Recently, I spoke with Erik Twist, co-founder of Arcadia Education, a consulting firm that partners with mission-driven schools to provide operational guidance, strategic support, and best practices for sustainable growth. His journey includes studying at Trinity University and the University of Oxford, and being instrumental in building one of the largest classical education networks in the U.S. In our conversation, Erik shares how community and shared values shape his approach to entrepreneurship, the operational lessons learned from scaling educational institutions, the importance of timing and readiness, and how challenges have refined his leadership. He also offers thoughtful advice for young entrepreneurs on aligning purpose with action, taking risks wisely, and cultivating a meaningful life beyond material success.
Erik’s Background and Journey into Entrepreneurship
Griffin Connolly: So, welcome Erik. Let’s dive right in. Can you tell me a little bit about your background and how you came to this place of community and entrepreneurship?
Erik Twist: Well, my story isn’t one that was carefully planned out. I didn’t set out thinking, By the time I’m almost 50, this is exactly where I’ll be. It really unfolded step by step. Right now, I’m about three and a half years into starting a business with some wonderful colleagues.
The roots of my entrepreneurial journey go back to the 15 years I spent helping to build Great Hearts Academies with some very dear friends. That period makes up most of my professional life. When I joined Great Hearts right after graduate school, I was about 30 years old. Before that, I’d spent my 20s doing different things here and there and spending quite a bit of time in school.
At the time I arrived, Great Hearts was just two small schools with around 600 students. By the time I left, it had grown to nearly 30,000 students across multiple markets. It was an extraordinary journey. What made it even more fascinating was that it happened during a period when school choice and charter schools were at the frontier of education reform.
Great Hearts is a nonprofit, but unlike many nonprofits, it operates as though it could go out of business, meaning it never takes its existence as inevitable. That mentality is unique in the nonprofit world—and incredibly instructive. Operating in that context taught me invaluable lessons. And to be honest, many of best lessons came through making mistakes. The key, of course, was learning from them.
A lot of what our firm does today is take those lessons and apply them in the broader education reform movement, both nationwide and internationally.
So really, my path into entrepreneurship was born out of that experience. I had the opportunity to cut my teeth in a highly competitive, highly consequential industry, all while being part of an incredible team. The natural question became: Can we take those lessons and launch something new? That’s what led me to where I am today.
Taking the Leap into Consulting
Griffin Connolly: You were at Great Hearts for quite a while, and it’s such a big part of your story. Can you expand on your transition into consulting? What motivated you to make that leap?
Erik Twist: There wasn’t one single reason I left Great Hearts. Honestly, I loved it. To this day, I still talk about it like I’m there—I’ll catch myself saying we when I mean Great Hearts. It was my first professional love, and many of the people leading it are close friends, some of whom I recruited myself. So, it wasn’t that I was unhappy. I could have easily stayed another 15 years.
Leaving wasn’t easy. When you’ve poured so much into something, it feels like part of you. Walking away isn’t just stepping away from an institution, it’s leaving relationships, friendships, and what feels like your own baby, even though it was never just mine. So, the decision carried real risk.
One driving factor was a growing conviction that the larger education reform movement in this country is still very young, and that there was a real vacuum in the marketplace. Schools and leaders needed a type of support that didn’t yet exist. That gap represented both opportunity and obligation. It wasn’t just about business potential—it was fueled by love for this work and a desire to help schools flourish.
The other part was personal. Hitting middle age, you can’t help but wonder: Is my success tied only to the organization I’m in? Do I have skills that matter outside of it? At 45, I realized that if I stayed for another 15 years, I’d be 60. The older you get, the harder it becomes to take risks. And yet, I think risk is a prerequisite for building something beautiful.
So, with that conviction and willingness to take the leap, we started a firm dedicated to serving the people and institutions we cared most about. And I’m glad to say—it’s worked out pretty well.
The Power of Community in Entrepreneurship
Griffin Connolly: One of the themes I’m really focusing on is community, which seems like a natural fit for this conversation. You’ve touched on how central people and relationships are to your journey. Can you expand on your sense of community in entrepreneurship and why it matters so much, especially in the context of schools?
Erik Twist: At the most basic level, I don’t believe human beings are just cogs in a market, meant only to produce and consume. Community is far deeper than that. To me, community is rooted in friendships, and friendships are formed around shared loves—things we value, things we believe matter. A true community is a place where we desire the good in one another.
