How much do you think you could accomplish in a gap between university and grad school?
Over a three-year gap, Devon Gethers, a first generation college student, joined a private equity firm, built his own PE firm, and also created and sold his startup, EarlyAdmit for six figures. He did it all in time to pack his bags for Harvard Business School (HBS) in the Fall.
His path to Harvard is what inspired him to make his startup.
After graduating, Devon had his heart set on attending HBS. He interviewed a couple of students at his alma mater about how they got in and they told him they used admissions consultants.
Devon looked into admissions consultants and noticed legacy consultants were charging north of $300 per hour.
“That’s just not affordable for most people,” he says. “There was little diversity among consultants and they were very selective because they wanted a high success rate.”
He created EarlyAdmit to become another, cheaper option for students seeking advice to attend elite universities – but he was an entirely new business model trying to create a market. To do it, he hired about 75 student ambassadors to spread the word around campuses.
Soon, he was expanding from admissions consulting into grad school offerings. Then he started helping students find employment after school. He even created an enterprise consulting service for universities.
However, after three years of work it was time for him to go back to school. He listed EarlyAdmit on Acquire.com and even quit his job to focus full-time on selling the business.
Post sale Devon hopped on a call with Andrew to discuss his acquisition. Listen to their full conversation to learn:
- How Devon knew he had the right buyer.
- How exactly Devon created the market for EarlyAdmit and how he accidentally stumbled on the most effective method for courting university students.
- Why Devon quit his job to focus full time on selling the business.
Devon is just getting started. Get in touch with him and follow his journey through the following links:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/devon-gethers/
- devon @ meridianventures.co
