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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 Selling Software Keeps You Stuck, and Selling Peace Moves Deals
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Most education founders would celebrate landing one pilot.
Sam and Michael landed nine.
In this episode of EdSales Edge, Josh sits down with Samuel Rabkin and Michael Mahoney, co-founders of Mediator Spark, to unpack how clarity around their Perfect Client led to a sharper Signature Solution—and why that clarity turned stalled conversations into fast-moving pilots.
This isn’t a story about selling software or education theory. It’s a case study in what happens when founders stop explaining tools and start enrolling the right buyers around a clear outcome. By tightening who they were building for and what they stood for, Sam and Michael created a belief-led offer that school leaders trusted immediately, no demos, no code reviews, no long sales cycles.
The result: nine pilots with aligned principals who already valued the outcome and were ready to move.
WHY THIS MATTERS
Many founders, especially technical ones, get stuck selling the “How.” They lead with features, software, or curriculum.
But schools don’t buy features; they buy a new reality.
By shifting their pitch from “we have a mediation tool” to “we have a pathway to peace,” Sam and Michael stopped chasing skeptics and started attracting leaders who already believed in culture-first solutions. That belief-first approach, paired with Perfect Client clarity, allowed them to build trust quickly and land nine pilots, without committees, endless demos, or 18-month cycles.
🔑 KEY TAKEAWAYS
1. Clear belief accelerates decisions
Mediator Spark didn’t sell a discipline tool, they sold a belief about who owns the problem. That belief alignment removed resistance early and made pilot decisions feel obvious.
2. Sell the destination, not the plane
Michael shares a pivotal moment: “Nobody asked about our tools.” Once the outcome was clear, features became irrelevant. Schools bought the result, not the software.
3. Find clean windows, not skeptics
They focused on principals who already valued culture and student ownership. Conversations moved faster, and pilots followed.
4. Signature Solutions create trust
Their Peacemaker Pathway gave buyers clarity. Principals could see where they were and where they were headed, making the sale feel like a partnership.
WHO THIS EPISODE IS FOR
• Education founders selling culture or behavior solutions
• Technical co-founders learning to sell vision instead of code
• Anyone stuck explaining instead of enrolling buyers
FEATURED RESOURCE: THE PERFECT CLIENT BUILDER
Landing nine pilots didn’t happen because Mediator Spark had better software. It happened because they got clear on who believed in the outcome and who owned the problem.
Text PERFECT CLIENT to +1 771-333-4233 and we’ll send you the same framework.
NEXT STEP
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
Join the Edsales Entourage
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