When you can pair what you love and what you believe has eternal significance with your business, it not only fulfills you as a human being, but it also creates a powerful market strategy. More than ever before, people want alignment—cultural alignment, community alignment. They want to know that the companies and people they’re in exchange with share their values.
We see this everywhere now. Think about where people choose to shop for food, what brands of clothing they buy, or even what dog food they pick up. There’s a growing reflection behind those choices: Am I aligned with the people and institutions I’m supporting? That mindset crosses political, philosophical, and spiritual divides.
For entrepreneurs, that means the question isn’t just Does my product work? Utility alone isn’t enough; every product has some utility. The story behind it is what matters more. What animates your desire to bring it to market? What values and principles drive you?
The clearer and deeper you can answer those questions, the stronger your business development will be. Because at that point, you’re not just offering usefulness—you’re connecting with people at the level of meaning. And in today’s world, that’s not just fulfilling; it’s smart business.
Building Stronger Schools with Arcadia Education
Griffin Connolly: That’s really interesting. A lot of the people I’ve spoken with lately mention market saturation in their fields, and they see community as the great differentiator. It’s certainly becoming more important and valued.
Shifting to a more tangible line of inquiry—can you talk about Arcadia Education and how you’re helping schools become more successful and sustainable?
Erik Twist: Great question. What’s true about schools is often true about nonprofits in general—churches, charities, all sorts of “communities of good.” These organizations are animated by mission and vision, and that’s their strength. The people who lead them are deeply committed; they’d jump in front of a bus for their cause. That passion is what gets them up every day.
But here’s the catch: they’re often not as strong in business acumen and operational discipline. And in some cases, there’s even a suspicion of those things—as if strategic planning, workflow design, or financial systems are “for-profit” practices that don’t belong in a mission-driven space. The danger there is assuming that mission and vision alone are sufficient. They’re necessary, yes, but not sufficient.
Without disciplined operations—finance, HR, workflows, compliance, tactical planning—schools can struggle, even if their classrooms are full of passion. That’s where Arcadia comes in. When we looked across the education landscape, we saw plenty of firms doing the fun stuff in our industry like curriculum and pedagogy, but very few providing Deloitte- or McKinsey-level operational support tailored to schools. The few firms that do exist in this space don’t really align with the fast-growing subsector we care about—classical, Catholic, Christian, and other traditionalist schools.
Arcadia marries love for those educational models with operational and business expertise. We see ourselves as the “behind-the-scenes elbow grease” for school leaders—helping them build infrastructure that sustains their mission without burning people out. We bring best practices from the for-profit and nonprofit world into mission-driven institutions, ensuring they’re compliant, sustainable, and equipped to thrive long term.
Lessons Learned and Avoiding Pitfalls
Griffin Connolly: Earlier you mentioned challenges and how important they’ve been to your growth. When it comes to launching Arcadia Education, are there specific challenges that stand out—things you might have done differently?
Erik Twist: Of course—no one gets to build the plane first and then fly it. You’re always building while flying, and that means you won’t get everything right. But honestly, I feel like we avoided a lot of the big mistakes that could have sunk us. If we had tried to do this ten years earlier, I don’t think we would have gotten as much right.
Sure, we could have spent less money in a few areas early on, as we had some products that didn’t pan out and had to be abandoned. But that’s just part of the process. What I think we executed exceptionally well was being disciplined and consistent about who we hired—knowing exactly the kind of person we want on the team, setting clear expectations, and onboarding them well.
We’ve also been deliberate about building strong operational frameworks and workflows as we grow. That’s not easy, but it’s essential. It’s a balance between having the charisma and passion to drive the mission forward while also codifying best practices. So you’re not burning people out and not overpromising to clients. In consulting, your reputation rests on every deliverable. You can’t afford inconsistency.
That’s why one of our core behaviors is being maniacal about quality. It underscores our commitment to go above and beyond for clients. Behind that is a lot of intentional design—project management, workflow systems, communication structures. Those tedious details matter. Passion and charisma are necessary, but they’re not sufficient. The truth is that great companies aren’t built on big, flashy moments; they’re built on consistent, unglamorous work done well over time.
We’re not perfect, but we take that commitment seriously. Without it, you eventually hit a wall you can’t turn back from.
Timing, Readiness, and a Changing Education Landscape
Griffin Connolly: You mentioned that if you had tried to launch Arcadia ten years ago, it might not have worked. Is that because of your own personal growth, or because the education space itself has shifted?
