guys. You guys are gonna go on an adventure with us to learn all things. And I'm the chief dodo. Excited to be in your ear today.
Rick Fernandez [00:00:42]:
Ryan, kick it over to you.
Ryan Patenaude [00:00:44]:
All right, thanks, brother. Ryan Patenot here, founder, Persona, K12 operator. Just grateful and excited to be here with this crew, especially the chief dodo, the man Matthew. We're missing the legend on the call, but Dr. Fernandez and really pumped to talk all things EdTech in K12 education with you all.
Rick Fernandez [00:01:07]:
All right, Matthew.
Matthew Millstein [00:01:09]:
Really excited for our episode today, everyone. My name is Matthew. I run a company called Old Soul. I'm new to edtech, newer than my fellow panelists, and really excited to learn from everyone here. We're in the business of relationship building and I like to think the way we go about that is a little unique. So thanks for having me.
Rick Fernandez [00:01:30]:
Absolutely. And I'll be your facilitator for this episode. My name is Rick Fernandez, former superintendent in Texas. I've been in the edtech space for about three years now and looking forward to learning a lot from our panelists here. Now, speaking of learning, ASU GSV for. For educators, that might not ring a bell, but I'm understanding that that's a massive conference where the big fish go to play. And to give us a little bit of perspective on that, I want to turn it over to Jacob because I think he's got the best insight to share about ASU gsv.
Jacob Kantor [00:02:04]:
Yeah. So thanks, Rick. So for the last three years, I've been kind of heads down with the GSV crew. The last two years, we've had the AI show. So all of the innovative folks that we're building in the AI space came together to really highlight everything they were working on. Right. You had Google there, you had Facebook there, you had all the major players, but you had the up and coming company that just finished their website and version one of their product the Thursday before the Saturday show. And that's a real story from somebody.
Jacob Kantor [00:02:37]:
Right. But I'm super excited. The show is Literally this weekend, Sunday I jet out to go there. But you know, you know, it's an interesting one because you know, no other conference I Think brings together 1000K12 leaders, edtech organizations that are building solutions for students, teachers, principals, administrators, you name it. You have the VC side of the house of folks that are looking to fund these crazy wild ideas and great initiatives that are going to go into the districts. You have bankers there that are looking for which organizations are going to merge with other organizations, which companies are going to end up getting investment from the banking, banking folks, which folks are going to get, you know, potentially go public. We talked about the founders, we talked about foundations, right? So you have nonprofit executives that run, you know, the Boys and Girls Club or Breakthrough Collaborative or you name it, right. Kapoor or ecmc.
Jacob Kantor [00:03:43]:
Lots of folks that are doing good work in the space. And then on top of the foundations, you also have a ton of non profit folks in, in the space there as well, right. So it's this interesting hodgepodge of you can be standing in line waiting for coffee and behind you is a superintendent and in front of you is like the hottest AI company that's working with a thousand districts in the United States, right? So it's, it's truly kind of one of a kind style conference. And like, I don't know of any that are like it, right. Like we all know Jen Womble, she puts on fetc, which is awesome, right? There's like a thousand speakers. But I don't think that conference or any other one is really geared towards the different Personas that show up. And depending on your goal as an attendee, right, like your goal might be to raise money for your venture, or your goal might be to meet district leaders, or your goal might be to meet a non profit because you serve the nonprofit space. Or your goal might be to meet somebody who's going to help you with setting up a podcast, like Matt.
Jacob Kantor [00:04:54]:
Right. Like there's lots of folks or Ryan, an exited founder or a superintendent like Rick, right. So there's an interesting dichotomy of different Personas there where you can kind of choose your adventure on who you're looking to meet. And genuinely, I'll throw it to Ryan for this question as well, is, you know, you can kind of sit in the coffee shop or in the bar, not to say you should drink at 8 in the morning, so disclaimer, but you could really sit and take meetings all day with the folks that you're trying to meet and all those folks are there to meet People as well. So it's a really kind of open conference in that sense.
Ryan Patenaude [00:05:35]:
Hey, where did you and I meet Jacob?
Rick Fernandez [00:05:40]:
So I thought y' all were going to say the bar.
Ryan Patenaude [00:05:44]:
It was within steps of the bar, right?
Jacob Kantor [00:05:46]:
Yep. Yeah.
Ryan Patenaude [00:05:47]:
So. So Jacob is spot on. You. You can't really. I think Jacob and team, like, replicate the energy. And I don't know if the word is wildness. Organized. Organized.
Ryan Patenaude [00:06:05]:
You know, I think there's over 5,000 people. Right, Jacob. Or more. Deborah Cuazo. And that team does an unbelievable job of just bringing all those groups together. Like you said, Jacob, I met you there in the lobby in the back. If you can imagine, what is it? The largest hotel conference center on the West Coast. But I think it, at one point, it was like the largest one in the United States.
Ryan Patenaude [00:06:31]:
And then behind it, just a massive amount of restaurants overlooking a. And I was going to add one more thing to your coffee shop. Your coffee shop line. An investment bank from New York City with a black or a blue suit on in front of the AI person, maybe two steps behind the superintendent. And yeah, it's really unique and hard to explain, but to your point, I think if you're gonna go, if you're. If you're trying to sell a business or raise money, you need to be there. Whether you're in the sessions or in the bar or in the lobby. You just need to be immersed in the ecosystem.
