How Rich Kurtzman Turned a COVID Pause into a Category-Defining Playbook
Scribe Media
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4 min read
The Author
Rich Kurtzman Rich Kurtzman is a Barcelona-based study-abroad veteran and founder of Inverse Labs (acquired 2025). For 23 years he’s helped U.S. students grow overseas through academics, internships, and deep cultural immersion. He’s the author of Like a Fish in Water: How to Grow Abroad When You Go Abroad.Before the Book: A Gap Everyone Felt, but No One Owned
Rich grew up in Chicago, caught the travel bug in St. Petersburg and Madrid, and moved to Barcelona 23 years ago. In 2009, he founded Inverse Labs, a study-abroad company that partners with US universities to deliver academics, internships, and cultural integration in Spain.Across 16 years, Rich saw the same pattern: students landed overseas, loved the adventure, but often skimmed the surface—unable to articulate growth, build local connections, or translate the experience into jobs. There were handouts, orientations, and scattered advice, but no single student-first playbook for making the most of study abroad.
Then COVID halted travel. For the first time, Rich had the margin and the mandate to capture everything he’d been teaching in workshops, newsletters, and talks.
Why Scribe
A friend’s business coach pointed Rich to Scribe. He loved that the process “unlock the wisdom in your head” and turned it into a clear plan, weekly momentum, and a finished book. The idea of a cohort, templates, and small, repeatable targets made authorship feel doable, not mystical.“For the first time I thought, I can actually do this. Scribe gave me the system, the support, and the accountability.”
The Goal
Create the first, practical handbook for students going anywhere in the world—before, during, and after their time abroad—so they can grow personally, connect locally, and communicate the value to employers. Secondary goals: give universities a shared language for pre-departure and re-entry, and strengthen Rich’s company brand.The Scribe Process (and What Actually Worked)
- Cohort cadence > sheer, solo willpower. Rich attended every weekly call
- 250 words/day minimum. Treat it like marathon training: small, consistent steps
- “Vomit draft,” then refine. Get it down, then get it good
- Avatar discipline. Write to one ideal student, then let universities and parents follow
The Book
Title: Like a Fish in Water: How to Grow Abroad When You Go Abroad Who it’s for: Students studying anywhere in the world (and the educators, administrators, and parents who guide them) What it delivers: A step-by-step, student-friendly playbook for preparing, thriving in-country, and leveraging the experience afterward for interviews, resumes, and life skills.Results
Fast Validation
- 2 months post-launch: First university ordered 75 copies for its Rome program (Rich’s “champagne moment”)
- Today: 10+ universities either require or provide the book to every outbound student (some order 400+ copies at a time)
Business Impact
- Positioning: “We wrote the book on study abroad.”
- Speaking: Moved from free talks to paid keynotes and workshops
- Network & visibility: Industry conferences now come with “tiny-celebrity” moments that lead to instant rapport and deeper conversations with decision-makers.
- Company growth: Consistent post-2022 growth; his company was acquired three months ago, with the book cited alongside cultural-integration strengths
Unexpected Wins
- Shared language across universities improved orientation outcomes
- Bulk-plus-speaking flywheel: Bonus chapter PDFs —> interest —> bulk orders —> campus talks
- Surface area serendipity: New partnerships and pilots emerged from people who found the book first
Author’s Advice (from Rich)
- Yes, you can write a book. Think training plan, not heroics
- 250 words/day. Show up, then exceed it when momentum hits
- Say your fears out loud. Name them; most dissolve under daylight
- Lean on your cohort. Accountability and pattern-matching beat going solo
- Write for one reader. Help the student first; everyone else benefits downstream.
How Scribe Helped
- A repeatable system (weekly calls + page targets) that sustained momentum through uncertainty
- Editorial guardrails that kept the audience tight and the content practical
- Go-to-market guidance (bonus chapter lead magnets, bulk-order strategy, conferences) that turned a book into a program asset
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