Academic Publishing Wasn’t Built for Educators – This Startup Is

Cogrounded helps education experts bring high-quality programs, curricula, and training tools into the hands of the people they were designed for.

Cogrounded founders Brad Wilson and Gary Abud Jr. help education experts bring high-quality programs, curricula, and training tools into the hands of the people they were designed for.

Gary Abud Jr., an award-winning educator, and Brad Wilson, an educational innovation strategist, noticed a persistent gap in the academic landscape. Some of the most promising, evidence-based programs—curricula, toolkits, even entire instructional models—weren’t being used. Not because they didn’t work, but because they never reached the people they were designed to help.

“There’s a ton of intellectual capital stuck on the shelf,” says Abud. “We’re not talking about half-baked ideas. These are grant-funded, peer-reviewed projects that are ready for market, but have no way to get there.”

Cogrounded was built to change that.

From Problem to Platform

The company took root through the MSU Research Foundation’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) program, which supports experienced founders in developing new venture opportunities within the Michigan State University ecosystem. For Abud and Wilson, it provided the time and perspective to understand why so many education programs weren’t making it to market. They spoke with faculty, studied commercialization pathways, and realized that the system wasn’t built to support educational experts in bringing their ideas to life. That early work led to the founding of Cogrounded and helped shape its unique model.

Unlike traditional publishers, Cogrounded doesn’t wait for an educator to present a polished, ready-to-print product. They meet program creators where they are—sometimes with just a manuscript or prototype—and help them get across the finish line. Instructional design, branding, go-to-market strategy: it’s all part of a support model rarely found in traditional publishing.

“Think of it like a record label for education,” says Wilson. “We work with the talent, we produce the work, and we help get it in front of the right audience.”

Cogrounded’s first major test case was the Connected Mathematics Project (CMP), a research-backed K-12 curriculum developed at MSU. Despite its strong foundation, it lacked a clear path to market. Cogrounded helped shape the program’s structure and strategy, secure a specialized STEM publisher, and brought CMP into classrooms nationwide. This success helped validate the model and earned the attention of investors, including the MSU Research Foundation through its Red Cedar Ventures early-stage investment fund.

From Research to Real-World Results

In the 2026 school year, Cogrounded will help launch Insight, a workforce development program created in collaboration with MSU’s College of Education. Designed for neurodiverse individuals and others with disabilities, Insight helps participants build the soft skills and job-seeking strategies needed not just to get hired, but to stay employed.

“The data showed that individuals with disabilities could get jobs. The challenge was keeping them,” says Abud. “Insight gives them the tools to do both.”

Cogrounded’s role was to turn a proven but inaccessible academic program into something schools and workforce agencies can actually adopt. They rebranded the initiative, overhauled key parts of the curriculum, and developed a full platform, including web presence, marketing strategy, and pilot testing plans.

It’s now ready to be tested in the field and then scaled nationwide.

Beyond Curriculum

Not all of Cogrounded’s work is curriculum-based. Earlier this year, they released their first trade book, The Golden Waffle Principle, a classroom wisdom guide written by award-winning teacher Steven R. Perkins. Blending personal narrative, classical philosophy, and classroom anecdotes from his 30-year career, the book marked a new milestone for the company—proof that their model could scale beyond formal programs.

Whether it’s a book by an individual educator or a research-backed program like Insight, Cogrounded’s work is about translating expertise into tools that can be used and shared. “This is about more than just putting a book on shelves,” says Wilson. “It’s about helping a teacher tell a story that matters and showing that this approach can work for others too.”

Building What the System Doesn’t

Today, Cogrounded is working across the education spectrum: K–12, higher ed, and workforce development. Their projects range from educator-authored books to multi-year curricula. But the mission is consistent—help experts bring their ideas to life, make them commercially viable, and get them into the hands of the people who need them.

They’re not a traditional publisher. They’re not a consulting firm. And they’re not a university press. They’re something in between, purpose-built to close the gap between what gets created and what actually gets used.

“We exist for the moment someone says, ‘I have this great project, but I don’t know what to do with it,’” says Abud. “That’s where we step in.”

The Road Ahead

Abud and Wilson are building a future where the best ideas, whether scribbled in a classroom notebook or shaped by years of research, have a real chance to reach the people they’re meant to help. With support from the MSU Research Foundation—through entrepreneurial mentoring, commercialization guidance, and early-stage investment—Cogrounded is already showing what’s possible.

Educators and researchers with promising ideas, manuscripts, or programs can learn more about Cogrounded’s model at cogrounded.org.