Ryan Patenaude [00:07:09]:
You know, I think if you're looking to learn about the latest trends in K12 edtech, I think they say pre K to gray. It really spans everything about education and how we inject both investment, technology, and leadership into it. Meet people and expand your network. I think all of us, you know, Rick, Jacob and Matthew, expand. I think. I don't know if you see this or not, Matthew, but probably a great place to be, do PR and marketing, including maybe some live podcasting.
Matthew Millstein [00:07:39]:
Oh, yeah.
Ryan Patenaude [00:07:40]:
Those are just my initial thoughts, but I can toss it to Matthew. I know you're the more. It's an old. You are an old soul. So I know you might not have as much experience, but based on the conversations I have with you, man, you're dialed in.
Matthew Millstein [00:07:54]:
I appreciate it.
Ryan Patenaude [00:07:54]:
So that seems like a good spot for your partners, for you to go and make some PR happen.
Matthew Millstein [00:08:01]:
I remember my first ASU experience was after attending. I think it was Excel and Ed's National Summit. It was in, like, Salt Lake City. A very, very good conference. Just a very, like, suit and tie, buttoned up one. And then looking at that in comparison to asu where your point about energy, Ryan, it does feel unmatched compared to others because it's not, it's not just what's happening during the day, it's all the activities at night and all the openness and, and willingness of, you know, people that you're trying to get in front of and wanting to build relationship with to actually meet up in person. And when you go have lunch, nine times out of ten you're probably going to see someone that, that, that you know. And I think it's really interesting how you take such a large conference, but in this community it is just, it feels so intimate and, and closely knit together that very rarely, I think there's a room that you're in where you don't see a familiar face.
Matthew Millstein [00:09:06]:
And I think it's really interesting and really cool that, you know, similar to like a South by Southwest, how they have a million different events and whatnot. The level of access you have when you're attending asu, going to the coolie event, going to dogs, going to events, you know, whiteboard they always put on their, their biggest party. It's just, it's, it's different. And last thing I'll say, Ryan, to your, to your point. Yeah, it's a great opportunity for content. You have the beautiful, beautiful scenic views in San Diego. You have great weather so you can film outside without, you know, being worried that it's going to rain on you, generally speaking. And everyone's there for, for the same reason.
Matthew Millstein [00:09:50]:
And I think that just creates a really special environment.
Jacob Kantor [00:09:55]:
Yeah. Matt, on that kind of synergy of, you know, being in a meeting and seeing four people walk by that you need to see as well or say hello to, give handshakes and give hugs to. You know, it's fascinating because I, I bet there's some listeners here that are like, it's my first time, I have no idea. You guys are all experts in it. I, I've only went to three ASU GSVs and my first one I went to, I think I knew a total of three people and like three of them were like, text me, I'll let you know where I am. Right. So it's one of these things where even if you are attending as a first time attendee and you're overwhelmed, I get it, I'm overwhelmed and I know a good chunk of the people there. Like, it is important for you to be in the zone because it is a long conference, right.
Jacob Kantor [00:10:49]:
Like that Wednesday, driving home, back to la. Like, I just already know I'm literally gonna sit with no music and no podcast on just to decompress because they are long days, right? Like I leave the the hotel or the Airbnb I stay at at 8 in the morning and I get back at 1 in the morning, right? Like they are very long days. But what I'll tell you is on top of all the social events, on top of all the sessions you can go to, on top of the exhibit hall, to meet all the up and coming companies and companies that are doing good work, right? Like, make sure you're wearing comfortable shoes. Make sure you're, you have a water bottle packed. Like, all these things are super basic, but they're like learned issues. You don't have it, right? Like if you don't hydrate, you're not going to make it to the Cooley event on the midway. If you don't wear comfortable shoes, you're going to end up back in your hotel room because your feet are killing you, right? So, like, some of these basic things are very, very important. And you know, one thing around the content part that you said is, so two years ago for the AI show, right, I made a plan, right? So everyone should have a plan going in.
Jacob Kantor [00:12:03]:
I had a plan to meet every single one of the 125 AI companies there. And I was like, I have three days to do this.
Ryan Patenaude [00:12:11]:
Go.
Jacob Kantor [00:12:12]:
I probably got through about five of them and looked at my watch and was like, man, it's been four hours. And we're like, I'm not going to make it through meeting all these companies. And I had to switch my plan literally midday. And I said, hey, I'm walking around with some amazing superintendents that are super cutting edge, that are like asking the right questions. Instead of going and meeting 125 companies, why don't I strategically go to a couple of them and literally highlight what they're doing alongside some superintendents that I know. And like, I turned that into LinkedIn content, right? So like forewarning for everybody who follows any of us, right? Like, I'm going to be super annoying at ASU GSB posting who I'm hanging out with, who I'm having lunch with, who I'm having cigars with. Not because I'm like bragging in any way, but that is how I use LinkedIn, right? Like, I want others to see me hanging out with Matt and Rick and Ryan and say, where are you guys? Like, I didn't even know you guys were in town. And then for me to say, we're right up the street come, we have a spot for you.
Jacob Kantor [00:13:24]:
You're more than welcome. Right, so it's more of like this is what I'm doing. If you are interested, join along.
