Episode 136: From College Choices to Education Empire with Luke Skurman, CEO of Niche

In this episode of Product Thinking, Luke Skurman, CEO of Niche, joins Melissa Perri to explore the incredible story of Niche's journey from helping students choose the right college to become a successful company in the education industry. They dive into Niche's first years, how the company adapted to the changing landscape, raised funds, and achieved rapid growth when it switched from a survival mindset to a growth mindset.

Luke founded what was initially called College Prowler, which has now evolved into Niche, one of the foremost content startups in the United States. He also co-founded and serves as the Chairman of Thrill Mill, an innovative non-profit accelerator formed of a business plan competition, an incubator, and a music festival.

As a testament to his leadership, Luke is the inaugural curator of the Global Shapers Pittsburgh Hub, an initiative affiliated with the World Economic Forum. Recognizing his entrepreneurial spirit, Ernst & Young honored him as the Entrepreneur of the Year for Western Pennsylvania & West Virginia in 2016.

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You’ll hear them talk about:

[10:26] - Luke revealed that College Prowler's evolution involved retreating to its root idea: a free website monetized through connecting students to colleges, partnerships with financial institutions, and collaborations with military sectors. However, in 2013, the company rebranded into Niche and diversified into covering over 130,000 K-12 schools, inspired by the partial coverage from greatschools.org. 2014 marked Niche's entry into the Places to Live segment, covering U.S. cities, towns, and neighborhoods as the brand identified a link between school quality and housing decisions.
[19:45] - Niche faced a funding challenge, leading Luke and his team to take an unconventional route. They crafted a 100-page Private Placement Memorandum and pitched it to individual, accredited investors, bypassing traditional venture capitalists. Over eighteen months, from late 2015 to early 2017, they met with 161 investors, securing $4.6 million from 60 affirmative responses. By March 2017, Niche had built its sales force, ended ties with its channel partner, and modernized the platform for better accessibility and adaptability, which placed it in a solid position for growth.
[22:00] - During Niche's growth phase, they streamlined their sales process, hiring dedicated account executives to target colleges and K-12 schools. With a platform reminiscent of Glassdoor or Yelp, schools could upgrade to a premium profile, attracting more high-intent traffic. By the end of 2017, the revenue from these new partnerships nearly eclipsed the old channel partner earnings, far surpassing expectations. With increased funds and a forward-looking approach, Niche transitioned from staying afloat to strategic growth and investment.
[27:55] - As a CEO, Luke focuses on reaching $100 million within five to seven years. While Niche's ARR grew, its growth rate decay dipped below 80%. Two challenges arose: a plateau in acquiring new logo ARR annually and stagnation in Niche's expansion revenue despite a strong net retention. The company aimed to move further down the enrollment funnel to address the attribution challenge. Moreover, a pilot with two universities was launched, offering real-time admissions and scholarships through Niche's platform. In 2023, the company has been concentrating on perfecting the "direct admissions" program and onboarding 100 colleges by year's end.

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Previous guests include: Shruti Patel of US Bank, Steve Wilson of Contrast Security, Bethany Lyons of KAWA Analytics, Tanya Johnson Chief Product Officer at Auror, Tom Eisenmann of Harvard Business School, Stephanie Leue of Doodle, Jason Fried of 37signals, Hubert Palan of Productboard, Blake Samic of Stripe and Uber, Quincy Hunte of Amazon Web Services

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