Khan Academy: Sal Khan. From Tutoring His Cousins to Teaching the World For Free (September 2020)
How I Built This with Guy Raz
Guy Raz | Wondery
4.7 • 31.4K Ratings
🗓️ 8 December 2025
⏱️ 82 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Khan Academy offers hundreds of free tutorials in fifty languages, and has 170 million monthly global users.
It all began in 2009 when Sal Khan walked away from a high-paying job to start a business that had no way of making money.
His idea to launch a non-profit teaching platform was sparked while helping his young cousins do math homework over the computer.
When he started posting his tutorials on Youtube, the world took notice.
You will learn:
- Not just cat videos: How Sal discovered the early power of YouTube.
- How a book by Isaac Asimov lay the foundation for Khan Academy
- Why Sal said no to a for-profit business model
- How Sal got discovered by Bill Gates–and other wealthy donors
- How Sal defines ambition: Free world class education for anyone, anywhere
Listen now to hear how Khan Academy has grown to become one of the most trusted teaching tools around the world.
This episode was produced by Jed Anderson, with music composed by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by Neva Grant.
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Transcript
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