The EdTech Graduating 150K by 2X’ing Completion Rates | Zach Heller, VP of Prod. (Penn Foster)

https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Podcasts211/v4/12/d2/cc/12d2cc89-edb3-d7c6-3893-09675f38388c/mza_2061428210328616075.jpg/600x600bb.jpg

LaunchPod | Product Management Podcast

LogRocket

96 episodes

4 days ago

LaunchPod is a product management podcast hosted by LogRocket's CEO, Matt Arbesfeld, and VP of Marketing, Jeff Wharton, where they talk to product leaders about the issues they faced in their careers, how they found solutions to those issues, and how you can apply these solutions in your own day-to-day product role.

All content for LaunchPod | Product Management Podcast is the property of LogRocket and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

The EdTech Graduating 150K by 2X’ing Completion Rates | Zach Heller, VP of Prod. (Penn Foster)

LaunchPod | Product Management Podcast

38 minutes

2 months ago

The EdTech Graduating 150K by 2X’ing Completion Rates | Zach Heller, VP of Prod. (Penn Foster)

Today, we’re talking with Zach Heller, VP of Product at Penn Foster Group.

In this episode, we discuss:

How Penn Foster plans to literally “fill a stadium” with 150,000 graduates by 2029—doubling completion rates to do it
Why they shifted focus from acquisition to graduation—and how that’s now driving over 50% of enrollments through word-of-mouth
How AI-powered learning tools boosted course completions by 25% in just one year, setting a new record for outcomes

Links

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ztheller/

Resources

The Hidden Cost of 0.1% Churn | Ken Houseman, VP of Product (Zuora): https://youtu.be/-wDVkPUK104

Chapters

00:00 Doubling Completion Rates & Graduation Goals
02:04 Filling a Stadium: The 150K Graduate Vision
04:09 Fixing the Funnel: Retention Over Acquisition
06:14 Experimentation That Doubled Completion
08:17 B2B vs B2C: Why Completion Rates Drive Revenue
10:19 Word of Mouth as a Growth Engine
12:21 Fail Fast, Learn Faster: Experimentation Mindset
14:24 AI-Powered Learning: Writing Coach Breakthrough
18:00 Human + AI: Scaling Student Support
20:34 Product-Led Growth in EdTech
24:37 Economic Mobility Through Education
26:41 Looking Ahead: Scaling to 150K by 2029
36:56 Final Takeaways: Experimentation at Scale

Follow LaunchPod on YouTube

We have a new YouTube page! Watch full episodes of our interviews with PM leaders and subscribe!

What does LogRocket do?

LogRocket's Galileo AI watches user sessions for you and surfaces the technical and usability issues holding back your web and mobile apps. Understand where your users are struggling by trying it for free at LogRocket.com.

Special Guest: Zach Heller.