Rick Fernandez [00:13:31]:
Yep. Yeah, that's a perfect segue because I, I do want to dig into the strategy of if you are, you know, a founder, if you are a rev ops guru looking for a target rich environment or if you are a super connector, what are some of the things that you have to take into account and as you lay out your strategy, some of the things that you've learned from your from attending. So Ryan, I want to kick it to you from that founder's perspective and just some, some dos and don'ts and maybe some things to keep in mind as you lay out a strategy to attend.
Ryan Patenaude [00:14:01]:
Yeah, yeah, that's a great question and important. I appreciate Jacob, you like really practical advice I think for anybody trying to attend. Because I wouldn't say it can be. I will say it is overwhelming, hard stop, right to be at ASU gsv. But it's also exhilarating. Those two things can be true. They're not mutually exclusive. And like as a founder and an operator Persona, like I think these things are more, are more basic.
Ryan Patenaude [00:14:31]:
As Jacob gave you a prime example. If you think you're gonna do everything for every you're gonna do 120 meetings, like that might be an unrealistic and unattainable goal. Jacob learned that learning I think is important. Right. And I learned it too. The other thing is like these things that I wrote down, Jacob, when you got my mind going on this stuff, I wrote down number one, what are my must have meetings? If I'm going as a founder or an operator, do I need to find a channel partner? Am I looking for superintendents to sell to? Am I looking for investors to raise money? Am I looking to sell the company right? Am I looking for talent? Am I looking for Jacob to run, to be my CRO of my organization or am I looking to partner with him on a new company? Like what am I trying to accomplish, right. And who do I, who must I meet with? Because Jacob, as you said, like every meeting you take, you're going to see five to seven people that you need to go see because you haven't seen them, you need to hug them and you need to like that takes time and energy and effort, right? We need to be like dialed in on your must have meetings too. Is you need to put yourself in the room.
Ryan Patenaude [00:15:39]:
And what I mean by that is you need to go to the Hotel bar, because that's where everybody will eventually be. You need to be in the hallway.
Rick Fernandez [00:15:45]:
Eight in the morning, hotel bar. Like Jacob are just, you know, as
Ryan Patenaude [00:15:50]:
Rick, eight in the morning, hotel bar, minus the drinks. Unless personal preference decides otherwise. That's where people are setting up for Buddy Berries.
Jacob Kantor [00:15:58]:
Buddy Berries is.
Rick Fernandez [00:16:00]:
There you go.
Ryan Patenaude [00:16:01]:
I don't know. I was pounding cold brew, right this Dunkin Donuts right into my veins. It was a, it was a drip, Matthew. So you put yourself in those spots because you never know. That's how. To me, that's how you make your own luck. You put yourself at the events, right? Can't do every event, but where do you put yourself? And then the third thing I wrote Jacob was strap in because it is going to be exhausting. So be flexible and learn.
Ryan Patenaude [00:16:24]:
Those are the other two things, right? So whether I'm a founder or not, like those are the big three that I would do. I would always be flexible because Jacob and Matthew and not going to be Rick. Like, how many texts are you going to get? I'm over here. Meet me out by the water. Meet me at the coffee shop. Ryan, you should meet this person. You gotta be ready to pivot and you gotta be ready to go. So Rick, those are the things that go through my mind.
Ryan Patenaude [00:16:49]:
And Jacob, you got my mind going on those. So I appreciate that.
Rick Fernandez [00:16:54]:
Matt, let me kick it to you from the marketing slash, rev ops, efficiency, content, create, builder. What are you looking to do? Because you've got a lot of different targets that could possibly come available to you, a lot of connections that you could make. But it seems like for me, that would be overwhelming. If all of these people are potential clients, how would you go about that process lining up, going off of what
Matthew Millstein [00:17:21]:
Ryan said with your must haves? I always advise clients, put a dollar amount as applicable next to the must have. Because one thing we haven't mentioned is ASU is one of the more expensive conferences. If you're someone like Ryan or I, we're coming from the east coast and it's just, there's a lot involved. It's a longer conference compared to others. You have all the events and there's, there's a lot with that. So going into it, if your goal is leads, if your goal is to, you know, meet potential customers, you need to be mindful of. When I leave this conference, I. How do I know it was successful? Frequently what I see is a lot of people go and they create what I call party pipeline.
Matthew Millstein [00:18:14]:
So you're at the bar, you're Having a chat after the conference during a happy hour and you meet a superintendent and you're chatting, they're like, oh my gosh, this is the best thing in the world. Yeah, I'll give you my number. And you know, you're just, you are ant. You're a new founder. You're texting your co founder who didn't make it to the conference and you're like, oh my gosh, I just met xyz. He loves what we do. We're setting a meeting and Ryan and Jacob are nodding their heads. Nine times out of 10, what happens? You hit up this person, they don't get back to you and you're like, wait, I thought we were, we were buddies.
Matthew Millstein [00:18:49]:
So there's a lot of noise at conferences. So when we think about the strategy involved, Rick and I'll try to sum this up, go in with a plan. I think the app is a very underutilized tool. First, from a agenda perspective, look at the sessions you want to be a part of. Look at who the players are going to be. You're going to find events in there. There's a messaging feature as well. Jacob is King on LinkedIn.
