Social Impact
Closing Keynote
About This Talk
Michael Moe discusses social impact of EdTech with Alakh Pandey and Prateek Maheshwari.
Speakers
Michael Moe is the founder and CEO of GSV Holdings (GSV), a growth focused investment platform based in Silicon Valley. GSV has invested in companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox, Snap, Lyft and Spotify. Inspired by the entrepreneurial mindset of Silicon Valley spreading throughout the world, GSV or "Global Silicon Valley" seeks to identify, invest in and accelerate the transformative companies emerging as innovators. Prior to GSV, he co-founded and was CEO of ThinkEquity Partners LLC, a growth focused investment firm. With a knack for picking the most dynamic, fastest growing companies, he was voted to be on the Institutional All American Research Team and named "Best on the Street" by the Wall Street Journal while heading Global Growth research at Merrill Lynch. He is the co-founder of the ASU GSV Summit, a conference in the education sector that Forbes called the "Davos of Education". Michael is also the Chief Executive Officer of CLASS Acceleration Corp, a publicly traded SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Corporation) on the NYSE. Michael is an advisor to and on the Investment Committee of the GSV Ventures, a fund that invests in the emerging education technology sector. GSV Ventures has a portfolio of dynamic companies including Coursera, Course Hero, Photomath, Guild Education, Physicswallah and LEAD School. He sits on the board at BookClub.com, is a Board Observer at Class Dojo, and is an advisor to Arizona State University. He is the Executive Chairman of Hi Solutions, a company aimed at transforming people's homes into their operating platform for life. Michael is the founder of GSV University and GSV MBA, an accredited graduate program for entrepreneurs. He has authored three books, "Finding the Next Starbucks" and "The Global Silicon Valley Handbook", and "Mission Corps". Michael holds a B.A. in Political Science and Economics from the University of Minnesota and is a licensed Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).
Alakh Pandey
Founder
Physics Wallah
Physics Wallah
Alakh Pandey, the founder of India's most trusted and loved ed-tech enterprise PW, is a visionary educationist in his own right. The very idea of democratization of education by making it accessible and affordable to every student has been the hallmark of his vision. Pandey, who took up tutoring during his college days, realised the economic hurdles faced by students from the middle class and marginalised section of the society for whom, quality education was always an unfulfilled dream. He started his own company in 2020 along with his co-founder Prateek with a core aim of imparting a high standard of pedagogy for the student fraternity. Pandey has steered the company to greater heights and all the brand stands for today is "equity, access and quality in education". He recently launched PW's philanthropic venture 'PW Foundation NGO' to empower the downtrodden by virtue of scholarships and free education. With its app, PW has been able to expand and penetrate across the country in a meteoric manner by reaching almost every small town. Alakh was also awarded for his impactful contribution of bringing innovation in education by the Union minister (Govt. of India) Mr. Piyush Goyal and Chief-Minister of Delhi (Govt. of India) Mr. Arvind Kejriwal.
Prateek Maheshwari
Co-Founder
Physics Wallah
Physics Wallah
Prateek, who is stated to be the growth hacker of PW co-founded PW along with Alakh and in his current capacity spearheads the technological advancements and strategy of the organization. An IIT (BHU)-Varanasi alumnus, Prateek, holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and started his career at Caterpillar Incorporation. But what truly defines his capabilities is that he has been a serial entrepreneur with over a decade of work experience, he has built several profitable ventures ground-up like Moon2noon, Nightpanda and PenPencil. In-fact, it was during his early years at PenPencil - a customizable SAAS for educators planning to go-digital - when he first met Alakh and later in May-2020 when they both decided to launch PW, all his product insights & technological expertise became the heart of the innovation around building "India's biggest & most vibrant classrooms" that PW proudly boasts today. Prateek envisions PW as the go-to brand providing high-quality education for everyone and as setting new standards for equity & access in education. Beyond work, he is a philanthropist by nature being associated with NGO(s) like Kashi Utkarsh and Asha Deep Vidyashram - both working towards improving learning outcomes at grassroot levels.