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Most billionaires disappear after they make their money. Joe Liemandt did exactly that — vanishing for 20 years after building Trilogy into a software empire. Now he's back with a radical mission: transform education for a billion kids using AI. In this episode, the reclusive tech mogul breaks his silence to reveal why he's betting another billion dollars that everything we know about school is wrong.
From fifth graders negotiating food truck gross margins to middle schoolers getting paid $1,000 to hit the top 1% academically, Joe's Alpha School is flipping education on its head. Kids learn twice as much in just two hours a day, then spend afternoons launching Broadway musicals, building apps, or training for D1 sports. The results? 96% of students love school more than vacation, and every single class tests in the top 1% nationally.
We dive deep into why Joe believes the 100-year-old classroom model is dead, how AI tutors can teach kids 10x faster, and why paying students to learn might be the most controversial — and effective — motivator yet. If you've ever wondered what happens when a data-driven billionaire decides to rebuild education from scratch, or if you're tired of watching kids hate school while the world leaves them behind, this conversation will change how you think about learning forever.
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00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:24 The Forbes List and Raising Kids Without the Billionaire Label
00:02:39 Why Money Matters: Teaching Financial Literacy from Kindergarten
00:06:45 The MBA Myth: Why Business School Won't Make You an Entrepreneur
00:08:01 Alpha School Revolution: Where Kids Learn 2X in 2 Hours
00:08:43 Breaking the 100-Year-Old Education System
00:18:33 The Three Girls Who Proved Math Isn't Gender-Specific
00:20:05 Paying Kids $1,000 to Reach Top 1%
00:26:59 From Broke to Billionaire: The Trilogy Story
00:28:08 The Entrepreneur's Blind Belief That Changes Reality
00:30:58 From Consumer to Creator: Breaking Kids' TikTok Addiction
00:34:01 High Standards Are the Key to Happiness
00:40:02 The Food Truck That Teaches Gross Margins
00:47:05 Motivation Engineering: Time Back as Currency
00:52:49 From Tech Bro to Principal: Joe's Personal Transformation
00:58:58 The Billion Dollar Mission to Transform Global Education
01:08:51 Making Millionaires in High School
01:10:32 AI in Education: The Good, Bad, and Terrifying
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