Matthew Millstein [00:19:15]:
Try to connect with these people on LinkedIn in addition to on the app and just start some brief chatter before the conference actually takes place that should inform your strategy on, like, here are the people I have to meet with. And then try to set those meetings leading up to the conference. Everyone on this, this episode knows that you're going to have reschedules and cancellations because that's just how this thing works. A session is going to go long, you're going to be bummed out. So if you expect that there's going to be. You need to be fluid in this environment. You'll be successful. And yeah, and then last thing is focus a lot of energy on your follow up as well.
Matthew Millstein [00:19:55]:
Don't just expect one conversation over a cocktail to land you the deal.
Ryan Patenaude [00:20:01]:
I was just going to say like, amen to that because Jacob's right. He's sitting in silence on the way home. People need like a vacation from asu. Gsb. What matter you. We were talking about it earlier. What matters the most? Follow through to actually capitalize on what the work that you did there because now you lost all your energy. So what did you do that for? And you're saying like map it out on the front end to like why you're doing this, what you think that value is.
Ryan Patenaude [00:20:28]:
And now the only way to do that is to execute on the back End. So amen to that, man.
Rick Fernandez [00:20:33]:
Jacob, I want to flip it around a little bit for your. From your perspective, somebody wants to connect with you at ASU gsb, what should they do? How do they do it? What's the right way to engage with someone that has your, your network, your influence? Give some, some rookies a little bit of insight.
Jacob Kantor [00:20:52]:
Yeah. So if, if folks are looking to connect with myself or I'd say any of us on the call, right. Like, LinkedIn is probably the easiest way unless we've talked on email, you know, and it's an interesting question because I'm having to turn things down for sure. Right. Like there. And, and how I kind of phrase that is, hey, if we can meet on a zoom where we've already met and I know what you're doing, like, that is not a good use of your time when I'm talking to the founder or somebody else, right? Like, if I already know what you're doing and like, you're just catching me up, like, send me an email and that's not to discredit the work you're doing. That's your time is valuable there. Right? And like in previous years, like the last two years, I'll tell you, like, all of this advice we're giving out now, I didn't take it myself.
Jacob Kantor [00:21:46]:
I didn't schedule meetings. I said, I want a fluid calendar and I want to be able to see somebody and be like, hey, I don't have anything for an hour. You want to go take a walk and, and go deep with somebody there? Right. I think one of the things that I tried to, for all the founders that I'm working with across like eight or nine companies now, is I'm trying to instill in them kind of what you, Matt and Ryan, what you said, right, Is just because you spent a happy hour chatting with somebody does not mean you're closing a deal, does not mean they're spending time with you afterwards. And like, look, I build really deep relationships, not even talking about the products I'm working with, right? Like, I deep, I build deep relationships. Like, shout out to a couple of the superintendents I'm on text with now that I've literally not talked to up until this week purely to say, like, are you going. I think you're going, like, message me. I have a list of all the fun things.
Jacob Kantor [00:22:49]:
You don't need to hang out with me. Like, you have your own crew, but if you need things to do, hit me up, right? And now we're talking. And now we're going to be doing cigars. And like, as much as I want to tell them about all the cool things that I'm working on, I actually rather learn about their families and how they got into their role and the things that they hate about their role. And, and, and I, I'm not one for talking about the, the negative side of it. But like, I think if you give somebody space to say there's great things that I love about what I do, there's also shitty excuse my language things about what I do that I hope I could change in the next 90 days, that probably won't happen. And I think like those genuine deeper conversations is how you get somebody bought into you as a person. Because I subscribe to, you know, the motto of I want to go very deep with somebody because they might not be a principal, they might not be a superintendent next year at asgsv, they might be the head of some organization, they might change districts, they might get out of K12 altogether and become a consultant.
Jacob Kantor [00:24:03]:
Like you don't know where our paths are going to go. All I know is you can deepen a really good conversation to have where you can build a long friendship and you know, shout out to Tanya Wilson in upstate New York, right? Like we met at an IEI event and I never talked to her before and we smoked cigars till two in the morning at the barbecue place literally across the street. And now like we're bff and I was just talking to her yesterday about her family and her kids and how our district's doing. So like these interesting organic conversations with people beyond, hey, this is what I do, this is what I call for, I think just go significantly deeper in relationship building.
Rick Fernandez [00:24:50]:
Guys, I want to throw a question out for everybody to quickly respond to about the events and the type of engagements. I know for a fact that superintendents aren't the biggest fans of sitting at three hour dinners and hearing about products or what have you. But I also hear that ASU has got some outstanding engagement. So give me your take real quickly on the events that you like to go. Even be a personal preference, right? No right or wrong personal preference, what you're looking forward to and what's kind of takes the cake when you get there and you're, you're out and about. Let me, let me, let me throw it to Matthew. Give us your take.
Matthew Millstein [00:25:27]:
When it comes to meals, I like to share them with friends, close clients first and then likely bring a prospect. So I'm going to map out and you know, hit up Jacob Hey, Jacob, what are you doing for lunch? And then he'll likely bring a. Bring a friend. I'll bring a friend or someone that, you know, I'd like to partner with. That's how I kind of map meals. All the other events, you know, Cooley for me was a. I need to do it just for the experience of it. It would be fun to do.
Matthew Millstein [00:26:01]:
But I like to then map my events based on who are the people there that I'd like to connect with. Frequently what we'll do is, you know, I'll meet a prospect I've spoken to online or on virtual calls and then they like to tag along to different events with me. So that's kind of some of the things I'm looking at. Being close to the. Where all the action is a big one as well. Sometimes people like to do excursions and go out and it's fun in the moment. But then I think, Jacob, you had this at fetc. You go out of the area and it's like a 45 or 60 minute ride back and it can feel like you're missing things versus if you're able to adapt.
