Hi JByers -- blog author here. I don't think the comparison is non-sensical because the common thread tying all of these different segments together is the end buyer's perception of value. If you as the builder or service provider or technologist think that the value you're offering is higher quality you will have a slow road. If you think it is saving cost/time to get to the same level of quality you will scale quickly. This holds across segments as the examples in the post illustrate -- Chegg, University of Phoenix, TutorVista, etc.
I would say the distinction is most important for considering what the competition will be. There are already plenty of people who consider higher education an investment, but also factor cost and risk for more significantly than the sort of entrepreneur you describe. Many middle-class people value quality but moderate their exposure to risk by choosing State and Community Colleges. They perhaps sacrifice some quality in return for "good enough" and a $20,000 loan instead of a $60,000 loan.
I suspect if you could beat state/community colleges on quality and at least match them on cost I think you could be successful. I just have no idea how a company actually beat them on quality.
