E20 – From Classrooms to Curiosity: AI & The Future of Learning with Katelyn Donnelly

We sit down with Katelyn Donnelly, founder & Managing Director of Avalanche VC. A longtime operator in education and social-impact consulting, Katelyn now backs early-stage AI and ed-tech startups reshaping how—and why—we learn.

We cover:

- Ed-tech vs. learning tech. Why the biggest breakthroughs often skip the classroom and go straight to the consumer.

- Motivation over personalization. The real bottleneck isn’t better content—it’s sparking curiosity and keeping learners engaged.

- AI’s dual role as both a teacher’s aide and a “homework cheater" and why that might not be a bad thing.

- How VR math sims, language-learning avatars, and AI-powered sales floors demonstrate the next wave of learning-by-doing.

- What jobs and university majors might look like in an era where the largest school in the world is Yo ...