Matthew Millstein [00:26:42]:
And it's like oh, so and so said to meet us for cigars at Corona. You're able to just jump over there a little bit more easily. So I'm looking at proximity and then you know, where the people I need to meet with are moving.
Rick Fernandez [00:26:55]:
Nice. Ryan, give me your. And don't say a Celtics game for, for the love of God.
Ryan Patenaude [00:26:59]:
So just that obvious in the background or WWE event or something like that. I got.
Rick Fernandez [00:27:04]:
Now you were talking. Now we're talking.
Ryan Patenaude [00:27:05]:
But at least you got the goat in the background. Jordan in the shop, brother. You know, I'm a, I'm a Jordan guy. And Jacob's got enough Jordans back there to, you know, suit up a middle school basketball team. But I don't think they were size 15. So. Bro, you know, no, look at. He's keeping his mouth shut for now.
Ryan Patenaude [00:27:22]:
Soon we'll have an episode on shoes. Okay, so here's my view on this. I really appreciate what Matthew said earlier and the way he just articulated what events he's going to act. I think it's like we need to be in the rooms where we. For the people that we need to meet. So part of it is plan, right? But I'll give you, I'll give you an example of some of the events I go to and why. Number one, I go to the Titan Partners Annual. It's a mixer and a dinner and A networking event.
Ryan Patenaude [00:27:51]:
They're the banker that helped us sell Feb tutor back in 2022. Those are deep connections. In that room are going to be strategics, PE and VC investors, superintendents. That's going to have a mix of everybody. That is an event that I always go to with Chris and Vivek and that team there and Matt Lavelle. That's number one. Two is I go to superintendent networking events. So I'm on the board of iei.
Ryan Patenaude [00:28:18]:
These aren't like plugs, but this is. This is like a strategy, right? I wanna. I need to keep my relationships with superintendents as just Jacob said and build those deep relationships and see people. I also need to be in the room with companies and business people. So this is how I sort of split the difference. I go to the IEI event. That was the barbecue place, Jacob. I have the Top Gun barbecue place with Tanya, who's from Rochester, New York, which is where my family lives.
Ryan Patenaude [00:28:40]:
She's great. She played basketball, I think, before my sister got to Nazareth College, but they both apparently played there. See, look. Look how small the world is here, right? She's awesome. And then from there, like the third leg to that stool for me is being at the hotel bar because there's inevitably somebody that I need to or want to meet with that I wasn't able to. Life's not perfect, right? I wasn't able to cancel in on LinkedIn before Rick. I wasn't able to do what I wanted to do. But I darn know that if I stand at that place, whether I'm drinking tequila or not, or a double ipa, two drinks of choice, just a plug for those.
Ryan Patenaude [00:29:18]:
I'm going to see who I need to see. And like that isn't to me the same thing as a. Depends on who you are and what you're trying to do. But I agree with what Matt said. That's a happy hour, feeling good, special. I'm trying to shark people for a minute. Even if I can't meet with them, I need to find like, I think Jacob, you and I found each other in the hallway. Like we were.
Ryan Patenaude [00:29:39]:
We're like looking for each other, right? And so that's the place to go. I think if I'm. Oh, see, if I'm over, if I'm over subscribed to events, I think I'm. I'm going nowhere. So I try to pick and choose. You said Matt, and just be like targeted. Because if I go try to do all the happy hours, I'll just be dead afterwards. That's just my view, Rick.
Rick Fernandez [00:29:59]:
Jacob, what's your. What's your event structure like? I mean, you always leave the breadcrumbs for us to follow all the dodo stickers you hand out. So. But what are your top. What are your top few at asu? Gsb?
Jacob Kantor [00:30:09]:
Look, I. I'm gonna have massive fomo, because if I'm looking at my calendar, which you guys probably can't see, there's literally overlapping events. There's, you know, a foundation that said, hey, can you come? We'd love to host you. Then there's a company that invited for something, so there's never enough time. And, you know, I am not good on the FOMO side, so I feel like I want to be everywhere, but I also don't want to pull myself away from a deep conversation I'm having at one event to go hopefully have another conversation somewhere else. So I think it's one of these things where, like, you know, I'm looking at, like, my Monday calendar is like an AI event, then a Reach Capital event, then an ECMC event, then an event with Rethink, then EdTech Insiders. Like, I already am, like, exhausted. I'm not even there yet.
Jacob Kantor [00:31:04]:
And like, all of those will be great places with great people. And there's also 7,000 people going to this, right? So every event is going to have a different slice of, of the ecosystem. So, you know, I will have FOMO for sure. And I think that's where, like, you will have friends at other events and you can kind of do a quick check in and be like, hey, this is winding down. Is it worth walking over there? Is it worth going to the next one? And like, most people are pretty good about, like, I. I'm probably going to leave this and go to the next one too, right? And like, look, if you make a friend and you're going deep, like, there's nothing stopping you from saying, like, this event sucks now. Like, you want to go grab a bite before the next one and then walk somewhere, right? Like, I do think people are pretty open to meeting, I'd say, Rick, the only kind of asterisk I have there is the amount of messages that are probably going out to superintendents. And the thousand educators right now is probably overwhelming them to a new level, right? They're used to getting a couple hundred emails from vendors.
