From Oxford Dropout to EdTech Pioneer: Dave Sherwood and BibliU's Epic Journey

Dave Sherwhood shares his journey from Rhodes Scholar studying chemistry at Oxford to founding BibliU, an educational technology company tackling textbook affordability and streamlining content access for universities.

• Started as a B2C business before pivoting to B2B after realizing consumer businesses are incredibly difficult to build successfully
• Discovered that long sales cycles in education (averaging 6-12 months) make EdTech a challenging fit for venture capital expectations
• Found product-market fit by developing a usage-based pricing model that addressed universities' concerns about paying for unused content
• Expanded from the UK to US market, navigating significant differences in university systems, budgets, and technology adoption patterns
• Experienced dramatic variations in digital adoption rates between similar institutions, largely influenced by leadership empowerment
• Sees AI as transforming content creation economics while recognizing that print still makes up approximately 70% of textbook adoptions
• Growing rapidly (60% last year) through both organic expansion and strategic acquisitions

Check out BibliU to see how we're helping institutions transition from physical to digital learning materials and creating more affordable, accessible options for students.

https://bibliu.com/.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/davejlsherwood/

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