John Gamba is Entrepreneur in Residence at Catalyst @ Penn GSE, where he mentors education entrepreneurs and leads the Milken-Penn GSE Education Business Plan Competition. Over 17 years, the competition has awarded $2M to ventures that have gone on to raise more than $200M in follow-on funding, with a strong focus on equity and research-to-practice impact.

The 2026 Milken-Penn GSE Education Business Plan Competition is now open for applications. The application is simple and due by February 11. Apply here.

💡 5 Things You’ll Learn in This Episode

How the Milken-Penn GSE Competition supports high-impact edtech founders
Why research-to-practice is critical for scalable education innovation
How AI in education is moving from experimentation to institutional adoption
What it takes to center equity while building sustainable edtech businesses
Why learning outcomes matter more than funding or reach alone

✨ Episode Highlights
[00:02:15] The evolution of the Milken-Penn GSE Competition
[00:09:26] From AI pilots to learning-science-driven implementation
[00:13:35] Responsible AI and avoiding “AI junk food” in education
[00:25:42] Keeping equity at the core of edtech innovation
[00:29:44] Measuring real impact beyond capital raised
[00:39:54] Why AI benchmarks and standards are the next frontier
[00:44:36] How founders can engage with Catalyst and Catapult

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