The process of learning during corporate training sessions still has a lot of complications, especially with educational resources being so scattered. Being able to bring all those resources into one convenient platform hasn't always been a top priority until CEO Eric Duffy started Pathgather.
As a Graduate of the New York Founder Institute, we're extremely proud to see Eric's company go to a new level. Recently, they finalized an acquisition with Degreed, a one-time competitor.
Take a closer look Pathgather and its founder, and how this merger could bring something greater for the company.
Background on Eric and His Company
At the heart of Pathgather is an answer Eric gave a while back to this question on Quora: "Do you think university prepared you for your workplace and 'real' world?" Eric responded with a resounding “no”, stating that:
“The university of the 21st century is really the workplace. Businesses need to take up that mantle, for their own self-interest and the greater good.”
While this statement may seem a little bold, it’s not without merit, as Eric has a unique understanding of bridging the gap between formal education and real world experience. Before being listed by Forbes as one of their 30 Under 30 in Enterprise Tech in 2016, Eric was a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in architecture. After college, Eric vowed to broaden access to education and opportunity through thoughtful, human-centered design. Eric's passion in bringing better enterprise learning came from various business experiences overseas. Part of this was teaching in China as a Princeton in Asia fellow. It also sprang from developing a water cistern project in South Africa and using the power of online learning to bring faster results.
When Eric started Pathgather in 2013, he already had Degreed to deal with as a competitor. They started a year earlier, though Eric added some features they didn't have, establishing them as one of the most promising companies in the edtech space. In fact since launching in late 2012, Pathgather has raised nearly $4 million.
So how does Pathgather work to make online learning so much easier?
Using Pathgather for Training
At the core of Pathgather's features is the ability to unify a complex enterprise learning ecosystem. Companies align learning to exactly what's needed to stay at the top of the competitive game. Pathgather manages to do all this while still making learning fun and engaging.
Providing every learning lesson in one place is a huge advantage to busy employees who don't want to use multiple resources to keep up their skills. Eric realized the administrator needs more control over what's happening as well. As a result, his platform allows complete visibility at all times.
Most importantly, he allows companies to customize through self-directed learning. Thanks to more personalized discovery features, the platform hones in on skill gaps so employees don't waste time learning things they don't need.
Saving time is a major benefit to using Pathgather. Now with the Degreed merger, the future looks even brighter for the training features they'll bring.
What Advantages Will Eric Have Partnering With Degreed?
Linking up with Degreed is going to enhance these capabilities, especially in being more mobile and bringing more resources to accelerate development. It's also going to mean more capabilities to integrate with other learning tools, better searching capability for topics, plus creating more branded learning experiences.
Since Degreed was one of their biggest competitors, the acquisition meant taking them to a new plateau rather than have to rely strictly on funding to keep up.
On the Degreed side, Eric has another corporate CEO mastermind, David Blake (and his expert team), in the partnership. Having them work together is going to create a powerful tool soon changing how fast training gets done in corporate settings.
