Class.io is an online service that allows teachers and students to work together easily via web services such as Google Apps and Facebook. Think of it as “Yammer” for education. Teachers can share resources and activities with their students using Google Docs and Google Calendar. Students get notifications and homework reminders on their Facebook wall and on their mobile devices. They can turn in their homework assignments directly via Google Docs.
Class.io launched on 1 October 2010. The founders are Jorge Garcia, Alejandro Corpeño, Roberto Brevé, Fernando Irias and Luis Borjas, who are based in Honduras. Below is a short Q&A with Jorge Garcia.
Q: What makes you more compelling that other similar applications out there today?
A: What makes us different and better is that we have deeper integration with Google Apps, and an easy user interface, which is not common in the education software sector.
Q: What inspired you to launch Class.io?
A: I have worked in higher education for several years and have been implementing an open source platform for schools. During this time I discovered that current solutions have the following problems:
- Slow learning curve due to the excess of features and that lack of good UX design. This results in long and ineffective training sessions for both teachers and students.
- Reproducing funcionality that is available in widely used web applications like Google Apps instead of integrating with them.
- Not openly available so teachers can try them out before committing to them.
- Not based on modern web technologies which makes them harder to maintain.
- Expensive in the case of the commercial ones and requiring deep technical knowledge in the case of open source ones.
Q: How are you making money (or how will you make money in the future)?
A: We are using a Freemium strategy where Class.io is free for the teachers and students. Then institutions pay for extended features and more control over courses, teachers and students.
Q: Where do you see Class.io within a year?
A: In a year we expect to have a sustainable and growing startup with institutions already paying for our advanced features. We will also have a polished business model and an effective strategy for turning free account users into paying institutions. This summer we will be participating in an intense 3 month incubator that will lead and accelerate our path through the milestones we need to accomplish for this year.
Q: Are you self-funded?
A: Yes. However, we will start receiving some outside funding from the U.S. based startup incubator we will be joining this summer.
Leave a Comment Here's Your Chance to Be Heard!