Beyond books
Colleges and corporations coast to coast rely on Nelsonville’s ED MAP to manage their distance-learning programs
By Corinne Colbert
A big yellow warehouse on a winding brick street in Nelsonville, Ohio, doesn't seem like the most auspicious home for a pioneering business. Neither does southeast Ohio seem likely to harbor a company that's grown more than 1100 percent in two years.
But ED MAP, the inhabitant of the warehouse, has done just that -- and is the only company of its kind in the nation.
ED MAP provides support for distance-learning programs nationwide. Its client roster is a who's who of online education, including the University of Phoenix, one of the nation's leading e-learning centers.
The company is the brainchild of Michael Mark, BSJ '72 and MED '78, who already has a successful entrepreneurial track record. The former director of adult learning services at Ohio University, he launched Specialty Books -- a leading distributor of textbooks for distance-learning programs -- in the early 1990s.
Eventually, he sold Specialty Books to the Nebraska Book Co. and stayed on as an executive. But as the Internet's rise prompted an explosion in distance-learning programs, Mark couldn't help but feel he had something more to offer.
He envisioned a company that could provide beginning-to-end assistance to distance-learning programs: consulting, management tools and, yes, book distribution. “We set out to create a community of distance-learning resources,” Mark says.
The result was ED MAP, which began in 2002 with a core management team -- including Kerry Stoessel Pigman, AB '96, a former Specialty Books colleague -- and $800,000 from angel investors -- individuals who, usually anonymously, help fund business startups. To make Mark's vision reality, though, ED*Map needed serious money.
It got it from Adena Ventures, the first and largest venture-capital company providing funding to small businesses in Appalachia. Adena invested $1.2 million in ED MAP in 2003, marking its first backing of an Ohio company.
The money came with strings attached, though: Adena would advance only half the funds while ED MAP sought additional venture capital. Mark quickly scored another $2.1 million from venture-capital funds in Philadelphia and Chicago as well as a line of credit.
“Adena Ventures' support was critical,” Mark says.
And well placed. In 2003, its first full year of operation, ED MAP had eight employees and revenues of $1.6 million. In 2004, it employed more than 40 people -- on a payroll some $1.5 million with benefits -- and racked up $9 million in sales. Mark expects the company to make $20 million in 2005.
He credits the firm's success to his staff's thorough understanding of distance learning and the textbook market. Colleges and corporations hire ED MAP to help them develop e-learning programs. Most go on to buy the company's core product: software that offers seamless management of all aspects of a distance-learning program. Faculty members can select texts for their classes; the program administrator can track course offerings and enrollment; and students can sign up for classes and order their books -- all online.
“We don't want to be just a book distributor,” Mark says. Still, he acknowledges, “When people look at us, they see books.” And no wonder. ED*Map ships 600 to 1,500 packages of textbooks a day.
Such is the company's success that candidate John Kerry talked about it at length during a campaign stop in Columbus. “I was stunned,” says Mark.
He hopes budding entrepreneurs will be similarly inspired. With the Internet and new highways connecting the region to airports, Mark says southeast Ohio is a fine place to launch a business.
“This would be a good region for a gazillion mail-order companies,” he says. “And clearly, we've set an example of it.”
Corinne Colbert, BSJ '87 and MA '93, is the former interim assistant editor of Ohio Today.
Related links:
EDMAP
Adena Ventures
