How Rich Kurtzman Turned a COVID Pause into a Category-Defining Playbook

Fun surprises since the book

Rich Kurtzman is a Barcelona-based study-abroad veteran and founder of Inverse Labs (acquired 2025). For 23 years he has helped U.S. students grow overseas through academics, internships, and deep cultural immersion. When COVID halted travel, he finally had the margin to write down everything he had been teaching for 16 years, and the result, Like a Fish in Water: How to Grow Abroad When You Go Abroad, became the category-defining playbook for study abroad.

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 had been teaching in workshops, newsletters, and talks.

Why Scribe

A friend's business coach pointed Rich to Scribe. He loved that the process unlocked the wisdom in his 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."

Rich Kurtzman

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

Four things carried the book from idea to finished manuscript. First, cohort cadence beat sheer, solo willpower: Rich attended every weekly call. Second, a 250-words-a-day minimum, treated like marathon training, small, consistent steps. Third, the "vomit draft, then refine" approach: get it down, then get it good. Fourth, avatar discipline: write to one ideal student, then let universities and parents follow. His timeline from kickoff to publication was just about 15 months.

The Book

Like a Fish in Water: How to Grow Abroad When You Go Abroad is for students studying anywhere in the world, and the educators, administrators, and parents who guide them. 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.

Fast Validation

Just 2 months post-launch, the 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, with some ordering 400+ copies at a time.

Business Impact

The book gave Rich a positioning line he could stand behind: "We wrote the book on study abroad." It moved him from free talks to paid keynotes and workshops. Industry conferences now come with "tiny-celebrity" moments that lead to instant rapport and deeper conversations with decision-makers. His company saw consistent post-2022 growth and was acquired three months ago, with the book cited alongside cultural-integration strengths.

"At lunch during a 3,000-person conference, someone saw my badge and said, 'Wait, you're the Fish in Water guy. We give your book to every student.' That never happened before the book."

Rich Kurtzman

Unexpected Wins

A shared language across universities improved orientation outcomes. A bulk-plus-speaking flywheel took hold: bonus chapter PDFs led to interest, which led to bulk orders, which led to campus talks. And surface-area serendipity kicked in, with new partnerships and pilots emerging from people who found the book first.

Author's Advice

Rich's advice for anyone on the fence: Yes, you can write a book, think training plan, not heroics. Commit to 250 words a day, show up, then exceed it when momentum hits. Say your fears out loud, name them, and most dissolve under daylight. Lean on your cohort, because accountability and pattern-matching beat going solo. And write for one reader: help the student first, and everyone else benefits downstream.

How Scribe Helped

Scribe gave Rich a repeatable system, weekly calls plus page targets, that sustained momentum through uncertainty. It provided editorial guardrails that kept the audience tight and the content practical. And it delivered go-to-market guidance, bonus chapter lead magnets, bulk-order strategy, and conferences, that turned a book into a program asset.

"I wasn't a 'writer.' Scribe turned years of workshops into a clear book, and the book turned into credibility, revenue, and relationships I couldn't have reached any other way."

Rich Kurtzman

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