With the general concept of making education accessible, he created Khan Academy and ultimately attracted big-money donors: the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Google, Comcast, Bank of America, The Walt Disney company, the Broad Foundation, AT&T and Oracle, among others. He realized he had something as other viewers flocked to the videos. He also began creating videos, which he posted online, in which he would write on a digital scratchpad as his voice-over explained the problem. It was a success and other family members and friends wanted in, so he started writing software for math practice and tracking each person’s progress. In 2004, Khan started helping his cousin in math, long-distance tutoring sessions that involved the telephone and an interactive notepad so she could see what he was writing. The online venture has an oft-repeated origin story. “We still haven’t delivered on it,” he added.

That sole mission of the company, unchanged since he founded it in 2008, is plastered on the Khan Academy website as well as the walls of his Mountain View headquarters.Īs a side note, Khan said he wrote that mission statement in about 20 minutes as he hurried to complete an Internal Revenue Service tax form to establish the nonprofit. The mission - a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere. He probably could have been rich off the idea, but when he came up with the vision for Khan Academy, he wanted it to be free. While Khan isn’t poor, he falls well short for any list featuring big-money moguls in tech. In Silicon Valley, nerds like Khan - with companies whose users number in the many millions - are often billionaires. The winner of the award will receive a $25,000 grant that can be applied to the cause of his or her choice. “I’m a nerd,” said Khan, who is a nominee for the 2018 Visionary of the Year award sponsored by The Chronicle.

“The other thing is you can get hypothermia (and die) in 80-degree water.”

“That’s still my favorite thing to share in conversations,” said the founder of Khan Academy, a free, online learning platform serving 15 million people a month.

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