The Bootstrapped EdTech Playbook: Offshore Teams, DIY PR, and 20K Users

In this episode of Do Small Business Like a Big Boss, host Aisha Jorge Massengill sits down with Regnault Drake Sanders, founder of School Economy Inc., to talk about building an EdTech company from scratch with no outside funding. Starting with just $2,000 in Amazon gift cards, Regnault built a platform that rewards K-12 students for academic engagement and now serves over 20,000 active students across New York, Atlanta, and Dallas. This conversation dives into validation, partnerships, grassroots growth, AI automation, and what it really takes to build a mission-driven business that also generates sustainable revenue. 🎧 What You’ll Learn in This Episode: How to validate a business idea before investors or partners Why non-technical founders need a technical ally How AI tools like Zapier and N8N streamline operations How major partnerships and relationships drive growth Building mission-driven revenue with repeatable sponsorships ⏱️ Episode Timestamps: 00:02 – Intro & guest welcome 01:25 – Origin of School Economy 03:20 – Mission behind the business 06:52 – How the platform works 09:25 – Referral & growth system 11:25 – Sponsorship ROI model 12:05 – Starting with $2,000 12:58 – Scaling to 20,000 users 16:16 – Building partnerships 17:40 – First 50 users via outreach 20:03 – Tech companies as people businesses 21:04 – Managing offshore dev teams 24:25 – Bootstrapping without VC 26:10 – Scaling with AI automation 27:47 – DIY PR & media coverage 32:08 – “Do Small Business Like a Big Boss” 33:04 – Where to connect 👤 About the Guest: Regnault Drake Sanders is a serial entrepreneur and EdTech founder based in Atlanta, Georgia. He is the founder of School Economy Inc., a platform that rewards K-12 students for academic achievement with redeemable prizes and incentives. His platform has grown to serve 20,000 active students across multiple cities and has been featured on Fox 5 Atlanta and at Microsoft education events. Connect with Regnault: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/regnault-drake-sanders-24797310b Website: schoolconomy.com 🚀 Ready to Make Your Business Official? 👉If you’ll be in Maryland on June 10, 2026, come see Aisha in Columbia, MD: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1988791451769?aff=oddtdtcreator Join Aisha’s FREE weekly webinar, Make Your Business Official, and learn how to build, brand, and bulletproof your business with confidence. 👉 Register here: https://www.igotnext.co/training 👉 Grab your FREE Legal Guide at: https://www.smallbizzlegalguide.com 🔗 Stay Connected with Sedgwick Andrews: Follow us across all platforms for legal tips, business strategy, and boss-level motivation: 👉 https://linktr.ee/Sedgwick_Andrews_LC Podcast Mantra: Build the dream messy, build it scared, just don’t build it small. If this episode helped you, don’t forget to subscribe, download, and share it with another boss who needs to hear it.