ClassDojo scaled to tens of millions of downloads without a marketing budget.
ClassDojo focuses on delivering value to users without compromising growth.
ClassDojo's grassroots community marketing approach contributed to its growth and popularity among teachers.
Deep dives
Class Dojo: Building a Mission-Driven App
Class Dojo is a communication platform that connects teachers, families, and kids. It allows teachers to give positive feedback to students, share photos, and improve communication with families. The app is free and provides better visibility for families into their child's school day. Class Dojo has experienced incredible growth, with a presence in 95% of US schools, driven largely by word-of-mouth referrals. The company's primary focus is to give every kid on Earth an education they love, and they are working on building more learning experiences and social features for kids.
Class Dojo's Principled Approach to Product Development
Class Dojo is guided by a set of principles, including an unwavering focus on the users: kids, teachers, and families. The company believes that delivering value to these users is paramount. They have taken a consumer-focused growth approach and aim to create a consumer-led product. The product was free for the first several years of the company's existence, and monetization has been carefully introduced without compromising the core value provided to all users. Class Dojo emphasizes the importance of maintaining trust and not impeding the continued growth and impact of the network.
The Power of Class Dojo's Teacher Community
Class Dojo has built a strong community of teachers who actively support and engage with each other. The company has created mentorship programs and online groups, fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing. Community marketing plays a significant role in Class Dojo's growth, with teachers referring the app to their colleagues and sharing positive experiences on platforms like Facebook and Twitter. This grassroots approach has been instrumental in driving adoption and making Class Dojo a brand loved by teachers.
Democratizing Education with Class Dojo
Class Dojo's vision is to give every kid on Earth an education they love. By leveraging the power of the internet and networks, Class Dojo aims to remove barriers to education based on zip codes. They are focused on building online learning experiences and social interactions for kids, complementing their in-person classroom experiences. The company believes in providing quality, productive screen time and creating engaging experiences that foster learning, agency, and identity for kids.
Recruiting and Hiring with Class Dojo
Class Dojo emphasizes the importance of aligning values, culture, and mission when hiring new talent. They believe in hiring for talent over specific roles and prioritize finding individuals who are passionate about the company's mission. Class Dojo has embraced remote work, hiring from various regions and time zones to create a diverse and collaborative team. The company is focused on growing rapidly and has openings in multiple functions, particularly in engineering.
On the podcast we talk with Mike about building a principled, mission driven app, keeping product development focused on the right customers, and how ClassDojo scaled to tens of millions of downloads without a marketing budget.
Our guest today is Mike Overell, Revenue Lead at ClassDojo. Having founded his own company as well as working at McKinsey and Lyft, Mike is now using that experience to help every kid on earth get an education they love with ClassDojo. Mike also invests in and helps foreign founders crack the US as co-founder of investment collective Antipodes.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
How ClassDojo reached 50M users with zero marketing spend
Tips for setting up the right paywall for your app
