Michael Vilardo and Felix Ruano were able to receive a quality education the old-fashioned way: by hard work and dedication. By the end of his academic career, Vilardo would attend seven schools in five years before getting his University of Pennsylvania degree. Now Vilardo and Ruano want to fast-track success for students across the world with their online education program, Emile Learning, which offers “bingeable” accredited courses that, for some, are accessible for free.
In the beginning, Vilardo and Ruano used the platform to tutor advanced-placement students and help them do better on AP tests. Still, they wanted to go further. After getting accreditation, they expanded the platform to include core curriculum and other electives needed in school, such as financial literacy.
Not only have Vilardo and Ruano secured over $5.3 million in angel investments from Softbank, Owl Ventures, and Kleiner Perkins, but NFL linebacker Brandon Copeland from the Atlanta Falcons has also invested and is even an instructor on the platform.
“At the end of the day, what zip code you’re born into or how much wealth your family has largely dictates your education, and your education dictates your trajectory throughout life,” Vilardo told CNBC. “We want to provide [someone from] any socioeconomic status or zip code with a top-tier education that is affordable. If we can empower anybody in the country and eventually the world to be able to access the best education, that is a monumental lift to society.”
Copeland agrees with Vilardo and their mission to educate the world more visually and tech-savvy. “We are trying to make sure we are using the hottest trends in technology and communication, to meet young people where they are, and not force them into the education system,” Copeland says.
You could say that Vilardo and Ruano were at the right place at the right time.
At the height of the pandemic, as Vilardo was finishing his MBA at UCLA, he says the university was struggling to pivot to online education. “If top-tier universities could barely handle the transition to a digital world, how is a high school in North Dakota or Nebraska going to be able to handle it?” Vilardo said.
During the pandemic, many parents, students, and educators turned to online platforms such as Masterclass, YouTube, and Coursera to offer students online variety. Now, with accreditation, school districts can use Emile Learning to help with core classes and extracurricular classes. Unlike other learning platforms, Emile differentiates itself by how content is delivered.
Vilardo compared the program to “watching your favorite Netflix documentary or docuseries,” saying “You can’t go to bed at night, and you have to watch the next episode. You are engaged, you are learning, and you are in that flow state of mind.”
Much like watching your favorite video, the instruction consists of ten-minute, highly produced segments comparable to a Hollywood-caliber movie or television show. The short segments play out much like an Instagram or TikTok video, where the student is left wanting for more and can easily “digest” the content feeding their short attention spans.
In addition to making education easy and fun for students, Emile puts the teacher back in control by making them the “star” of the classroom. Emile’s design is formatted as a teacher’s aid, and although not all classes are available, more courses are coming to the platform this summer.
“Peloton helped personal trainers – the best in the world – get compensated, top [the] market, and be leveraged by technology and media. We are doing [something] very similar with teachers, and that is going to allow our partners to have more intimate instruction,” says Vilardo. “Meanwhile, the teachers on-site can focus on the students falling behind or the students way ahead for more intimate instruction.”