Forbes - USA (2019-12-31)

FORBES.COM

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DECEMBER 31, 20 19

riding along on his campaign bus when she was

6 years old; occasionally she would even speak

at his rallies. When her father, Chris Romer, a

former Colorado state senator, ran unsuccess-

fully for mayor of Denver in 2011, she served as

his finance director. (“The loss was devastat-

ing,” she says.)

Along with politics, the Romers were com-

mitted to increasing access to education, espe-

cially for working adults. Roy Romer helped

start Salt Lake City-based Western Governors

University, a pioneer in online adult education.

In the wake of Chris Romer’s mayoral bid, in

2011, he cofounded American Honors, a for-

profit company that offered honors courses at

community colleges (the company struggled,

and the brand is now owned by Wellspring In-

ternational, a student recruitment firm).

After graduating from Stanford under-

grad and working briefly in the Obama White

House, Carlson launched her first venture,

Student Blueprint, while getting her M.B.A.

(also at Stanford) in 2014. Student Blueprint

sought to use technology to match community

college students with jobs. It was a noble idea,

but she decided to finish school and sold the

software she had developed to Paul Freedman’s

Entangled Group in 2014 for a negligible sum.

In 2015, after she wrapped up her M.B.A., she

pitched the idea for Guild to one of her profes-

sors, Michael Dearing, and to seed investor Ai-

leen Lee, of Cowboy Ventures, raising $2 mil-

lion.

After relocating to her home turf in Denver,

she landed her first major corporate partner in

the summer of 2016 when she sent a LinkedIn

message to a Chipotle benefits manager that

played up the fast-food chain’s “strong Den-

ver roots and social mission.” With help from

Guild, Chipotle’s $12-an-hour burrito rollers

are now pursuing bachelor’s degrees from Bel-

levue University in Nebraska or taking com-

puter security courses at Wilmington Universi-

ty in Delaware. In October 2019, Carlson per-

suaded Chipotle to lift its cap on tuition ben-

efits above the $5,250 the IRS allows compa-

nies to write off.

Guild’s biggest competitor is a division of

Watertown, Massachusetts-based publicly

traded daycare provider Bright Horizons,

which has offered tuition benefit services since

2009. It works with 210 companies includ-
      ing Home Depot and Goldman Sachs. Under
      Bright Horizons’ system, the companies—not
      the colleges—pay. Much of the genius of Guild’s
      business model is that it correctly aligns in-
      centives: The colleges are the most financially
      motivated party, so they foot the bill. Another
      competitor, Los Angeles-based InStride,
      launched in 2019 with funding from Arizona
      State University, and like Bright Horizons it
      charges the corporations.
      “I see our competition as the status quo,”
      Carlson says. “Classically, employers have of-
      fered tuition-reimbursement programs, but no
      one is using those programs.”
      The nonprofi t Indianapolis-based Lumina
      Foundation has done fi ve case studies showing
      returns on investment as high as 140% for com-
      panies that off er tuition-reimbursement pro-
      grams. “We saw powerful impacts on retention,”
      says Lumina’s strategy director, Haley Glover.
      “Walmart and Amazon are in a death strug-
      gle,” proclaims Joseph Fuller, a professor at
      Harvard Business School. “If a Walmart work-
      er can say, ‘I got an education that allowed me
      to get promoted,’ they’re going to be someone
      who speaks generously about Walmart and
      they are more likely be a Walmart shopper.”
      Like a good politician, Carlson is work-
      ing to please everyone. “We found a win-win,”
      she says, “where we can help companies align
      their objectives with helping their employees
      achieve their goals.”

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Guild Education Cont.

FINAL THOUGHT

“THE MIND IS NOT A VESSEL

THAT NEEDS FILLING BUT WOOD

THAT NEEDS IGNITING.”

—Plutarch

F

KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL

The Vault

Before the frenzied dot-com boom would

make employees come to expect perks like

in-offi ce massages and foosball tables,

some old-economy stalwarts—including EDS,

the Plano, Texas–based infotech company

founded by Ross Perot—off ered old-style

rewards to keep their staff ers happy.

“To replace workers’ ‘us versus them’ att itude toward bosses with a spirit of

‘we,’ motivational incentives that used to be reserved mainly for managers and

executives are being pushed far down inside the company. At Electronic Data

Systems, managers are encouraged to get to know their employees’ tastes,

hobbies and interests so deserving staff members can be rewarded with ap-

propriate incentives: tickets to a sports event, say, or the opera, or a dinner for

the family at a fancy restaurant. Molly Edwards, EDS’s manager of recognition

services, says one employee in Dallas was even given a washer and dryer for a

particularly good performance. Another employee in Michigan returned from

vacation to fi nd that her kitchen had been completely remodeled.”

—“When Money Isn’t Enough,” November 18, 1996