#StartupsEverywhere: Chandler Malone, Co-founder and CEO, Path
This profile is part of #StartupsEverywhere, an ongoing series highlighting startup leaders in ecosystems across the country. This interview has been edited for length, content, and clarity.
Creating Accessible Education Through AI
Chandler Malone, the founder of Path, witnessed the stark contrast in opportunities based on socioeconomic status growing up, which fueled his passion for making education more accessible. As the co-founder of Path, he is focused on using AI to create scalable, personalized learning tools that bridge these gaps. We sat down with him to discuss his journey, the role of AI in education, and his vision for the future of learning.
Tell us about your background. What led you to Path?
I’m originally from Dallas, Texas. As a kid, I played basketball at a very high level which gave me insight into the wealth disparity in America. There were times in middle school when I could fly on private planes because my teammates’ parents had exits from their software companies. But I was also playing with kids where the focus was putting food on the table. From an early age, I realized that people’s life outcomes were based less on who they were as kids and directly correlated with their parent’s socioeconomic status.
I have spent the last decade in the software space. Before starting Path, I launched a company called Bootup, where we helped people find the best non-traditional tech training programs for them and then placed them into jobs. We helped over 2,500 people get their first tech jobs upon matriculation from those programs. Almost 40 percent of those people didn’t have any sort of college degree but were getting tech jobs at companies like JP Morgan, Chase, Best Buy, and more.
While working at Bootup, I realized that the programs we were sending folks to weren't equally accessible financially, which started a passion to ensure equity in education. We started researching financing options and scholarships. I ended up reaching out to our now-co-founder and chairman Chris, who was building a scholarship platform. Although our two businesses at the time didn’t work together, we both shared a passion for leveraging software to increase opportunity access for people. After Chris’s company was acquired, we put our heads together, leveraging exciting advancements in AI to create individualized and personalized education at scale
What is the work you all are doing at Path?
At Path, we’re building AI test-prep tools for anything from standardized exams to professional certifications. We’ve worked with several school districts and are excited to be rolling out new offerings with many other private and charter schools as well.
Our software provides an unlimited number of practice questions for any number of full-length exams that are timed and scored. Then the software gives users a personalized study plan based on how they perform on some of those quiz questions.
There have been continued discussions about copyright issues with AI models. How are you approaching these conversations, and how might they impact your startup?
For smaller companies like us, what happens with the copyright litigation for the largest entities is going to trickle down and impact what we are doing. We are concerned about how it will affect us, but at the end of the day, we cannot spend large amounts of money on it because we don’t have the same access to capital that these larger AI companies do.
How does the AI work? How do you prevent it from hallucinating and ensure it generates quality prep materials?
What we are doing to prevent hallucinations in our software is twofold. One, we are taking real questions from these exams and training our model with real questions. Then the second thing is that AI is best utilized when leveraged with a subject matter expert. We have a few subject matter experts who review each of our tests. We are working with folks who do test prep, have repeatable processes, and maintain relationships with the testing providers. They have insight into some of the questions and changes that will be coming in future exams as well.
Another component of the platform is trained using insights from over a thousand conversations with college counselors and career advisors—conversations designed for individuals at the same stage of life. This training enables the platform to provide not only feedback but also tailored suggestions, such as using a specific tone or offering the right level of context. While AI is a powerful tool, I believe it requires a certain level of subject matter expertise to be leveraged effectively for a given application.
We don’t view our tool as a replacement for teachers, guidance counselors, or tutors. Instead, we see our AI as an additive resource. For example, we’ve developed a tool specifically for schools, administrators, and test prep programs. We always emphasize that AI is just a tool no different from a computer or any other resource. What truly matters is how it’s used.
What role do acquisitions and exits play in the startup ecosystem?
People can take the money they made from an exit and invest in new startups, and investors recognize a track record of serial entrepreneurship and success. My co-founder's story is a great example. He is a first-generation college student and a young black man under 35 who was able to have a nine-figure exit. He was then able to use the money to fund and subsidize the next thing that he wanted to do. That's the whole point.
Are there any local, state, or federal startup issues that you think should receive more attention from policymakers?
I’ve been thinking alot about the future of the Department of Education under the next administration. My co-founder and I were talking about this because we strongly oppose any level of defunding education. This is what we have dedicated our lives to.
Another concern is funding across every industry for startups. There are often inflection points that could change how we do things and how much capital is available. The whole point of startups is to find ways to do things faster and more efficiently at lower cost, with higher fidelity. That would enhance startups’ flexibility, putting them in a better position during times of change to adapt and facilitate a transition.
What are your goals for Path moving forward?
I think education is something in the business world that doesn't get enough respect but is critical to human infrastructure. People need to be able to have a roof over their heads and food in their stomachs, and they trade their time at work for the resources to be able to get that.
I'd love for us to be a massive consumer application not just like an educational company that's in the hands of every sixteen-year-old around the world. We want to teach people a valuable skill, and we want them to see it as fun and engaging.
All of the information in this profile was accurate at the date and time of publication.
Engine works to ensure that policymakers look for insight from the startup ecosystem when they are considering programs and legislation that affect entrepreneurs. Together, our voice is louder and more effective. Many of our lawmakers do not have first-hand experience with the country's thriving startup ecosystem, so it’s our job to amplify that perspective. To nominate a person, company, or organization to be featured in our #StartupsEverywhere series, email advocacy@engine.is.