Jacob Kantor [00:32:20]:
Now there's a couple hundred people literally in the same space that are emailing them for their time. So that is a tricky one. And, like, one that I'm even dealing with with Some of the companies I work with, because everyone wants to get time with XYZ district coming from Cincinnati or XYZ District coming from the Bay Area or from Texas. And if I don't have enough time, can you imagine what they're feeling like when they're also on stage and they're also meeting with the GSV team? Because maybe they're on a superintendent event where they're on stage with other super. Right. Like, there's never enough time to do everything. So I think, you know, if you can be intentional on, hey, I'm going to start here and I think this will be worth it and be kind of fluid in your plans to say, I thought this was going to be good. And you know what? Like, it it the people there weren't my demographic of folks I'm trying to meet with.
Jacob Kantor [00:33:22]:
Not to say they weren't good people, but like, I. I'm looking to meet XYZ person and they're not here. So let's go to the next event. Right? And you know, the other thing I'll tell you is this. Everything kicks off, you know, Sunday, right? Like, most times people are not really there for Sunday. So this is a unique opportunity to get in early and actually see who's there on Saturday night. See who's there on Sunday. Also, like, I looked at the calendar today and like, Wednesday, the last day, I am not that crazy booked.
Jacob Kantor [00:34:00]:
So I'm shifting things and people I meet from Sunday, Monday and Tuesday into, hey, my calendar is pretty loose on Wednesday. Like, do you want to go a little bit deeper on Wednesday? And if. No, that's fine too. But, like, I'm leaving some, like, fluidness. I don't know if that's a word in the calendar too, but, like, inevitably you're going to have fomo and then inevitably there's not enough time in the day and you're going to get pulled into stuff. So, like, I think you got to be okay with you're going to miss some events because you're crushing it at a different event.
Rick Fernandez [00:34:40]:
Fair enough. Let me layer in the kind of the superintendent perspective, if I may, because, you know, being attended many conferences and I think we're just like everybody else and we just want to hang out with people that we genuinely enjoy.
Jacob Kantor [00:34:56]:
Right.
Rick Fernandez [00:34:56]:
And don't want to be pitched, don't understand that that's. That's people's livelihoods and business and there's a time and place. But I would just recommend it's kind of like D. Right. You're not Going to go too hard too fast.
Matthew Millstein [00:35:09]:
Right?
Rick Fernandez [00:35:09]:
When you meet somebody, like just, just, you know, be cordial and be somebody that's, that's friendly to hang out with. Right. I mean we, we're talking business and we're talking politics and we're all of those things 24, 7 in, in that seat. And so we're just looking for somebody to like, hey, no pressure watching a game. I mean, you know, been to many events where, where someone invited me to, to watch a game and it was the best time, easy. Obviously I'm a basketball fan so by the time, you know, they were my best friend, I didn't even know they were, you know, well, hey, can we come check out a demo? Like, well, didn't even know that. So just going slow to go fast. People just want to be around other people that they genuinely enjoy.
Rick Fernandez [00:35:48]:
And that would be my, my best advice with the understanding that there are business targets and you're there to put in some work and, and line up some prospects so that we get that. We understand that too. So don't think it's, we don't understand that there's a need to do that as well. You know, as we kind of wrap up here. What are some of the things or some of the people that you are most excited about for this year's event and kind of why, why the excitement around it can be a solution. It could be somebody that you, you haven't seen in a while. It can be a particular event that you're excited to go on. But Ryan, let me start with you and just kind of give us what you're looking forward to.
Ryan Patenaude [00:36:30]:
Well, I was gonna, I was gonna recuse myself because I woke up to a text this morning, Matthew, when I was feeding my three month old daughter at 5:00am and he was like, yo, you gonna be at ASU? Like you're sending some, one of his texts. Which I was like, smh, right. Because we have a three month old daughter that we adopted in January and so I'm actually on the sidelines this year, Rick. But what I will tell you is that I'm an investor in some early stage companies and I know Jacob does the same and Matthew knows this too. So what I'm doing is trying to be a dodo. I'm trying to be a super connector from out here in Boston. For this year I am going to have some fomo. I'm going to miss seeing you guys out there and energy.
Ryan Patenaude [00:37:14]:
This is my off year. But basically I'm invested in organization called GLIMMER early stage AI company one called Oko Labs. I'm trying to set up some meetings for them not only with superintendents, Rick, but also with some investors because some of them are raising money. Some of my partners class Dojo Paper seven mindsets, some they will have some folks out there too. Just to give you an example. I never even, don't think I even said what I do now, but RP Impact Partners were consulting firm much like what Jacob does at jk and so like I'm gonna try to be a super connector from the sidelines this time, Rick, to try to impart whatever wisdom I'm talking about today. Anything I've learned really probably failures to learn things as Jacob said earlier and Matthew alluded to and try to pay that forward because a lot of the founders that we work with, they actually haven't been ASU GSV and they actually need to get something done and they might have absolutely no idea what to do. And so I'm going to take what I've learned and what we're talking about here on this podcast, try to give that back to my, to my partners, to my companies that are investigating it.
