He\u2019s expanded Crimson from its university admissions bread-and-butter to online secondary schooling, and even now operates a couple of brick-and-mortar secondary schools in Takapuna.<\/p>\n
Threats have even been turned into opportunities. When the Trump administration threw a huge spanner into the works of international education by clamping down on student visas, Crimson spun out an immigration consultancy that Beaton says has been used to help Halter transport staff for its own push into the United States.<\/p>\n
Beaton is cagey about detailed numbers, though, and is unwilling to go on-record discussing the finer points of his financials.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I can say for your entertainment that Crimson today is profitable, generates cashflow, has high revenue growth, and has a lot of scale,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut you\u2019ll have to wait till we have an IPO [initial public offer] prospectus for the details.\u201d<\/p>\n
An IPO is not imminent, he says. <\/p>\n
The Herald understands Crimson has rebuffed several buyout offers over the years. And while capital raises along the way now mean Beaton holds a minority of Crimson shares \u2013 16% of the company\u2019s stock are held jointly with his mother, the largest single shareholder \u2013 this remains Beaton\u2019s company.<\/p>\n
With a decade of growth \u2013 and missteps \u2013 behind him, he is also of an age to better reflect on what went wrong along the way.<\/p>\n
There was a pivot to EduTech that initially went nowhere, he says: \u201cWhen I was first growing Crimson, you know, I had limited background in computer science, and so I hired a pretty big engineering team without a clear product vision initially. We had to really go through the pain of building a team, realising it wasn\u2019t working, and then go through the whole process again.\u201d<\/p>\n
His first bid to conquer India was similarly ignominious. Six months after setting up a sales team and country manager, he found revenues were \u201cless than the cost of our very modest breakfast\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we pulled out of that market, and then we, you know, re-entered.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crimson is also no longer a gang of Lost Boys staffed exclusively by precocious teens. Ten years ago the Herald noted the presence of a token adult on the board. Now they\u2019ve got several, including former Prime Minister Sir John Key.<\/p>\n
Crimson Education founder Jamie Beaton with advisory board member and minor shareholder Sir John Key, pictured at the edu-tech’s Auckland office.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve also gotten a better sense of what makes our culture tick. So, in the early days we had a lot of 18-, 19-, 20-year-olds running around. These days, we have a more diverse set of leaders and managers,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Another question that loomed a decade ago is what would happen when Beaton grew out of being the Boy Wonder? <\/p>\n
A large part of Crimson\u2019s branding and identity hinged on Beaton using himself and his academic success as a role model for prospective clients wanting to navigate the international academic system.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think my academics helped us get that jump start, sort of the initial ignition, but I think it\u2019s gone long beyond me,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Beaton has answered this question by never letting himself grow out of the student mentality. <\/p>\n
The ridiculously lengthy education section of his resume has become a meme of sorts on LinkedIn after it was screenshotted and widely shared, showing degrees in everything from law (JD, Yale) to war studies (MA, King\u2019s College London) and \u2013 the most recent addition \u2013 journalism (MS, Columbia).<\/p>\n
He\u2019s been a (largely remote) part-time student every year since 2013, collecting no fewer than 11 postgraduate degrees along the way.<\/p>\n
Beaton also notes thousands of Crimson clients whom he has helped shepherd through university systems are becoming aspiration figures in themselves.<\/p>\n
He also speed-runs through life. He listens to podcasts at twice the normal speed \u2013 sometimes faster \u2013 to digest information more quickly. This has fortified his motor-mouth, often being able to speak for two.<\/p>\n