[vikp]

Although it would be unfortunate if this was the case, this paragraph from the about page (https://woz-u.com/about/) leads me to think that this is just using Steve Wozniak's name for branding:

Inspired by Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer, we specialize in technology and career-based programs designed to get people into the workforce quickly and affordably...Led by higher education experts, Exeter Education, students will learn the skills necessary to take flight within the technology industry.

It looks like Woz U is affiliated with Exeter Education and Southern Careers Institute. Exeter Education appears to be a new company in Arizona (more info at http://www.azcentral.com/story/money/business/tech/2017/10/1... and https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2017/04/14/former-g...).

Southern Careers Institute (http://www.scitexas.edu/) seems to be a vocational school of sorts. Neither of these are bad things, but they temper the initial excitement I had around "Steve Wozniak is launching an online education platform."

[agumonkey]

Woz likes teaching I'd be surprised he sold his name for nothing else but money.

[Arjuna]

"Woz likes teaching I'd be surprised he sold his name for nothing else but money."

I feel the same way. This is part of what he had to say in a comment [1] he wrote in 2013, discussing the then-released Jobs film. It absolutely speaks volumes about his character:

"And when Jobs (in the movie, but really a board does this) denied stock to the early garage team (some not even shown) I'm surprised that they chose not to show me giving about $10M of my own stock to them because it was the right thing. And $10M was a lot in that time."

I was unable to link to his comment directly. Also, I had to click the "View previous comments" link in order to view his comment.

[1] https://plus.google.com/+CarmsPerez/posts/GnVTvQNgvpf

[rib3ye]

The issue isn't money, it's his idealism that leads to gullibility. For example, check out his involvement with a multi-level marketing scheme called "People Helping People". I'm sure Woz loves the idea of a low cost universal education source, but he often skips the diligence required to figure out if these things are scams or not.

[agumonkey]

More than a naive lack of check, what I meant is that Woz clearly explained he loved teaching the beauty of engineering, so I'd expect he would be part of the board and teachers.

[mgiannopoulos]

"often skips" implies a multiple occurrence. Do you have more examples of this?

[sundvor]

Thanks for that link, I hadn't seen this before. Very insightful to read the words of Woz on this; inspires such great respect.

[mathattack]

I don't know much about Woz, but I do know he lives in the Bay Area and this company is headquartered in Arizona. I hope it goes well!

[salqadri]

Uhh; read this from the article: "And if that weren’t enough, Woz U will eventually introduce an accelerator program" - there is clearly a very heavy money dimension to this!

[saghm]

Right, but GP said "just for money"; they're saying they expect that he would be unlikely to solely take money for the branding and not be involved in some further capacity.

[DrJaws]

He sold his image to vodafone in spain, so, he could be having economic problems or just making an u-turn and selling himself to whoever is able to pay for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FL4cwcFmgY

[_kyran]

he also seems to be doing a lot of speaking gigs around the world lately.

[jondubois]

Maybe Woz gave up on humanity and decided to cash in instead.

[robotfactory]

I can't imagine a guy like The Woz allowing his name to be associated with something sub-par which he has no control over. He understands the importance and weight of his personal brand.

[kpwagner]

He has a big heart. A few years ago Steve gave an interview with Patrick Bet-David, which was simply a marketing piece for Patrick's company, PHP Agency. PHP Agency is a financial firm founded on the power of "network marketing". The idea behind network marketing is to turn your social network into pyramid, positioning yourself at the top of the pyramid. I don't like network marketing companies, and I believe they are all sub-par. In this interview, which you can find on YouTube, Steve Wozniak described PHP Agency as a hit.

[ShabbosGoy]

> The idea behind network marketing is to turn your social network into pyramid, positioning yourself at the top of the pyramid.

Isn't this the idea behind Patreon?

[mtrimpe]

Patronage [1] is the idea behind Patreon.

Viewed as a pyramid it's one that goes only one level deep and markets only yourself as a worthy cause to support ;-)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patronage

[hkmurakami]

He's an idealist and "too good" of a person and believes in people too readily to be a cutthroat business guy. I can see a situation where he'd be talked into a situation you describe, because he doesn't have a personality that first questions others' motives and agendas.

[uuuyyy111]

It's odd we've allowed our society to accept cut-throat business as the norm.

[jpttsn]

So Woz’ strengths are marketing etc.? Always seemed that was precisely the part he didn’t play too well.

[usrusr]

Can't announce it without taking a bit of a leap of faith, because there can't be a track record before announcement. Intentions are easy, execution is hard. Few bad schools started off with "bad" as a founding principle.

[DonHopkins]

Trump University

[jacquesm]

There is a pretty long history of The Woz being taken advantage of, starting prior to Apple when his best friend ripped him off.

[larrydag]

After reading his autobiography, iWoz, Wozniak has a real passion for education. He especially has a passion for K-12. I believe he is genuine in his desire to improve tech and STEM education.

[trzmiel4]

Other news are more clear about his actual involvement, e.g. http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171013005008/en/Appl..., http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-cofounder-steve-wozniak....

[jonwachob91]

Neither of those links provide any insight on his actual involvement. They say roughly the same thing; 1) Wozniak announced today, and 2) Woz U is named after Wozniak. No mention of any substantial involvement.

[jczhang]

If you read the article in your azcentral link, you'll see that Woz did announce Woz U himself.

[komali2]

As johnwacho said, that doesn't indicate actual involvement.

[philliphaydon]

If his name is being used he obviously wants it to do well because he has some insentive in it. he wouldn’t use his name and want it to fail.

[jacquesm]

You should study the person you're commenting on a bit beforehand. It is perfectly possible for Steve to want them to do well even if he does not have any incentive.

[philliphaydon]

You make it sound like Steve doesn’t care about himself at all.

[jacquesm]

I'd credit your interpretation rather than what I make it sound like.

[anonymous5133]

Agree, don't give this clown any of your information. This "startup" will do absolutely nothing and appears to simply be a marketing gimmick.