How a Small-Town Idea in Turkey Became Udemy: A $710 Million Success Story
Udemy’s rise from humble beginnings to becoming a major player in the online education market is a story of persistence, ingenuity, and strategic execution. Here’s how it happened:
1. The Initial Struggles (2007)
- Udemy was initially launched by Eren Bali in 2007 from a small village in Turkey. Despite his vision, the platform failed to gain traction.
- The challenge of building an online learning platform without a global presence or substantial resources proved insurmountable at the time.
2. A New Beginning (2010)
- In 2010, two more co-founders, Gagan Biyani and Oktay Caglar, joined Eren Bali.
- Determined to give Udemy another shot, the trio moved to Silicon Valley, believing the tech hub would offer better opportunities to turn their vision into reality.
3. Rejection After Rejection
- The founders pitched their idea to 50 different investors in February 2010. Every single pitch was rejected.
- Despite the repeated setbacks, they remained undeterred, choosing to bootstrap and focus on developing the product themselves.
4. Relaunching Udemy (May 2010)
- The new version of Udemy launched in May 2010, but it faced a major problem: no content. The platform lacked courses, instructors, and students, making it a non-starter for users.
5. Addressing the Content Void
- For six months, the team cold-called instructors, trying to persuade them to upload their courses to Udemy. However, they quickly realized that an empty platform lacked appeal, and their efforts yielded no results.
6. Innovative Solutions to the Content Problem
To kickstart the platform, the founders employed two bold strategies:
6.1. Leveraging Free Content:
- They uploaded 100 Creative Commons-licensed courses (free and legally available content) onto the platform.
- These courses were branded as coming from esteemed institutions like Stanford, Yale, and MIT, creating the perception of a high-quality educational resource.
6.2. Developing Their Own Course:
- They created a premium course titled “Raising Capital for Startups” and listed it on Udemy.
7. Generating Buzz
- To attract attention, they pitched media outlets like Mashable and TechCrunch with the headline: “Free Courses from Top Colleges.”
- The coverage helped them gain visibility and credibility.
8. Building Early Traction
- They hired data miners from the Philippines through Odesk (now Upwork) at $3 per hour to help with targeted outreach.
- These efforts brought in:
- 10,000 users to the platform.
- $30,000 in revenue from their premium course.
- 1,000 instructors, who uploaded 2,000 courses.
- They used this success story to inspire other educators to join Udemy, creating a snowball effect.
9. Attracting Investors
- The platform’s early success caught the attention of investors, who had previously rejected them. In response to their growing user base and revenue, Udemy secured $1 million in venture capital.
10. Scaling the Success
- With funding in hand, the team scaled their operations and continued refining the platform. Their focus on high-quality courses and leveraging the growing demand for online learning helped them grow exponentially.
Results
- By addressing the chicken-and-egg problem of content and users creatively, Udemy positioned itself as a reliable and high-quality platform for online learning.
- The company’s persistence, coupled with innovative marketing and strategic execution, transformed it into a business valued at $710 million.
Source: Thehustle.co