Erik Twist: Honestly, both. Speaking for myself, I wasn’t ready a decade ago. I didn’t have the maturity, headspace, or the knowledge and competency I’ve since developed. By God’s grace, I didn’t try too early, because I wouldn’t have been equipped to co-lead this kind of venture.
But the other half of it is timing. Education in America is in the middle of what I’d call a new revolution. Parents are no longer just passively sending their kids to the school dictated by their zip code. They’re actively seeking out better options—whether that means moving, enrolling in charter schools, choosing online education, or homeschooling.
At the same time, major policy changes are expanding opportunity. More and more states are introducing things like ESAs—Education Savings Accounts—and vouchers, which allow families to direct public funding toward private education. Twenty years ago, that wasn’t the case. Maybe a few states had something like it in early stages, but now, state after state is opening up the marketplace.
So, demand is no longer the issue. Families are raising their hands saying, We want better choices. The challenge now is on the supply side—how to build enough high-quality schools, programs, and support structures to meet that demand. That’s where we come in.
I won’t pretend it’s all strategy. There’s a measure of luck too. We had the right people, the right vision, and the market was shifting in just the right way. The credit, if there’s any to be given, is that we had the courage to step in and try to meet that need when the timing aligned.
Lessons from study at Trinity and Oxford
Griffin Connolly: Absolutely. I was just talking with a gentleman a few months ago, who had a successful exit and has now pivoted to teaching at ASU. He made a similar point—that the education system has completely transformed over the last two decades, and much of that change has been positive. That makes me curious about your own path. You studied at Trinity here in the U.S. and later at Oxford in the UK. Do you feel those educational experiences were key to your long-term success, whether through the relationships you formed or the education itself?
Erik Twist: Looking back, I probably squandered my time at Trinity in some ways. I loved it—the friendships I made were wonderful—but I was more focused on extracurriculars than academics. For example, I helped run a coffeehouse, started a band with some friends, and joined the pre-law fraternity. I did well enough in my classes, but I wasn’t leaning in fully. Still, my time there was pivotal. I met my wife at Trinity, landed my first jobs in San Antonio, and those opportunities eventually opened the door to Oxford.
Oxford was a very different story. By the time I went, I was 27 and felt like I had something to prove to my younger self. I leaned in hard and thrived there, studying theology and philosophy. That experience was deeply formative—it helped me discover what I truly loved and laid the groundwork for my later work in classical education.
So for me, Oxford wasn’t just about building relationships, though I did make lifelong friends. It was about clarifying my sense of purpose. I miss it a lot—the atmosphere, the friendships, even just the joy of sitting listening to the rain and reading great books.
At the same time, I’ve learned that academic success doesn’t always translate into real-world impact. I know brilliant people who excelled at Oxford but struggled to build anything outside academia. For me, it’s almost the reverse—I wasn’t a great academic, but I thrived when it came to building, creating, and taking risks.
Final Advice for Young Entrepreneurs
Griffin Connolly: That’s interesting insight. I’ll wrap this up with a last question. I run a Student Launch Club at school with other students who are interested in entrepreneurship. If you could give us one piece of advice about entrepreneurship what would it be?
Erik Twist: That’s a great question, and a tough one to narrow down to just one answer. But if I had to give you something, I’d say this: don’t allow yourself to be reduced to just a consuming being. If you think material success is what will ultimately satisfy you, you’ll never become the man or woman you were created to be.
Entrepreneurship has to be about more than chasing a financial windfall. You and I both know money matters—but at the end of the day, you’re going to die, and what will really matter is the kind of person you became. I know it sounds cliché, but clichés exist for a reason. The older you get, the more you realize just how true they are.
Take God seriously. Invest in becoming someone who loves well. Be a good husband or wife, a good father or mother. Those things will always be more important than being the next startup king. When you’re young, you hear adults say this kind of thing all the time—if you’re lucky—but it really is true.
So my advice would be: don’t separate life from business. All those things that seem unrelated—your values, your relationships, your character—are not only connected to business, they fulfill it.
Griffin Connolly: Erik, thank you so much for taking the time to share your story and insights. It’s been inspiring to hear about your journey and the lessons you’ve learned along the way.
Erik Twist: Thanks, Griffin. It’s been a pleasure talking with you. Best of luck to you and your Student Launch Club—you’re in a great place to make an impact.
Read last month’s interview with Joe Wheeling, regenerative local food entrepreneur, here.