InStride - Transforming Lives And Your Business

The Silicon Review

Having highly qualified employees in your company is always good. But in this competitive world, not all are equally trained or qualified. Getting skilled while working is one of the best things, both employees and employers will appreciate. InStride is the first and a unique global learning services enterprise, working with employers to provide opportunities for their employees to earn degrees and credentials through the highest-quality universities. InStride was founded to initiate a movement that deepens the connection between employers and their employees, helping them take a powerful next step in their careers. InStride provides the opportunity for employers to unite with the highest-quality universities to ensure a meaningful impact in the lives of their employees.

InStride is a public benefit company whose mission is to develop the workforce of the future by helping large organizations provide career-boosting, life-changing opportunities to their employees while strengthening their competitive advantage. They believe the most enduring way for companies to do this is by starting with people.

The InStride impact

Strategic enterprise education (SEE) helps organizations move beyond the traditional internal and external education programs that have a limited impact on your business. Through strategic guidance, a top-tier academic network, and advanced forward-thinking experiences, they deliver measurable success for learners and corporate partners.

Strategic enterprise education helps corporations achieve business growth and deliver social impact through quality online education for their employees. Traditional education programs do not work as intended. Corporations today spend over $180B each year on internal and external education programs, but the impact is limited with less than 2% of employees using these programs and minimal demonstrated impact.

How InStride works

InStride unlocks the power of education through strategic enterprise solutions designed for your organization to deliver measurable business outcomes. Their team works in partnership with you to deeply understand your business and challenges to craft a solution that moves your business forward and transforms lives.

Custom education programs designed for impact

InStride partners with corporations to develop a custom employee education program that delivers business ROI and social impact. They work closely with your key stakeholders to deeply understand the goals, use cases, and critical success factors needed to achieve your business strategy while considering the roles, skills gaps, and career goals of your unique workforce.

InStride’s team delivers a holistic strategy that meets business goals and designs and delivers the best solution in support of your goals - be it enhancing customer experience, building your bench in key functional areas, or elevating employee engagement and brand reputation.

Top-tier global academic network for working adults

Through a best-in-class global academic network, they provide a choice from a deep catalog of education programs from institutions that have a history of providing career-boosting education for working adults.

Their global network, consisting of only top-tier academic institutions with trusted reputations, provides access to 350+ degree programs and credentials that target in-demand skills and careers. These institutions are world-renowned for their faculty, research, and workforce insights with track records of student support and graduate success. Some of the popular universities having collaboration with InStride are Arizona State University, City University of New York, Dublin City University, Harvard Business School Online, Smart Horizons Career Online High School, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Universidad Tecmilenio, University of Washington Continuum College, University of Wisconsin–Madison and UNSW Sydney.

Their network provides the right education for working adults and their families with:

In-demand programs and credentials
Online synchronous and asynchronous options with dedicated support
Inclusive pathways and programs for every employee
Pedagogy designed for adult engagement and immediate applicability
Infrastructure and processes already supporting tens of thousands of learners

COVID-19 response

Covid-19 pandemic has impacted almost every company over the world. It has left millions of Americans unemployed, struggling to re-enter the workforce, amid U.S. companies looking to realign their employee needs in the new economy.

In light of the massive dislocations over the last few months, many workers are seeking new jobs and careers, for which new skills will be needed. InStride is partnering with organizations and agencies to provide life-changing workforce training while driving social impact.

InStride aims to elevate diversity, equity, and inclusion with the power of education. For many, diversity in corporations has been limited due to systemic barriers to quality education. Now, corporations have the unique opportunity to break down these barriers to drive positive business and social impact through equal access to education for underrepresented communities.

About the CEO

Vivek Sharma is the CEO of InStride, a strategic enterprise education company, helping employers achieve business growth through career-boosting online education to their employees, in partnership with leading global universities across the U.S., Mexico, Europe, and Australia. He is also an adjunct professor of data science at the University of Southern California, where he teaches business innovation to graduate students at the Marshall School of Business.

Vivek founded InStride in 2019 after five years of executive leadership at The Walt Disney Company in Los Angeles. Prior to Disney, he spent four years with Yahoo as General Manager for Yahoo Mail & Messenger, and Vice President of Yahoo Search products. He has graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and holds an MBA from INSEAD, France.