EdSales Edge Show
EdSales Edge is the strategy podcast for education founders, consultants, operators, and leaders selling into education.
For years, this show was known as Breaking the Grade, a space to challenge the status quo in education and think differently about how change actually happens. That mission hasn’t changed.
But the work has.
Over time, one thing became clear:
Education founders don’t just need inspiration.
They need clarity.
They need real strategies for selling into schools.
They need predictable ways to generate leads.
And they need to understand how trust is built in a system that doesn’t move fast, and doesn’t give many second chances.
EdSales Edge was rebuilt to match that reality.
Hosted by Josh Chernikoff, a two-time education founder who’s built and exited companies in this space, the show breaks down how selling into education actually works—across B2C, B2B, B2B2C, and B2E—always through the lens of how education institutions really make decisions.
This is not a show about hacks, shortcuts, or quick wins.
Education doesn’t work that way.
On EdSales Edge, you’ll hear:
- Real strategy for selling into education systems
- Conversations with education decision-makers who explain how buying actually happens from the inside
- Stories from founders, CEOs, and operators who’ve built real traction selling into schools—what worked, what didn’t, and what actually moved deals forward
- Teachings from the EdSales Elevation Experience, the system used to help education founders move from unclear and invisible to trusted and in demand
You’ll learn how to:
- Define your Perfect Client
- Pull the right credibility lever
- Move from being hidden… to trusted… to building a real lead engine
Josh is joined by his good friend and mentor, John Gamba—Director of Innovative Programs and Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Penn GSE, and a former education founder who’s led companies through real growth and successful exits. John brings the institutional lens, shaped by years inside districts, universities, and education systems, seeing how decisions get made when the doors are closed and what earns trust over time.
Together, they sit on both sides of the table, the builder side and the system side, so the show stays grounded in reality, not sales theory.
If you sell into education and you’re tired of guessing,
guessing who to talk to,
guessing how decisions get made,
guessing why interest doesn’t convert—
this show is built for you.
EdSales Edge
Clarity. Credibility. Real traction.
If you sell into education, this is where you earn your edge.
EdSales Edge Show
Latest Episodes
The Perfect Client Test: Why Your Best Customer Could Be Holding You Back
What if your best customer isn't actually your perfect client?Josh Chernikoff learned this lesson while building his second business, an afterschool enrichment company.
Defending the Yes: Can Your Education Business Survive Buyer Scrutiny?
You can love your solution and still make it incredibly hard to buy.Because your school buyer is wondering what happens to them if they say yes and you are wrong.The Department of Education just released new guidance on responsibl...
AI Closes Nothing: Why Your Sales Numbers Still Depend on You
AI can research the district. It can write the email. It can prepare the meeting, summarize the conversation, draft the proposal, and even write the follow-up.So what exactly are you bringing to the sale?In this episode of EdSales...
Take the Swing: Why Education Founders Should Enter Competitions & Apply for Grants
You found the competition.You looked at the application.Then you told yourself: "We're not ready."And maybe you're right.But what if that's exactly why you should apply?In this live episode of EdSales Edge,...
People Buy People: Why Your Company Page Can't Close the Deal
An education company almost always starts with one person: a founder, a teacher, or a practitioner who saw a problem and decided to solve it.Then something strange happens.The very person who built the solution disappears behind l...
