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 partnersWhy non-technical founders need a technical allyHow AI tools like Zapier and N8N streamline operationsHow major partnerships and relationships drive growthBuilding mission-driven revenue with repeatable sponsorships⏱️ Episode Timestamps:00:02 – Intro & guest welcome01:25 – Origin of School Economy03:20 – Mission behind the business06:52 – How the platform works09:25 – Referral & growth system11:25 – Sponsorship ROI model12:05 – Starting with $2,00012:58 – Scaling to 20,000 users16:16 – Building partnerships17:40 – First 50 users via outreach20:03 – Tech companies as people businesses21:04 – Managing offshore dev teams24:25 – Bootstrapping without VC26:10 – Scaling with AI automation27:47 – DIY PR & media coverage32:08 – “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_LCPodcast 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.