Conversations from the Water: What I Heard at ASU+GSV

Inside Education - Volumen 1, Issue 4

I did not attend the Summit.

The ASU+GSV conference floor is extraordinary in its own right, but there is a particular kind of conversation that only happens away from the panels and the badge-scanning and the structured networking. I wanted that conversation. So we rented a boat, docked just outside the conference center, and spent two days on the water with founders, CEOs, investors, and practitioners who are building companies in the education space.

What follows is not a conference recap. It is a set of practitioner observations, filtered through more than 20 years inside classrooms, schools, and district leadership, and the work I now do advising education companies on M&A.

AI disruption and the Literacy Gap Around It

Every conversation touched artificial intelligence. But the most honest conversations were not about product features. They were about readiness. Educators, administrators, and professional development leaders are grappling with the fact that AI is already inside their institutions, often without policy, training, or guardrails. The question is no longer whether AI disrupts education. It is whether the adults in the building are literate enough to guide the disruption constructively. Several founders are building squarely in this space, and the demand signal is real.

Devices are Leaving Kids' Hands, Especially in Elementary

There is significant and growing momentum around reducing device use in schools, with particular urgency in elementary grades. What once felt like a counterculture position is now policy in a growing number of states and districts. The conversation has shifted from "should we" to "how do we do this without losing the instructional tools that actually work." That distinction creates real market opportunity for companies that can demonstrate focused, intentional, and bounded technology use rather than ambient screen exposure.

Mental Health Services and the Whole-Child Framework

No one I spoke with described mental health as a peripheral issue. It is central. Districts are stretched, school counselors are overwhelmed, and the demand for wraparound services has increased since the pandemic. What has changed is the sophistication of the conversation. Founders are thinking carefully about how services integrate with existing school infrastructure, how they reach students outside the building, and how they serve families, not just children. The companies getting traction are not selling wellness platforms. They are selling systems of care.

Higher Education is Diversifying Away From the Four-Year Degree

This theme surfaced in nearly every conversation that touched postsecondary education. The four-year degree is not going away, but it is no longer the anchor of institutional strategy it once was. Leaders at colleges and universities are rethinking their program architecture with urgent attention to non-degreed credentials, workforce training, certification pathways, and employer-aligned programming.

The Science of Math is Having its Moment

I spent the early part of my career as a reading specialist, and I watched the science of reading movement reshape curriculum policy, procurement decisions, and professional development across the country. I am now hearing the same energy building around math pedagogy. Structured approaches to math instruction, grounded in research on how students actually develop numeracy, are beginning to gain the kind of policy traction that structured literacy gained a decade ago. The companies paying attention to this now will be well-positioned when the procurement wave follows.

AI for Operational Efficiency, Not Just Student Outcomes

Much of the AI conversation in education focuses on student-facing tools: adaptive learning, writing support, personalized tutoring. What I found more interesting in San Diego was the conversation about the operational layer. Scheduling, compliance, communications, staffing, data reporting. The administrative burden on district leaders is substantial and largely invisible to edtech investors. Several founders are building in this space with real traction.

Workforce Training, Certification, and Test Prep are Converging

The distinction between workforce training, professional certification, and test preparation is blurring in ways that create interesting market structure. Companies that once operated in one lane are expanding into adjacent ones. The customer, whether an individual learner or an employer, does not think in lanes. They think in outcomes. The companies that can serve the full credentialing journey, from preparation through certification through ongoing professional learning, are building durable relationships rather than transactional ones.

Global Expansion, and Sometimes the US is Not the First Market

This surprised me, though it probably should not have. Several founders I spoke with are building for international markets first, not as a fallback strategy but as a deliberate choice. Regulatory environments in some markets are more navigable. Demand is acute. Competition is less crowded. A few are not targeting the US at all in their initial go-to-market. For investors and strategic acquirers, this creates interesting questions about what a US expansion story looks like for companies that have built real proof of concept elsewhere.

Allied Health and Specialized Continuing Education

The allied health workforce gap is not speculative. It is documented, ongoing, and growing. Several conversations focused on companies building specialized programming for continuing education in this space, serving professionals who need credential maintenance, skills updates, or upward mobility within healthcare-adjacent roles. These businesses tend to have durable demand, clear regulatory frameworks around credentialing, and employers willing to pay for quality programming. That combination is attractive.

Founders at a Crossroads: Raise, Bootstrap, or Run a Process

The most candid conversations of the two days were about what founders do next. Some are thinking about raising capital to accelerate. Some are committed to bootstrapping through the next phase of growth. And some, with real businesses and strong customer relationships, are beginning to ask serious questions about what a sell-side process looks like. What kind of strategic partner would understand what they have built. Whether the moment is right.

At Tuck Advisors, we work with founders at this intersection. Whether the question is about readiness for a formal process, how to respond to unsolicited interest (read more about our UFO Response™), or simply how to think about positioning for a transaction that may be 12 to 24 months away, that is the conversation we are built for.

There is something about being on the water that changes how people talk. The agenda is less structured. The distractions are fewer. The conversations are more genuine. I am grateful to everyone who came out to the boat and gave me two days of the most honest, substantive education sector conversation I have had in recent memory.

I came away with a list of follow-up calls to make, some introductions to extend, and a renewed conviction that the people building in this space, across every one of these themes, are serious about getting it right!

If this analysis was useful, share it with a colleague who sits at the intersection of education and business.

If you're a founder, investor, or leader in the education space, let's connect!