David Parento Email & Phone Number

A problem solver at heart, I’m passionate about new business and delivery models that provide better ways for modern learners to pursue critical skills/knowledge to advance their job/career goals and for employers to address talent gaps/worker shortages. I co-founded and built StraighterLine with Burck Smith to tackle one of the primary challenges for many learners - the high cost (and risk) of pursuing a college degree. We sold the business in 2020 to a private equity sponsor, providing venture returns for our investors, and I left the business in 2022 The impetus for StraighterLine was some disruptive ideas Burck had around offering high quality lower division college courses online for a $99 a month subscription that would earn real college credit. As President, I was responsible for strategic execution and day-to-day management of operations, with direct reports incl. our technology, marketing and academic senior leaders, as well as being heavily involved in our strategic relationships. When we launched StraighterLine, it was a “category creator” – nothing in higher education looked or operated like it. We learned how to provide online learning that is dramatically more affordable and effective for learners. At exit, we had developed a unique GTM model focused on B2B institutional partners, employer partners, and B2C subscriptions that produced a Rule of 40% company with $20MM+ ARR and 40k+ unique students a year.Opportunities abound for better ways and ROI for modern learners to pursue their goals – affordable, effective, engaging, learner-centric and mobile… provided within pathways, ladders and lattices (connecting skills to jobs/roles/careers) that can/should simplify and provide needed coherence to reduce unnecessary cognitive load/friction (ie, learning can be hard… make all the rest a lot easier).

Listed skills include Start Ups, Venture Capital, Strategy, Management, and 12 others.