Case Study: ClassHook
ClassHook plays videos without ads, and detects and automatically skips inappropriate language while showing clips in class, avoiding embarrassing moments.
Author’s Note: As announced in my last post, this is the final Case Study. A big thanks to all who have subscribed and read them over the years. It was a joy to produce them. I hope that some of you found value in them, and will continue to find value in my original writing going forward. - Best, Soda
Introduction:
Alexander (Alex) Deeb is co-founder and CEO of ClassHook, an EdTech startup that helps K-12 teachers make learning relevant by connecting students’ interests to the curriculum using educational scenes from popular TV shows and movies. Alex graduated with a BSBA from Babson College, is a self-taught coder with over a decade of software development experience, and has previous experience working for startups in Silicon Valley. He is driven to help students find empowerment and fulfillment through learning. He first experienced empowerment from learning when he taught himself to code in high school. Learning how to code has opened up so many new opportunities to him, and he wants to help students around the world develop this same passion for learning and access to opportunities.
Executive Summary:
Problem: Much of the learning in K-12 public schools today is irrelevant and outdated. Digital Promise reports that 89% of educators consider this to be an urgent need, but just 22% of schools are actually making progress on connecting students’ learning to the real world.
Market: ClassHook operates in the U.S. education market, specifically in supplementary digital curriculum. We’ve estimated the TAM at $12.2B and the SOM at $2.4B; the TAM represents all instructional media in K-12 and Higher Education, while the SOM represents supplementary digital instructional media in K-12.
Solution: ClassHook helps K-12 teachers make learning relevant by connecting students’ interests to the curriculum using educational scenes from popular TV shows and movies. ClassHook’s 7,100+ videos are organized by topic, aligned to standards, and accompanied by discussion and engagement tools.
Team: ClassHook helps K-12 teachers make learning relevant by connecting students’ interests to the curriculum using educational scenes from popular TV shows and movies. ClassHook’s 7,100+ videos are organized by topic, aligned to standards, and accompanied by discussion and engagement tools.
Hiring: The top three roles that our company needs to fill are:
Account Executive
Marketing Specialist
Content Specialist
Case Study: ClassHook
Tell me about the problem the startup solves.
Much of learning in K-12 public schools today is irrelevant and outdated. Digital Promise reports that 89% of educators consider this to be an urgent need, but just 22% of schools are actually making progress on connecting students’ learning to the real world.
Many others believe the solution to making learning more relevant is to create video courses with voiceovers and graphics. Or they do in-person courses. We believe combining high-quality videos from entertaining media and a discussion platform that encourages reflection can showcase real-world scenarios and situations in more relatable and tangible ways for learners.
Accelerating learning to ensure students recover from the pandemic is a huge focus for federal and state governments across the United States. Students have become disillusioned with the education system and virtual learning. Concrete techniques that help students understand the relevance and value of their learning will allow them to learn at a quicker pace and help the learning stick.
I was an A student in school but didn’t feel the empowerment that came from my learning until I taught myself how to code in high school. It was then that I found the fulfillment and inspiration that comes from relevant, tangible learning opportunities.
Tell me about the market the startup serves.
We went after K-12 teachers in public schools because they have the most mandates and requirements imposed upon them, giving them less time to plan their lessons. We felt they had the most need for a solution like ClassHook which would save them a significant amount of time and effort.
We spoke to about 50 teachers and started developing a prototype after conversations with the first 20 teachers gave us a clear indication that the process of finding content during lesson planning is a significant challenge. We then showcased our product during subsequent conversations with teachers to get a better indication of interest.
It takes way too long to find engaging content for classroom lessons. It’s difficult to know whether a piece of content is appropriate for my students without spending all the time previewing it. I have to skim through entire, 20-minute videos to find a short snippet that’s actually relevant for my lesson.
We hope to learn which aspects of our platform they value the most so we can determine how to deliver the most value. We would like to learn how much time they save and what types of outcomes they have realized using our platform. These case studies and stats will enable us to create concrete use cases and proof points for other target markets.
Our current competitors are BrainPOP, Boclips, and YouTube. These solutions offer educational content to teachers with varying levels of search functionality. In some cases, such as YouTube, there is no educational search functionality available, and in other cases, such as BrainPOP, all of the videos are suitable for educational use.
We will expand our offerings into ancillary markets, such as professional development, professional speakers, private tutoring, and youth groups such as the YMCA. The effort to expand into these markets is relatively minimal with our current product.
Tell me about the solution the startup created.
ClassHook is the #1 website for incorporating educational scenes from popular TV shows and movies in your lessons. ClassHook has two components: 1. A curated library of over 7,100 videos organized by topic and aligned to educational standards. 2. A discussion platform that teachers use to create interactive learning experiences for students, such as facilitating live discussions, creating video comparisons, teaching vocabulary, and designing lesson plans. Teachers in over 22,000 U.S. schools use ClassHook to make learning more relevant, engaging, and tangible.
