From $10M in Sales to Losing Her Company: What Education Founders Learn the Hard Way About Selling, Scaling, and Staying Aligned

Most founders think their growth problem is sales.

But Jolene Levin, entrepreneur, innovator and founder of NorvaNivel proved it’s the other way around: your sales reveal your growth problem.

Jolene founded a classroom furniture company in Australia, scaled it across schools, and then brought it to the U.S.

Three months after launching in the U.S., she closed $10M in deals.

No sales team. No systems. No safety net.
Just conviction, urgency—and operational chaos catching up fast.

And two years later?

She was fired from the very company she built.

💥 Because when your backend can’t keep up with your bookings, you’re not scaling.

You’re stalling at a higher speed.

But here’s what makes this episode different:

Jolene didn’t disappear. She didn’t burn out. She didn’t bow out.
She doubled down on the mission—and came back sharper, stronger, and more strategic than ever.

In this episode of Breaking the Grade, Josh sits down with Jolene Levin——to unpack what happens when you sell fast, scale hard, and survive the fallout.

✅If you're leading your own sales and chasing growth, this one shows you where most founders break—and how to rebuild smarter

🔑 5 Big Takeaways for EdTech Founders

1️⃣ Why Most Founder Pitches Fail Before They Start

Jolene never “sold furniture”—she sold outcomes. And that mindset shift is the first step founders need to make to stop confusing buyers and start driving outcomes.

2️⃣ The Hidden Risk of Selling to the Wrong Buyer

Not every school is your customer. Jolene explains how she identified who not to sell to—and why filtering for fit was key to her growth.

3️⃣ Why Understanding Buyer Motivation Beats Any Sales Script

Jolene explains how she closed high-ticket deals by deeply understanding what school leaders cared about—and connecting her solution to those priorities, not her pitch.

4️⃣ Why Value > Volume in Sales Strategy

Instead of chasing every contract, Jolene doubled down on districts who aligned with her mission. The result? Bigger deals with better outcomes.

5️⃣ The Real Cost of Frankensteined Funnels

Disconnected CRMs, duct-taped follow-ups, and reactive workflows? Jolene’s story is a case study in what not to build—and how to reset.

If your sales calls are stacking up—but your backend can’t keep up—this is your reset.

📩 DM me “Scale” and I’ll show you how to structure founder-led sales to grow without burning out.

📤 Know a founder chasing growth without a plan for scale?

Send them this episode. It might save them from breaking what they’re building.

✍️ Love the show?

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify so more founders can turn big sales into smart growth.

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