Salman Khan started his business a closet. Just him, his laptop, a $20 mic, and a desire to help his cousin with math. That humble setup became the foundation for Khan Academy, which now serves over 168 million learners in 190 countries across 50+ languages.

In today’s issue, I’ll break down Salman’s unlikely rise and share:

• 3 lessons from Salman you can use in your storytelling efforts

• The science that says stories are 12x more memorable than facts

• The TV Show “60 Minutes” segment spotlighting his story 

Enjoy this story of numbers from the closet… LG

Founder Story

It was 2004. Salman was a hedge fund analyst in Boston when his 12-year-old cousin Nadia came to visit from New Orleans. During the visit, Salman discovered she was having trouble in her math class. 

That seemed odd to Salman because he knew Nadia was a sharp kid and normally a straight-A student, but her mother shared with him that she had done poorly on a math placement exam and asked if he would help tutor her. 

Her mother knew Salman loved math, and he knew the importance of math to help Nadia get into a good college, so he happily agreed. After Nadia headed home to New Orleans, Salman started tutoring Nadia every day after work over the speaker phone (from Boston) for the next few months. 

To help her visualize the lessons, Salman used Yahoo Doodle, an early digital drawing tool they could share in real time. The sessions worked. Nadia’s confidence grew. Her test scores climbed. She started to love math again.

Word got around. Other family members began asking Salman to tutor their kids, too. Then friends. Then friends of friends.

Salman was still working full-time in finance, and the growing number of requests left him stretched thin. A friend suggested a different approach: record the lessons and upload them to YouTube so people could watch whenever they wanted.

He began recording simple math tutorials—algebra, fractions, linear equations—in his spare time. He uploaded them to a YouTube channel and paired them with a basic website where students could find the right videos and try out exercises on their own.

Six months in, he had 50 videos online. He figured maybe a few kids would find them helpful.

But then strangers started commenting. Thanking him. Telling him the lessons had helped them pass classes, avoid dropping out, or get into college. Some wrote heartfelt emails saying they were on the verge of giving up on school before discovering his channel.

By 2009, Khan’s site was getting 50,000 visitors a month. What started as a tutoring side project had morphed into something far bigger. He was reaching more students online than most teachers do in a lifetime.

So he made a decision.

Despite having a newborn baby and a wife preparing to start medical school, Salman quit his hedge fund job. He gave himself a one-year runway, funded entirely by the family’s savings. If he could make it work, great. If not, he’d go back to finance.

Khan Academy wasn’t much at the time, just Salman in a walk-in closet with an $80 tablet, a laptop, a screen capture tool, and a $20 mic from Best Buy.

He was the entire team: teacher, coder, designer, support staff, fundraiser.

Expenses ran about $5,000 a month. The savings ticked down. Month 6 passed. Then month 9. Traffic was up. The impact was real. But revenue? Still zero.

Then came month 10.

Salman couldn’t believe it. Bill Gates, one of the most powerful people on the planet, had just name-dropped his project on a national stage.

A few days later, a check for $10,000 arrived in the mail from Ann. It was the first real financial support Khan Academy had ever received.

Salman wrote to thank her. She invited him to lunch.

At lunch, he explained that he was living off savings. That he wasn’t being paid. That Khan Academy was still just a one-man show.

Ann was floored. She assumed, given the press and buzz, that Salman had a team and funding.

That same afternoon, she texted him again.

“You can’t keep doing this alone. I’m sending you a check for $100,000. And I’m going to help connect you to others who can help.”

Momentum snowballed. Soon after, Salman met Bill Gates in person.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded Khan Academy a $1.5 million grant. Google followed with $2 million to help translate content into multiple languages. More support came from Netflix’s Reed Hastings, Mexico’s Carlos Slim, Elon Musk’s foundation, and others.

Today, Khan Academy serves 168 million students in 190 countries. Its content is available in 50+ languages. It has delivered almost 60 billion learning minutes to date and is now the largest school on Earth.

STORYTELLING LESSONS

Salman didn’t start Khan Academy by pitching grand visions or market potential. He started with something real, personal, and emotional. A cousin who needed help.

Here are 3 powerful storytelling strategies from Kahn’s approach you can apply to your founder story:

1. Integrate the Personal With the Professional

   The origin story Salman used centers on helping his 12-year-old cousin, Nadia, pass a math test. That intimate moment of recording videos in a closet to help someone he loved became the foundation for what would become the world’s largest free education platform. 

   Don’t hide your personal “why.” Lead with it. Anchor your story in a specific moment where your mission first came alive. What problem were you solving? For whom? Why did it matter to you personally? Make the stakes real and the emotions relatable.

2. Combine the Stakes & the Emotions

   Salman tapped into terrifying fragility of opportunity for millions of kids. One bad test score could shut the door on a child’s dream of becoming a doctor, engineer, or scientist, often before they even hit puberty. That emotional insight became the heart of his mission by making the data a doorway to empathy.

   Frame your story not just around what your product does, but around what’s at stake if people don’t have it. Highlight the pain of the gap and the promise of what’s possible. Give your audience something to care about, and someone to root for.

3. Let the Numbers Tell the Story

   Kahn used math not just as a subject, but as a storytelling device. He uses concepts such as “70% on a test doesn’t just mean a C. It means a shaky foundation.” This helps people see math as a language for logic and possibility, not fear, using data to bring it to life. 

   Use numbers to prove your point and/or quantify a problem or opportunity. If you’re solving a systemic problem, show the ripple effect. This process gives metrics meaning that connects with audiences

FUN FACT:

In a Stanford study, students recalled only 5% of facts from a presentation, but remembered 63% of the stories (Heath & Heath, 2007). That’s a 12x increase in memorability. When Salman turned tutoring his cousin in a closet into a mission, it wasn’t just the numbers that stuck, it was the story behind them.

Want your audience to remember your message? Wrap your facts in a story because the science says it’ll have a bigger impact on your audience. 

Video to Watch:

Go behind the scenes with “Teacher to the World” – 60 Minutes as the CBS team interviews Salman Khan and visits the Khan Academy. It’s a insightful look at the mission, mindset, and momentum behind one of the most impactful education platforms in history.

In Salman Khan Teaches at TED, you’ll see his unique teaching style in action. His calm delivery, clear explanations, and use of storytelling to simplify complex concepts offer valuable lessons for any founder or educator.

These are great videos to study and learn from if you want to elevate your own teaching or communication style.

Storytelling for Entrepreneurs Issue #034 - From tutoring his niece in his closet to now serving 168 Million Students: The Story of Khan Academy


Want to Learn More about Founder Storytelling?

Follow Storytelling for Entrepreneurs here:

YouTube – Instagram – Facebook - TikTok 

Forward this message to someone who would enjoy it

Join thousands of monthly readers to get exclusive content, private Q&As, giveaways, and more. No spam, ever. Just great stuff.