# Nihal Parthasarathi

> Nihal Parthasarathi is the New York-based co-founder and founding CEO of CourseHorse, the marketplace he built with Katie Kapler to help people discover and book local classes. A 2008 NYU Stern graduate and former Capgemini education technology consultant, he helped launch the service in 2011 and later shared lessons on customer testing, employee autonomy and founder judgment with NYU entrepreneurs. Public professional directories now list him as a co-founder and board member.

- **Role:** Co-founder and board member at CourseHorse
- **Organizations:** CourseHorse, Capgemini, NYU Stern School of Business
- **Education:** BS, Finance and Marketing; minor in Creative Writing; magna cum laude, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business
- **Known for:** Co-founded CourseHorse with Katie Kapler and served as its founding CEO., CourseHorse won a $75,000 prize at NYU Stern’s 2011 New Venture Competition., Helped develop a marketplace that was operating in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago by February 2016.

## Career timeline

- **2008** — Graduated from NYU Stern; subsequently worked at Capgemini on education technology for a test-prep provider.
- **2010** — Co-founded CourseHorse with Katie Kapler; company incorporation year recorded in its SEC filing.
- **2011** — CourseHorse launched publicly in April and won a $75,000 NYU New Venture Competition prize.
- **2014** — Discussed CourseHorse’s early development on Novice No Longer and spoke to NYU Summer Launchpad founders about testing assumptions.
- **2015** — Described weekly team games in New York parks in a Fast Company leadership feature.
- **2016** — Discussed CourseHorse’s $4 million Series B and its New York, Los Angeles and Chicago operations in a Street Fight interview.
- **2017** — Featured in the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute annual report sharing advice on building a team.
- **2018** — Shared advice on founder judgment with NYU Summer Launchpad teams.

## Achievements

- Co-founded CourseHorse with Katie Kapler and served as its founding CEO.
- CourseHorse won a $75,000 prize at NYU Stern’s 2011 New Venture Competition.
- Helped develop a marketplace that was operating in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago by February 2016.
- Returned to NYU to share practical startup lessons with emerging founders.

## Latest updates

- **2025-12** — Company milestone: CourseHorse acquired CreativeLive, allowing that learning platform to remain open. The report does not identify Parthasarathi as the deal lead.

## Links

- Website: https://coursehorse.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nihalparthasarathi
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/nihalpartha

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/nihal-parthasarathi
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-25