6 Questions with Anand Sanwal: A Tech Founder’s Bold Leap into Education

Q: What is CB Insights, and what inspired you to create it?

CB Insights is an AI-powered market intelligence platform that helps companies track emerging industries, outmaneuver competitors, and identify promising companies for partnerships, investments, or acquisitions. I founded it in 2010 after seeing firsthand how difficult it was for businesses to access quality market data and insights. After 14 years as CEO, I stepped into the Executive Chair role to focus on my next adventure, the one I’ll die at my desk pursuing, which is building a system to maximize human potential.

Q: What inspired you to build entrepreneurship-focused middle and high schools?

During my research into human potential, I discovered something fascinating: adolescence (ages 12-18) represents our greatest opportunity to impact someone's life trajectory. This is when young people are actively forming their identity, developing abstract thinking skills, and building their view of what's possible in life and the world. It's a critical window where the right experiences can dramatically amplify their potential.

The tragedy is that we're not just squandering this opportunity – our education system has actually regressed, creating environments that work against how adolescents naturally develop and learn. The result is 2 of 3 students are checked out in high school. 

While industries from tech to transportation have transformed over the last hundred years, schools remain frozen in time, or worse, have become more rigid and controlling just when students need autonomy and real-world engagement. My own children's experiences echoed my frustrations from decades ago – endless lectures, meaningless memorization, and the perpetual "you'll need this someday" excuse.

These observations sparked a vision to create a system to maximize human potential during these crucial years. What we're currently calling the "Schools of Entrepreneuring" will be the vehicle for this mission. While we haven't yet unveiled our official name, the concept of entrepreneuring captures our philosophy – it's not about starting businesses, but about unlocking each person's full potential through initiative, problem-solving, and service to others.

Q: How do you measure outcomes without traditional tests and grades?

We focus on mastery, not marks. Think of traditional grades like judging health solely by blood pressure – it’s horribly reductive and incorrect. 

Instead, we evaluate two key dimensions:

• Foundational competencies like leadership presence, resilience, critical thinking, and communication skills among others.

• Functional competencies like applied numeracy, literacy, project management, and technical proficiency among others.

Students build real-world portfolios that demonstrate these skills. 

For instance, traditional algebra teaching reduces mathematics to memorizing formulas and practicing repetitive problem types until you can regurgitate them on an exam – a process that kills both understanding and curiosity. 

Instead, our students might create a financial model for a local restaurant, analyzing customer patterns, costs, and presenting recommendations to the owner. This approach typically puts our students years ahead of traditional academic standards while keeping them deeply engaged.

Q: What does success look like for this system?

Our vision is simple but ambitious: to build a system that develops and maximizes human potential, we’ll be creating a national network of 6th-12th grade schools. Success means graduating students who are years ahead of their peers in both capability and confidence – young people who see challenges and think "I can fix that" rather than feeling powerless.

In a decade, we aim to prove that systematically maximizing human potential isn't just possible – it's repeatable. When hundreds of thousands of young people are reaching heights they never thought possible, we'll know we've succeeded.

Q: What should prospective parents consider when evaluating this alternative?

This isn't about choosing between grades or growth – we're proving that real-world achievement actually drives and accelerates academic excellence. The key questions parents should ask:

• Does your child love lectures, memorization and test taking? If yes, I’d suggest you may not want to fix what is not broken.

• Are you comfortable with an approach that prioritizes real achievement over traditional testing and simple grades?

• Can you let your child figure things out independently and learn from failure?

• Most importantly: Do you believe your child can achieve great things?

Our model works best for parents who share our belief that young people are chronically underestimated by society. Together, we can create an environment where students maximize their potential and do extraordinary things.

Q: How can people get involved?

We'll be unveiling exciting details about our first locations and programs in the coming months. In the meantime, we're building a community of supporters who share our vision for maximizing human potential. We welcome:

• Parents and students interested in learning more about our approach

• Professionals and industry experts willing to mentor or collaborate with students

• Businesses and organizations interested in engaging with student projects

• Youth development practitioners (coaches, teachers, youth pastors) and those passionate about developing young people's potential

• Real estate developers and property owners who’d like to bring our system to their community

I welcome anyone to email me directly at [email protected]. You can also sign up for my newsletter or follow me on LinkedIn where I regularly share updates on our progress and research on adolescent development.

I’m excited to hear from you and hopefully enlist you in the fight.