EPISODE · Jul 19, 2023 · 53 MIN
Dr Melissa Sassi: From BigTech To Building Ventures
from Scouting for Growth · host Sabine VdL
On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Dr Melissa Sassi, CEO and Co-Founder of Skills Hustle, a pre-seed edtech company committed to closing the skills gap and transforming learners into earners. Skills Hustle's platform takes an innovative approach, offering gamified, interactive, and practical modules that engage learners more deeply. With a focus on community building, the platform provides access to thought leaders, networking opportunities, and real-world challenges such as innovation challenges and hackathons, enabling learners to develop practical skills and solve real business challenges. In this episode, Melissa shares her insights, experiences, and innovative ideas in leveraging technology and education to drive social impact and foster sustainable growth. KEY TAKEAWAYS I’ve spent the last 10 years of my career working between Microsoft and IBM, and I’ve always created my own jobs; I’ve never followed through the ‘right’ career progression plan. I ran startup accelerators; at Microsoft, it was all about building internet and energy access solutions around the world and bringing digital skills to connect them. At IBM, I focused on data protection, privacy, and security across heavily regulated industries such as FinTech, HealthTech, and InsurTech. I’ve also had a couple of stints on Wall Street and founded a nonprofit that taught tens of thousands of kids to code in 12 countries. Currently, I run a venture studio with my partner. One day, my daughter, who was living in Tunisia with her father at the time, said she didn’t have access to a computer in her classroom. They had one shared across 40 kids. I realized there’s no way that she’s going to be prepared for the future of work and the digital economy. I could get her devices for home use, but what about the other kids in her classroom? So I went on a mission to get computers for the class. But as I did this, I realized the bigger picture: access to tech, skills, the internet, and the role they play – including affordability – in driving outcomes in healthcare, education, economics, and getting a job. Everything we have and do centres around tech. I realised half the world isn’t connected to the internet, and I looked at what I could do to change that. My partner and I are still working on how to demystify what a venture studio is or what a venture builder does versus a VC, an accelerator, and an incubator. We combine all those things together. In the future, I’d love to see situations where my founders raise a shit-ton of money, come up with amazing solutions that power the world, change things that make the world a better place, and make money at the same time. I believe in doing well while doing good. BEST MOMENTS ‘Everyone is a FinTech these days, including Timbaland.’ ‘I had it ingrained in my soul that I needed to work, to be productive, independent, to be able to take care of myself. From hard work come outcomes in life that are financial in nature; it may be experiences, but you’ve got to work to achieve.’ ‘I was part of a broken system, and I perpetuated a broken system without knowing it.’ ‘We focus on growth from 3 perspectives: Technical enablement, thinking about what the business model is, and access to partnerships.’ ABOUT THE GUEST Dr Melissa Sassi has dedicated her career to the intersection of technology, education, economic development, social impact, startups, and sustainability. With extensive global experience, including visits to 60 countries, she brings first-hand knowledge of the challenges and opportunities in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Melissa's doctoral thesis focused on the transformative role of digital inclusion in solving the SDGs. As the CEO and Co-Founder of Skills Hustle, a pre-seed edtech company, Melissa aims to bridge the skills gap and empower learners to become learners. Skills Hustle offers an interactive, practical learning platform focused on gamification and real-world application. Through live sessions, mentors, innovation challenges, and hackathons, learners acquire valuable skills while solving authentic business problems. The platform also features a community portal for ongoing engagement, networking, and access to thought leaders and opportunities. Core content areas include digital skills, habits and attitudes, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy. ABOUT THE HOST Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet. If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights. And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at [email protected]
What this episode covers
What if the biggest risk to the future of work isn’t automation—but exclusion? In this episode of Scouting for Growth, Sabine VdL sits down with Dr Melissa Sassi, CEO and Co-Founder of Skills Hustle, to explore why closing the skills gap has become one of the most urgent economic and social challenges of our time—and how education, technology, and community must converge to solve it. This is not a conversation about learning platforms alone. It’s about turning access into opportunity, and learners into earners. Melissa’s career sits at the intersection of big tech, policy, and purpose. Over the past decade, she’s built roles across Microsoft and IBM rather than followed traditional career ladders—running startup accelerators, expanding internet and energy access globally, and leading data protection and security initiatives across highly regulated industries such as FinTech, HealthTech, and InsurTech. Along the way, she founded a nonprofit that taught tens of thousands of children to code across 12 countries and spent time on Wall Street—gaining a front-row seat to how systems shape outcomes. The catalyst for Skills Hustle was deeply personal. When Melissa learned that her daughter’s classroom in Tunisia shared a single computer among 40 students, it became impossible to ignore the broader implication: how can young people be prepared for a digital economy they’re locked out of? What began as a mission to equip one classroom quickly expanded into a much bigger question about access—to devices, to the internet, to skills, and ultimately to economic mobility. Skills Hustle was built to address exactly that gap. Its approach rejects passive learning in favour of gamified, interactive, and practical experiences. Learners don’t just consume content—they participate in real-world challenges, innovation sprints, and hackathons. They build portfolios, solve business problems, and gain exposure to mentors, partners, and thought leaders. Community isn’t an add-on; it’s the engine. The conversation also demystifies the concept of a venture studio. Melissa explains how her model blends the strengths of venture capital, accelerators, and incubators—providing founders not just with capital, but with technical enablement, business model design, and access to partnerships. Growth, she argues, only happens when all three move together. A recurring theme is accountability—to people and to impact. Melissa is candid about recognising her role in perpetuating broken systems earlier in her career, and about the responsibility leaders have to redesign them intentionally. Her philosophy is unapologetic: doing well and doing good are not mutually exclusive. In fact, sustainable growth depends on aligning them. This episode is essential listening for leaders in education, enterprise, policy, and technology who understand that the future of work won’t be decided by who builds the best tools—but by who gets access to use them. It’s a reminder that skills are the new currency, and inclusion is the growth strategy we can’t afford to ignore. Because the future won’t be shaped by those who learn the fastest— but by those who make learning accessible to everyone. And that’s exactly what Scouting for Growth is here to surface.
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Dr Melissa Sassi: From BigTech To Building Ventures
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