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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
Why Most Education Companies Burn Out Before They Scale—And the Fix That Actually Works
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
You’ve got the vision. The team. The momentum.
So why does it feel like you’re sprinting on a treadmill with no finish line in sight?
Here’s the truth: Most education companies don’t burn out because of a bad idea.
They burn out because they’re trying to scale without a system.
In this live episode of Breaking the Grade, recorded at IFE 2025 in Monterrey (Mexico), I sit down with Sergio Abramovich, CEO of Scala Learning, to unpack how fast-moving education companies can shift from burnout to sustainable growth—without sacrificing mission or momentum.
And trust me—Sergio’s not talking theory. This is real, in-the-trenches wisdom from building EdTech systems that work at scale.
🎙️ In this episode, we break down:
- Why hustle culture is killing your pipeline—and how to build with systems, not just sweat
- How trying to “go global” too fast can backfire (and what to focus on instead)
- Why ROI in your network isn’t about connections—it’s about care and consistency
- What to do when you hit the “founder fog”—and how process brings back clarity
- Why storytelling is your secret weapon in scaling credibility and visibility
Here’s the line that stuck with me:
“If you burn out, you burn your team out. Then your mission never scales.”
Let that sink in.
Whether you’re a founder of an education company, a sales leader at an edtech, or someone trying to build trust with education buyers across borders—this one’s your blueprint.
→ Tune in and discover how the right systems build a business that scales without breaking. Sergio will tell you – staying visible, credible, and consistent is your lead generation strategy.
#EdSales #EdTech #EducationMarketing #LeadGeneration #BreakingTheGrade
Connect with Josh Chernikoff
Founder, Edsales Elevation Experience
Host, Edsales Edge Show
🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuachernikoff/
📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joshua.chernikoff
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshuadcdc/
📩 Email: Jc@joshchernikoff.com
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