Our mission

I believe that rigorous business thinking and hands-on experiential learning belong together — so I help professionals and founders build skills that hold up in the real world.

My path through global business — across markets, organizations, and the full spectrum of hard knocks — taught me one thing above all: the gap between knowing and doing is enormous, and most education never closes it. That's why everything I build is designed around experience first, theory second. I want you to encounter real challenges, reflect on what happened, and build mental models that survive contact with the real world.

Across the Academy of Experiential Learning™, the 21C School of Management, and courses like Corporate Governance & Finance in 21C, I teach the frameworks that drive modern organizations — microeconomics, strategy, finance, governance, leadership — alongside the learning science that makes those frameworks stick. I don't separate "business content" from "how to learn." For me, they are the same discipline.

My course on launching your online business exists because I've watched capable people stall at the starting line — not from lack of talent, but from lack of a clear, pressure-free process. You deserve to launch on your own terms, with full control over timing, billing, and go-live decisions.

If you're ready to do the work — to reflect, experiment, build, and think rigorously — you're exactly who I designed these schools for. Come learn by doing.

— Val (Valdas) Samonis

Our ethos

  1. 1I believe learning that doesn't change behavior is just entertainment — so every lesson is built around action, reflection, and honest application to real challenges.
  2. 2I believe rigor and accessibility are not opposites — demanding frameworks should be taught in plain language, with concrete examples, not hidden behind jargon.
  3. 3I believe you should launch, learn, and lead on your own terms — with full information, clear control, and no artificial urgency pushing you toward decisions you're not ready to make.

Learn with me

Academy of Experiential Learning(TM)