Ryan Patenaude [00:38:31]:
So sorry to do the end. Like surprise, I'm not going to be there after I'm doing all this pontificating around ASU gsb. But I will be back next year. Jacob, we should replicate our handshake in the hall way and like take a selfie and pop it up on LinkedIn and go right to the bar. What do you say?
Jacob Kantor [00:38:48]:
You know, I'm excited to be with some of my partners that I only actually see on zoom calls or on text message. Right. But also like, you know, Matt and I obviously text and talk all the time. So just excited to be in the same room of people that I have in various text threads that we jam on all things AI or the latest and greatest LAUSD news or what's going on across the country. So, you know, just a lot of folks and you know, I, I'm pleasantly surprised always with like, you know, in my weirdness of what I do and how I do it on LinkedIn, like inevitably five times a day on I bet I would make a bet on this. If anyone wants to take the other side is I'm gonna have like five to ten people a day walk up to me and say hey, we've never met. But like I read the stuff you post on LinkedIn and like thanks because I found out about some RFP or some money at the state level or some trend that's going on that, like, is specific to my business and like, that like, truly makes my day and makes my week. Because, A, it takes a lot of guts to go up to somebody you don't know and say, hey.
Jacob Kantor [00:40:10]:
So I welcome all of it. But B, it's neat to connect the online world into somebody's experience that I've never met, that is on the other side of the country sometimes. Other side of the world. Right. Like, I have some meetings with partners and in different countries there as well. So that part of it is super exciting, but also just excited to see, you know, Claire from GSV turned into, like an AI guru. So always good to chop it up with her and, like, the success she's having, you know, really delivering AI news every single day. Right.
Jacob Kantor [00:40:48]:
But like, also just friends, like, you know, Tiffany Law and all the crazy stuff that she's going to be doing with I over the course of a couple of days. But also, like, superintendent friends and friends that, like, you know, live in Indiana and think I live, like a lavish lifestyle here in LA, which, P.S. it's awesome. It's 75 degrees today. It's amazing.
Rick Fernandez [00:41:11]:
Okay, that's enough about the weather.
Jacob Kantor [00:41:16]:
Yeah, but why I say that is, you know, beyond like, meeting at FETC or being in the same space with them a year ago, like, other than text message, I haven't seen some of these folks so excited to, like, shake some hands and give some hugs and say hey and also bring them into conversations and circles with other folks too. Right. So if, like, if you're listening to this and you're like, oh, yeah, that reminds me, like, I owe Jacob a text or Matt a text or Ryan a text or Rick a text or Jeff a text. Like, do it. Like, we will be in interesting rooms. And like, the only time I'm ever, like, seeing say, ever, ever, ever, if I can't invite you to a place is if I got a plus one on somebody's else's where it's. It was invite only. Right.
Jacob Kantor [00:42:04]:
And I just name it. I'm like, hey, I can't. This is not my event. And I'm like, crashing myself. I can't invite others. But for the most part is like, come join. Like, there's enough conversations to be had for everyone. Like, what are you going to do? Like, eat more of the appetizers and then I don't get any app.
Jacob Kantor [00:42:22]:
That's fine. I'll buy myself a slice of pizza.
Rick Fernandez [00:42:26]:
That's me, 100%. I'm eating. I'm meeting all the appetizers and not even sharing. Matthew, what about you?
Matthew Millstein [00:42:34]:
Yeah, so funny enough, similar to Ryan, I will be on the sidelines this year also for a newborn. Very blessed for him. Thank you. We will have our creative director on site podcasting with a few of our clients. So excited to hear how that goes. And in a cool spot where when you have a dozen or so clients going to the same place, typically you can connect them to each other and create a really, really cool environment. I'm excited to hear about the future of ASU because one thing we didn't discuss is ASU was acquired by BET and you're taking, I would say, arguably two of the largest education conferences in the world, and they're joining forces. So I'm just curious, like, what does that look like? You have folks like I, Jacob bringing superintendents to BET in London and, you know, folks from.
Matthew Millstein [00:43:31]:
From Talos, Rick, also who are able to attend. And I'm just wondering, what does this look like? You know, they're not doing the AI show this year, so just very curious to hear kind of what announcements are made and what does the future of ASU GSV look like along with. Yes, the future of Ed tech.
Rick Fernandez [00:43:51]:
Yeah. Yeah. I would say from the superintendent perspective, because this is not typically a conference that's on. On the radar for us, but what I would suggest is that it's important that you're in the room to help guide the need of your students, of your staff. And what better way to do that than hear from the founders, hear how they're building and, and use that as a leverage point because they do want to know. They are very curious. And a lot of companies get it wrong because they build it for what they think is the need versus having enough input from the people that are going to actually use it, the people that have to purchase it with public dollars. And so you get to see all of that, you get to influence, you get to actually help architect some of those things.
Rick Fernandez [00:44:39]:
And that's spot.
Ryan Patenaude [00:44:41]:
That's.
Rick Fernandez [00:44:42]:
That's highly valuable not only for your district, but for all of your colleagues around the United States. The other part is, is that as many of you know, your seat is always warm as a superintendent, so you never know where your next opportunity will lead. Whether it's a consulting, whether it's working with an edtech or working with a publishing company. However you envision your. Your career options, this is a great opportunity to diversify because all it takes is one change in board members or change in mindset. And, you know, how the story goes. So I would encourage administrators, superintendents to get involved and help shape the need of your districts and of your colleagues. Very important to do that.
