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
Hesitation Is a $250K Mistake: Dr. Tamara Minott on How Education Founders Close Deals With Confidence
Most education founders don’t lose deals because their product isn’t good enough.
They lose them because they hesitate, overthinking the pitch, second-guessing decisions, and waiting for “perfect” when progress is all they need.
That hesitation kills more deals than rejection ever will.
And if you’ve ever felt imposter syndrome creeping in before a big call or proposal, you already know how fast confidence cracks under pressure.
Dr. Tamara Minott, PhD, “Dr. T”, knows that feeling well.
Before becoming the Director of College & Career Readiness at Coney Island Prep, she was a higher-ed expert with a doctorate, a dream, and a business idea, ClarifyEd LLC, that never seemed to get off the ground. She’d filed the LLC back in 2019 but kept delaying, caught between planning and perfectionism.
When she joined the EdSales Elevation Experience, everything shifted.
Week by week, she went from isolated planning to structured accountability. She mapped her offer, faced her imposter syndrome head-on, and discovered that confidence isn’t inherited, it’s built through execution.
Twelve weeks later, the founder who used to overthink every decision was leading strategy sessions, pitching schools, and shaping a college-readiness program for the same Brooklyn community she grew up in. Her confidence didn’t just return, it scaled.
If you’ve been questioning yourself instead of closing with conviction, this is the episode you can’t afford to miss. Because clarity, confidence, and consistency aren’t just mindset wins, they’re what drive revenue that lasts.
5 Big Takeaways for Education Founders
1️⃣ Confidence Is a Skill, Not a Trait
Dr. T didn’t “get” confidence, she built it through structure, accountability, and small wins that proved her authority to herself.
2️⃣ Clarity Comes From Action, Not Planning
You don’t think your way into confidence, you act your way into it. Dr. T learned to ship before she felt ready.
3️⃣ B2C to B2B: Scaling Starts With Self-Belief
When she stopped playing small (“one family at a time”) and started pitching schools and districts, everything changed.
4️⃣ Your 9–5 Can Fund Your Confidence
Her new director role isn’t a distraction, it’s an accelerator that builds credibility and multiplies long-term business value.
5️⃣ Community Builds Courage
Confidence grows faster when founders stop pretending they’ve got it all figured out. Real experts still need real support.
Dr. T’s story is your wake-up call: hesitation costs contracts.
Because until you believe in your expertise enough to act on it, no buyer will either.
📩 Want to turn confidence into contracts? DM me “Confidence” and I’ll share the exercise we use inside the EdSales Elevation Experience to help founders find their conviction fast.
📤 Know a founder stuck in overthinking or self-doubt? Send them this episode, it could be the reset that saves their next quarter.
✍️ Love the show? Subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify so more education founders can turn confidence into clarity, and clarity into revenue.
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