ClassHook offers more relevant and engaging video content from popular TV shows and movies. ClassHook also includes more advanced search features (no profanity, decade, genre filters), discussion questions, and engagement tools to help teachers implement its videos in their lessons to improve student understanding and engagement.
ClassHook is an all-in-one platform for finding content then using it effectively to facilitate discussion. Other companies create their own educational content, but ClassHook makes available content from Hollywood that students already recognize. ClassHook’s approach to content helps students retain information more effectively because it is entertaining and familiar.
We have a freemium SaaS business model. We sell monthly and annual subscriptions to teachers, as well as annual subscriptions to schools, districts, and other education companies. We are selling both B2C and B2B with a self-serve, inbound model. We still conduct our own outbound sales efforts on the B2B side. We also license an API to other education companies.
We have priced the product such that it can be purchased by any organization with discretionary purchasing power. This reduces the amount of bureaucracy that is typically present in K-12 schools and districts. Instead of spending 6 - 12 months closing a deal, we typically close deals in 30 - 60 days.
How does the advantage from technology and/or business model differentiation compound as the company scales?
Our sales team will not need to scale exponentially with our sales; it can scale linearly because of our focus on a self-serve, low-touch sales model.
Product-market fit means our users are visiting ClassHook at least once a week to search for lesson content and find content for the topics they are looking for. Then they use our discussion platform at least once a week to perform actions such as creating assignments, facilitating live discussions, and teaching vocabulary.
Our North Star is the average percentage increase in student engagement that we have helped teachers reach over a 12 month period.
It is a bottom-up strategy that involves converting free teachers to paid users, leverage paying users to sell into schools, and leverage paying schools to sell into districts. We have also taken a top-down approach by applying for school district RFPs that center on supplemental tools to aid teacher instruction. Several districts that have approved our initial bid include Dallas ISD, Chicago Public Schools, Houston ISD, and Humble ISD, three of which are on the list of largest school districts in the country.
We have not finalized this yet but have begun to do so through our self-serve purchasing process. It provides a standard form with all of the information we need to process a purchase. On the outbound sales side, we analyzed hundreds of sales conversations and documented talking points and common concerns for purchasers. We wrote all of these insights into a single document so that all of the knowledge can easily be shared.
Tell me about the team behind the startup.
Our vision is to connect learning with real-world examples and context to inspire thoughtful discussions. We want individuals in society, especially students, to feel comfortable expressing their opinions and engaging in critical debates. Our plan for getting there involves two parts: 1) making it easy for anyone to find content they can relate to, and 2) creating a comfortable environment for facilitating discussion, whether it be a classroom or group environment.
Alex has expertise in startups and software engineering. Joyce brings expertise in education and sales. In our conversations, we bring our perspectives in each of these areas to the table. Together, we have the experience, network, and domain knowledge to create a successful company at the intersection of education and technology.
Alex tends to be more conservative with financials and estimates than Joyce. Joyce’s go-getter attitude and confidence help the team create more ambitious goals that push the team to their full potential. Alex’s conservatism helps the company run lean.
We follow both a coaching and a proactive approach to management. It is important to us that our team feels empowered and supported both in the short- and long term. We invest in our people and are committed to supporting them whenever needed. At the same time, we make it clear that they are empowered to do their work and need to put the effort in to explore all the resources available before reaching out to the team for support.
Our management style creates a culture of cooperation rather than competition. If we elevate one person in the company, it’s elevating all of us. People are continually challenged to become the best version of themselves and support others in doing the same.
We make decisions based on data and intuition, so it’s an art and a science. At our early stage, we calculate the risks and potential benefits of important decisions to determine if they’re worth pursuing. The biggest risk is time, which is limited by our small team, so we want to ensure we’re focused on high-value initiatives. In making a decision, we analyze the value to end users and customers as well as the alignment with our strategy.
We have not made any full-time hires yet. We have hired interns in the past to help curate educational TV & movie scenes. We’ve hired them for their curiosity, attention to detail, and strong communication skills.
We are missing a dedicated B2B account executive to capitalize on existing sales opportunities and explore additional opportunities for growth.
Who are you trying to hire, and why?
The top three roles that our company needs to fill are:
Account Executive: We need someone to create an optimal outreach strategy for closing deals.
Marketing Specialist: We are looking for someone to create a scalable marketing plan and strategy for generating qualified leads.
Content Specialist: We need someone to develop a framework for partnering with independent filmmakers.
The one unique benefit our company offers that an employee cannot find anywhere else is the ability to create your own job title based on your areas of interest and expertise.
Three Cool Founders You Should Know About:
Caren Chen, Founder of Sensay: Sensay helps English learners worldwide have fun speaking like never before with an AI platform that offers an easy, convenient and fun way to practice speaking — giving instant feedback and motivation to learners.
Eric Tao, Founder of MegaMinds: MegaMinds is a social learning platform that leverages gamified virtual worlds and simple creation tools to empower teachers and engage students.
Joshua Ling, Founder of Podsie: Podsie is a free learning tool for teachers that helps their students remember what they've learned.
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