Rick Fernandez [00:45:28]:
So, final, final word, and then we'll get out of here. Jacob, final word, final thought for ASU GS feed.
Jacob Kantor [00:45:34]:
Yeah, Rick, I think you just hit on something that I want to double click in on, if that's okay. Is, you know, and this is like, true story. So I'm not even making this up. I took a walk yesterday when my kids went down and I got a text from a superintendent friend that said, hey, can we find some time at GSV to connect? And I said, yeah, man, whatever you need when you want to meet. And normally when I get that kind of text, it's somebody's thinking about their next step if it's the next district that they're going to be working at or a company that reached out to them and needs a consultant or something. So, yeah, to your point, I'd encourage, you know, the educators that are going, you know, we have no idea what the future brings. And all I could say is, like, all the good opportunities come to me through the network that I've established. So if any of us can be of help to anyone on the K12 side that's thinking about their next steps, like, nothing would bring me more joy than to spend time with somebody who has heard that consulting is a great space and I love what I do.
Jacob Kantor [00:46:46]:
There's always an asterisk there of, like, are you prepared to do what I do? Right? So this dynamic of, like, to your point, being open and also shaping how the tools are made and how the language hits into K12. And all this stuff is super, super important. So I, I want to name it, you know, as every company is going to want to talk to all of the district leaders there. Like, we, there's folks that are generally curious about next steps and what people are going to be doing. And like, I mean, two years ago I walked around with a couple superintendents and one was retiring and we kind of went on an adventure. And I, I hate to say it, but, like, we just walked around and I was like, hey, he's retiring. He's a big deal. You should talk to him.
Jacob Kantor [00:47:34]:
And like, now he's like a consultant that has five clients and, like, he found his passion after he left the district, right? So there's a world that is out there after the K12 seat. And, like, this is the room to be in to figure out if that's a fit for you. And you might realize that it's not and you might stay in your role. Right. But like, those are the conversations that I love to have as well.
Rick Fernandez [00:48:01]:
Excellent. Matthew, final thought.
Matthew Millstein [00:48:04]:
Don't reek of commission breath where you're just so what smell like?
Rick Fernandez [00:48:09]:
What does that smell like? Let me just.
Matthew Millstein [00:48:11]:
Smells like a brand new account executive who is just so excited to be in the room with someone that never replied to any of their emails that they are just spewing every widget or every, you know, feature that their product has. This is a conference, like I would say every conference in education. It's about the relationships. So I recommend to clients and partners, you get out of your mind, you're going to close a deal on the, the exhibit floor. Ain't going to happen. I mean, maybe it will, but I don't think that's success. I think success is getting to know the person you're speaking to and balancing that line of we don't want party pipeline, but we don't want a reek of commission breath. We want to be a good human and a good person and actually get to know the person we're speaking to before we make the ask.
Matthew Millstein [00:48:59]:
Because if we're honest with ourselves. To your point, Rick and Jacob, you mentioned this as well. Districts are getting a million messages. So you just trying to do an elevator pitch to them. They don't care. They don't. There's too many people that are trying to get in front of them just like you. So be a person, don't reek of commission breath and set reasonable expectations for yourself at the conference.
Matthew Millstein [00:49:22]:
And lastly, try to have a little fun.
Rick Fernandez [00:49:25]:
Yep. Ryan, take us home.
Ryan Patenaude [00:49:28]:
All right, here we go. So maybe this is just the old man in me, but one time somebody told me two things. One, it's not what you know, it's who you know, facts. ASU GSV is that personified, right? Two, what is it, 70 or 80% of life is just showing up. So now imagine you do those two things and you do a mess in just a good human being. Curious, like Jacob said, advocating for others. I feel like the more you advocate for others, the more it comes back to you. Right? And for ASU gsb, I would just say, you know, be ready.
Ryan Patenaude [00:50:06]:
You know, invest the money when you're ready to go so you can get your own roi, whatever that means to you and to, you know, you know, be like, put yourself in position to have those authentic conversations with folks and you know, just, just know why you're there. Right? Like be ready and know why you're going because if you know why you're going, like you said, Matt, you're going to come back with something. But ultimately, to me, this is a conference that can give you an edge. Like Jacob said, if you're looking for your next gig, if you're looking to get out into the private sector from the public sector, if you're looking to get a job right, like you are now in the room with probably every ed tech company that matters, you are surrounded by K12 leaders and superintendents like you, Dr. Fernandez. And by the way, all the PE and VC companies are there and all the consultants. So if you were trying to go to. If your customers were at Starbucks at 5pm on Friday and someone was like, Matthew, go to Starbucks at 5pm on Friday, well then where the hell.
Ryan Patenaude [00:51:17]:
So to me, that's what it is.
Rick Fernandez [00:51:23]:
That's all. That's awesome. No, I mean it's great. I mean you heard it here. The boys of ed tech and I would encourage all of the listeners and followers to jump on LinkedIn and follow Ryan, our RP impact partners, the Dodo JK. I mean he's massive on LinkedIn. Old soul Matthew is doing is taking your company and making it hyper efficient. And then little old me.
Rick Fernandez [00:51:46]:
You know, I know a few people here and there in Texas and love the K12 space, love everything workforce and CTE and love hearing my, my stories from my superintendent colleagues. Sometimes they're a little painful, but follow us, join and be part of the conversation.