Starting an edtech giant in a “bad market” | ClassDojo’s story | Sam Chaudhary (Co-founder and CEO) cover art

Starting an edtech giant in a “bad market” | ClassDojo’s story | Sam Chaudhary (Co-founder and CEO)

Starting an edtech giant in a “bad market” | ClassDojo’s story | Sam Chaudhary (Co-founder and CEO)

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 Sam Chaudhary is the co-founder and CEO of ClassDojo, a multi-product education platform used in 95% of U.S. schools and over 180 countries globally to connect teachers, students, and families. In this episode, Sam shares the full arc of building ClassDojo, from early skepticism about edtech and a failed group-making tool, to creating a communication platform loved by millions. In this episode, we discuss: Why ClassDojo was built for consumers (teachers, students and parents) instead of schools How ClassDojo grew entirely by word-of-mouth Sam’s unusual approach to building multiple new businesses The founder mindset required to build an industry leader Why relentless resourcefulness is an underrated skill And much more… References: Accel: https://www.accel.com/ Airbnb: https://www.airbnb.com/ Bill Gates: https://www.linkedin.com/in/williamhgates/ Brendan Kereiakes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/product/ ClassDojo: https://www.classdojo.com/ Dominick Bellizzi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominickbellizzi/ Geoff Ralston: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffralston/ Gonzalo Aguilar Málaga: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gonzalodecheck/ Hamilton Helmer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hamilton-helmer-42983/ Imagine K12: https://www.imaginek12.com// Khan Academy: https://www.khanacademy.org/ Liam Don: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liamdon/ McKinsey: https://www.mckinsey.com/ Paul Graham: https://x.com/paulg Plaid: https://plaid.com/ Reid Hoffman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reidhoffman/ Roblox: https://www.roblox.com/ Sal Khan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/khanacademy/ Superhuman: https://superhuman.com/ Tim Brady: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-brady-7a632510/ Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/ Where to find Sam: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samchaudhary/ Twitter/X: https://x.com/samchaudhary Where to find Brett: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brettberson Timestamps: (00:50) Why edtech is a “bad market” (02:15) Building for families, not schools (03:29) Why enterprise edtech is broken (05:39) Early challenges and insights (08:31) Sam’s unusual background (10:28) Meeting co-founder Liam at a hackathon (12:09) Getting into Imagine K12 with a group-making tool (18:34) The conversation with Reid Hoffman that changed everything (20:38) Building a network to reach more families (26:53) Scaling by building a community (32:04) Designing for delight and word-of-mouth growth (38:54) Launching the first monetization feature after 7 years (41:35) How to pick markets and when to go broad (44:50) The explosive expansion into the tutoring industry (53:57) Creating safe online spaces for kids (56:47) Harnessing AI in edtech (58:38) Lessons from ClassDojo’s playbook
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