Lunch With Frank Bonsal III - Edupreneur, Ed Tech Investor, Teacher

Last week, I had lunch with Frank Bonsal III at the bar of Tark’s. For somewhat obvious reasons, neither of us ate the "Legacy Salad" which I assume was smartly branded by the new owners in deference to the Legacy Chase at Shawan Downs.

It was an expansive conversation that covered his personal iterations from teacher to edtech venture capitalist to education innovation cluster builder; he describes it as the journey from the classroom to the boardroom to the ecosystem.

He discussed the foundational role that Doug and Eric Becker and Chris Hoehn-Saric with Sylvan Learning and Sterling Partners played in creating the ecosystem for the cluster of edtech companies that have spawned in Baltimore.

He framed the conversation in terms of Baltimore's strengths - Ed, Med, and Fed, the long history that institutions and associated innovation hubs at Towson University (TU), Johns Hopkins, University of Maryland (B and CP), and UMBC have played. Frank has been at the center of the growing edtech ecosystem providing mentorship, acceleration, and capital formation guidance - the result: an education innovation cluster.

From his role as director of venture creation and leader of TU Incubator, Frank and TU have now reached a point where they are a national player in the education innovation cluster scene, as depicted by Digital Promise. Other education innovation clusters include iZone in New York, Silicon Valley Education Foundation in the Bay area, LearnLaunch MAPLE in Boston, Chicago’s LEAP Innovations, Rhode Island’s Highlander Institute and Eduvate RI to name a few.

On October 19th, a second EdTech Innovation Showcase will be held at Towson University. The 20 presenting companies cover the following areas: reading, teacher effectiveness, assessment, course design workforce language, STEM, student access and success and parent and community engagement. The infographic in this recent TU Incubator post highlights the different companies.

Venture Capital

As for his venture capital CV, Frank Bonsal III has been investing in education technology and services for over 15 years; he got here honestly in an apprenticeship with his father, Frank Bonsal, Jr, co-founder of New Enterprise Associates, one of the world’s leading venture firms.

Over this time, whether as angel or partner in Bonsal Capital or managing director at New Markets Venture Partners, Bonsal has invested over $20M in 28 education companies with 16 exits and 3X ROIC. This is no small feat across two economic downturns. Notable exits (3X or more) were American Public Education ( IPO), Blackboard (IPO), Moodlerooms (acquired by Blackboard), Questar Assessment (acquired by ETS), Starfish Retention Solutions (acquired by Hobsons), and Think Through Learning (acquired by Imagine Learning).

Not randomly, 15 of these companies were founded in the Baltimore-Washington corridor. Included are Allovue, American Public University, Calvert Education, Curiosityville, StraighterLine.

One of my first edtech interviews was the result of a Tark’s close encounter with Bonsal 2.0. Via Bonsal Capital LLC, he and 3.0 had just invested in Jess Gartner’s Allovue and he suggested that I reach out to Jess. Part of the Allovue Allure was that Jess's work experience included both ABS Capital and Teach for America. When I interviewed Jess, I remember her telling me that her she was not concerned about losing her West Baltimore house, because AirBnBers were covering her monthly mortgage.

The Move To Towson University

So who or what was the catalyst that moved Bonsal 3.0 from VC to TU? Vince Talbert.

Vince was the founder of Bill Me Later which was acquired by EBay for $1.2B in 2008. Vince recently became General Partner at Camden Partners. He is Towson University graduate and has had a long term interest in education technology companies.

In a 2012 interview with the Baltimore Sun, Vince said "I view education as the highest return investment society makes...advances in technology and communications are very important pieces of the puzzle.”

Another consigliere in local EdTech is John Cammack. Frank first met John when Moodlerooms was in need of late seed stage capital. Frank was a Moodlerooms director. John had recently receded from a long time role at T. Rowe Price. Fortunately for Moodlerooms and Baltimore, John was looking to get involved in the education and neuroscience startup scene in Baltimore. He has been a robust edtech angel ever since.

Approximately 3 years ago, TU decided to tilt the incubator toward edtech and a more robust level of support. In other words, pick a differentiated industry where the institution has a core competency and overlay the end user focus that TU is known for, where an incubator could also garner a great reputation with entrepreneurs. Earlier this year, TU Incubator reached a milestone of 20 edtech companies. Today, there are 25. This is approximately 75% of TU Incubator’s focus, with sector representation in K-12, Postsecondary, Workforce, and Lifelong Learning.

In my discussion, Frank was reluctant to talk about his favorite companies but, when pressed, highlighted CourseArc, largely because of scale potential and ease of use. He also mentioned InferCabulary and Lessoncast as highly impactful and scalable K-12 solutions.

Earlier this year, I approached Frank with respect to a City Genius event that I hosted at the Center Club highlighting visionary and disruptive women entrepreneurs. In previous meetings, he has consistently referenced Nicole Tucker-Smith who is the CEO of LessonCast.

The Future of Ed Tech in Baltimore

Finally, I asked Frank about his vision for the future of EdTech in Maryland and Towson University. He stated missing pieces of the edtech ecosystem puzzle in Baltimore and Maryland are 1) sufficient milestone-driven seed stage capital, 2) a well-honed process for proof of concept testing and broader pilots or field trials, and 3) the kinds of local and national policy incentives that attract innovators from across the nation.

He stated that Towson University is the perfect institution from which to induce pragmatic, scalable innovation in education. The keys for Baltimore and Maryland are that all types of stakeholders are involved in the education innovation cluster. We also need wins, ones that put the metro on the map. This could be education outcomes, capital drawn to education problems, numbers of entrepreneurs and companies that move to or are built in the region, job creation from the same, and enterprise transactions that create a virtuous cycle of giving and economic growth.

A Video Conversation with Burck Smith, CEO of StraighterLine

A Conversation With Jess Gartner, CEO & Founder Allovue

A Conversation with John Cammack of Cammack Associates, LLC

Lessoncast: A New Tool to Help Teachers Up Their Game