Ariel Renous (CEO of Augment) on democratizing access to business education

Build In Public Podcast

Welcome to yet another episode of the Build In Public Podcast! 🎉

Today's episode features Ariel Renous, co-founder and CEO of Augment.org.

Augment is a modern online alternative to the traditional MBA program. Augment's approach is to reshape education by leveraging online tools to offer high-quality business knowledge straight from the minds of the brightest business leaders. Partnering with experts in business education and world-class entrepreneurs from companies like Wikipedia, YouTube, Waze, and Shazam, they crafted an innovative MBA program. The fast-growing startup based out of Paris raised a $6 million funding round from top tier investors in 2023.

In this episode, Ariel and KP discuss the founding story of Augment, the evolution of business education over the years, the power of cold emailing influential people in Silicon Valley, lessons from building in public and more.

The list of topics covered and relevant timestamps are:
00:00 Introduction
03:09 Origin Story of Augment
08:35 Cold Emailing Everyone in Silicon Valley
12:20 The Power of Mission and Storytelling
29:45 The Upside of Building in Public
30:04 Lessons from Fundraising
33:07 Building Augment
36:14 Non-Zero Sum Game
39:45 Finding the Right Idea
45:09 Challenges Before Starting Augment
52:04 Building a Team and Managing Challenges

Relevant links:
Ariel's handle on X: https://twitter.com/ArielRenous
Augment's website: https://augment.org/
KP handle on X: https://twitter.com/thisiskp_
KP's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/KarthikPuvvadaKP

Past guests on the Build In Public podcast include Gary Vaynerchuk (CEO of Vayner Media), Sahil Lavingia (CEO of Gumroad), Alexis Ohanian (co-founder of Reddit), Sheel Mohnot (Better Tomorrow Ventures), Gina Bianchini (CEO of Mighty Networks), Adam Draper (MD of BoostVC), Arvid Kahl (Author of Zero To Sold), Tiago Forte (author of Building A Second Brain), Mariam Hakobyan (CEO of Softr), Kat Cole (COO of Athletic Greens) and more.

Other episodes you might enjoy:

• Episode 4 with Gary Vaynerchuk
• Episode with Alexis Ohanian (Co-Founder of Reddit and 776 Fund)
• The Must-Have Qualities For You To Become A Successful Entrepreneur (feat. Sheel Mohnot
• Episode 10 with Kat Cole
• Life After One Of India's Biggest Startup Exits (feat. Phanindra Sama)