Tade Oyerinde is the founder and chancellor of Campus, a revolutionary online community college reimagining access to higher education. Starting with viral dorm-room startups, Tade’s journey took him from building UniRoulette and CampusWire to acquiring an accredited college and launching Campus. Today, Campus serves over 2,000 students, employs 240+ staff, and has raised $100M+ in venture capital, all while helping students graduate debt-free.In this conversation, Tade shares the winding path to building Campus, including:Building viral products from a college dormPivoting away from unsustainable growth and recognizing false signalsLearning the limitations of synchronous social platformsDiscovering the adjunct professor pay gap—and turning it into a wedgeThe insight that top professors teach at community colleges tooWhy he acquired a college instead of starting one from scratchBuilding custom education software from the ground upRaising capital from Sam Altman, Jason Citron, and General CatalystWhy Campus prioritizes human support over AIMuch more🔑 Key TakeawaysViral ≠ Valuable: Tade learned early that virality alone doesn’t lead to retention or sustainable business models.Adjuncts are the secret weapon: Many top professors are adjuncts—underpaid and overlooked—yet open to better platforms.Perception ≠ quality: Community colleges often offer courses from the same professors as elite schools, but carry social stigma.Build infrastructure, not integrations: Campus runs fully on internally built tools for instruction, administration, and student support.Debt-free college is viable: Through Pell Grants and optimized economics, 86% of Campus students pay $0 out-of-pocket.Support at scale is human-powered: Every 50 students are supported by a real advisor, counselor, or coach—not AI.Raising was milestone-driven: Capital was unlocked at each inflection point—acquisition, accreditation, first students, scaled cohorts.Skepticism is a superpower: Having experienced the hype-crash cycle before, Tade built Campus with deliberate, durable conviction.Brought to you by:Fondo — The all-in-one accounting platform for startups: https://www.fondo.comWhere to Find Tade OyerindeLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tadeoyerindeWebsite: https://www.campus.eduWhere to Find David Phillips (Host)X: https://x.com/davjLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davjphillipsIn This Episode, We Cover(00:00) Intro to Tade and the Campus vision(01:35) The Tade origin story: homeschool, aerospace, and building UniRoulette(03:45) Going viral and raising a seed round in London(05:55) The retention issue with synchronous social apps(07:15) Pivoting into mobile apps for universities(09:35) Building CampusWire and avoiding enterprise sales(11:05) Cold emailing 1M professors to grow(12:45) How COVID created a head-fake spike(14:20) Discovering the adjunct pay gap(15:35) The insight that UCLA profs teach at community colleges too(16:25) Why community college students weren’t retaining(18:10) Walking away from CampusWire to start Campus(19:45) Meeting Ralph Wolff, and the plan to buy a college(21:10) How Tade raised to acquire an accredited school(23:05) The challenge of buying a college as a dropout(24:40) Getting the first students and launching Campus(26:10) Making college free via Pell Grants(27:40) The impact of improving retention on gross margins(29:10) Building all the software from scratch(30:10) Campus’ live class model and top professors(31:05) Hiring a full-time human for every 50 students(32:10) Lowering CAC from $15K to sustainable levels(33:50) Unlocking funding across inflection points(35:10) What’s next for CampusReferencedUniRoulette (inspired by ChatRoulette): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChatrouletteThe Social Network (Film): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1285016/Clubhouse liquidity challenges: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/11/style/clubhouse-app-decline.htmlAndreessen Horowitz's investment in Clubhouse: https://a16z.com/2021/01/24/investing-in-clubhouse/CampusWire (Tade's previous startup): https://www.campuswire.com/General Catalyst: https://www.generalcatalyst.com/UC San Diego Transfer Admissions: https://admissions.ucsd.edu/transfer/FAFSA Application (for Pell Grants): https://studentaid.gov/h/apply-for-aid/fafsa

Ver todos los episodios