He.^
Moves at the speed of text.
And “they.”
Move at the speed of dashboards. Compliance trainings. Org charts.
Don’t get me wrong.
Large corps rock. They serve a purpose!!!
But Ankur Nagpal (AN) is an immigrant. And the immigrant experience shaped his outlook on work.
We’re talking about a world.
Where America isn’t put first.🥇🦅
Instead.
His dad is.
Meaning. The American Dream is a manifestation of those who came before.
Risk is privilege, baby!
The year is 2013. And Ankur Nagpal is 23.
He’s an independent worker with like 25 side projects.
As a coder, most of his side projects involve…coding.* It’s pretty cool that he teaches a marketing course on Udemy too. (The leading online education platform).
We’re products of our past.
And Ankur’s dad (total dreamer) sacrificed so his son could dream / take a pass on the whole code-for-Amazon-thing.* AKA Ankur’s old college internship.
One side project turns into another.* And bing bong!!!
Fedora is born out of some pretty serious issues with Udemy. (Like. Ankur not owning his audience. And Udemy’s pricing structure).*
Ed tech isn’t hot.
The creator economy isn’t hot.
But Fedora. Is HOT. 🔥🔥
Ankur launches on Product Hunt.* (Great way to “beta” launch. Launch raw, launch fast). And he raises money 6 months later when Fedora cascades into a real biz. With a real market.
Okay.
I really like this quote.
“If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.” - Reid Hoffman (founder of LinkedIn)
So yeah. Ankur pays a dude to re-write his “shit code.”
And he rebrands. To Teachable. ✊
Let’s chat.
About product roadmap. And Teachable’s only customer, the “creator.”
Important. Considering -
Teachable absorbs the pain its creators want least.* By leaning in. To early adopters. And “The Teachable Tribe” FB group.
A/B testing, BABY!
Don’t underestimate the scope of the internet.
Dentists don’t need dental offices. (They need TikTok). Companies don’t need ads. (They need MrBeast. Squid Games is the most watched show on Netflix. And MrBeast’s YouTube version has more views. No gatekeeping here!!! MrBeast is a 23-year-old from Kansas). Now we’re talking!!!
About the creator economy. And the power of omnichannel marketing. (TikTok, YouTube, Teachable, etc…).
Anyone can teach.
With Teachable.
Everyone can teach.
Whether it be oral hygiene. Or how to grow your YouTube channel.
Okay.
Back to America.
Because DUH. 😤
We’ve grown up in a world where America WINS. Which means. We literally can’t imagine a different reality.
In a truly globalized world -
We’ll compete for market share too.
Not to be dogmatic. 🙄
But this whole philosophy brings us to 2020.
And a big freaking sell!!! Teachable 🤝 meet🤝 Hotmart.
It’s the same biz as Teachable. But it’s based in Brazil. And it’s THREE TIMES their size. (Purchased Teachable for a reported $300M).
Emerging markets, baby!
They’re what dreams are made of. Including - Ankur’s second VC fund.* (But that’s for another post). BTW - most funds fail. It’s pretty impressive that Ankur’s on F2.
Ahem.
A fun little stat about venture-backed companies in Latin America. They raised six times more money in 2021 than the previous six years combined. With growth like Hotmart’s, it’s easy to imagine immigrants building co’s here.
So take one from Ankur Nagpal. And find your dreamers. Shout out dad!
And that’s the skinny.
*Ankur graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. But everybody at Cal calls it EECS. The “divine few.” You know - the ones with an acronym. 🙄
*ANKUR’S DAD. 😭 Just LOOK at his response to the 2018 Teachable Investor Update. I also love that he’s an active member in “The Teachable Tribe” FB group. He was the first in his fam to reach middle class. And he gave his son freedom to pursue passion.
*Here’s the thing about entrepreneurs. They keep their eyes open. GUYS THEY DON’T BLINK. But seriously - one opp leads to another. Ankur didn’t like Udemy. So he built something new.
*Product Hunt rocks. Ankur has a lot to say about this. Marketplace pic below.
*Okay. Pains turned gains. AKA product roadmap. First - Teachable tackled payment processing. Things like fighting chargebacks and paying taxes so you (teacher) don’t have to. Second - the product team added a training sku. AKA how to build an audience & shoot a vid. (It’s called TeachableU). On and on and on. Read here.
*He’s an operator, baby!!!! (This just means he started a company before starting a VC fund). At Teachable, Ankur was obsessed with things like…Run rate. Churn. ARR. Cap tables. Carried interest. Things that will likely make him great at due diligence. And yeah! Vibe Capital (his fund) is dumping LP money into emerging markets.