10 Education Products Business Success Stories [2024]
Here are some real life success stories of starting a education products business:
1. Frontend Mentor ($360K/year)
Matt Studdert, founder of Frontend Mentor, came up with the idea for his business while teaching a front-end web development course. He noticed that his students often struggled to find professional designs and projects to practice their skills and build their portfolios. This led him to create a platform that provides developers with challenges, designs, and optimized assets, ultimately launching Frontend Mentor.
How much they make: $360K/year
How much did it cost to start: $8K
Current team size: 0
Online learning community Frontend Mentor has over 200,000 members, with over 1,500 paid subscribers generating over $15,000 MRR, offering professionally designed challenges to improve front-end coding skills with a freemium business model and a focus on real-life experience.
2. UpBrainery Technologies ($1.04M/year)
now, our primary focus is on building awareness and establishing credibility in the education industry. We have leveraged our partnerships with organizations like the Girl Scouts, Girls Inc., and the Houston Rockets to gain visibility and showcase our offerings to a wide audience. In terms of customer retention, we prioritize delivering a high-quality and personalized learning experience. Our hands-on education kits, virtual tutoring, and online curriculum are designed to engage students and provide them with the support they need to succeed. We also actively seek feedback from our customers to continuously improve our offerings and ensure their satisfaction. As we continue to grow, we will implement strategic marketing initiatives and customer loyalty programs to enhance our customer acquisition and retention efforts.
How much they make: $1.04M/year
How much did it cost to start: $450K
Current team size: 55
UpBrainery Technologies, founded by Ghazal Qureshi, revolutionizes STEAM education by providing hands-on learning experiences in the form of education kits, virtual tutoring, and online curriculum, while also offering their services to organizations such as the Girl Scouts, Girls Inc., and the Houston Rockets.
So... can you actually make money with a education products business?
Of course. There are millions to be made in this industry.
But how?
- Research real, profitable businesses and see exactly how much money they make.
- Study exactly what works, and what doesn’t.
- Take action, because now you have the roadmap.
Join Starter Story and build your next big thing:
3. ESL With Purpose ($18K/year)
Alex, the founder of ESL With Purpose, LLC, came up with the idea for his business after realizing the need for fun and dynamic learning tools for English language learners. Starting with a dice game to help learners with phrasal verbs, he later developed the Phrase It™ cards. After testing the products with teachers and receiving permission from local schools, he embarked on the journey of designing and manufacturing the dice and cards. Despite facing setbacks and a failed product launch, Alex persisted and now averages 2-3 sales per day, generating between $600-$1,000 per month.
How much they make: $18K/year
Current team size: 0
Phrase It™ is an English language learning tool that was started with an initial investment of $4,500 and has since grown to an average of 2-3 sales per day on Amazon, with ongoing customer engagement and retention through social media, conferences, influencers, and valuable content.
4. HYLS ($456K/year)
Max, the founder of HYLS, came up with the idea for his donation-based online course platform after being inspired by a yoga training program in the Philippines led by Dada Dharmavedananda, an author he admired. With a background in meditation, yoga, and healthy lifestyles, Max saw the opportunity to share his knowledge with others and created HYLS. Since then, HYLS has attracted over 90,000 students, generated $1 million+ in donations, and averages $40,000 in monthly revenue.
How much they make: $456K/year
How much did it cost to start: $15K
Current team size: 12
Max, CEO of HYLS, a donation-based online course platform, shares how they've attracted $1M+ of donations from 90K students with an average revenue of $40k per month, through a "pay what you want" model and targeting their audience through Facebook, Instagram, Google, and Youtube advertising.
So... can you actually make money with a education products business?
Of course. There are millions to be made in this industry.
But how?
- Research real, profitable businesses and see exactly how much money they make.
- Study exactly what works, and what doesn’t.
- Take action, because now you have the roadmap.
Join Starter Story and build your next big thing:
5. Lit League ($36K/year)
Christina, one of the three founders of Lit League, came up with the idea after starting a book club with her daughter and seeing the positive impact it had on her and other kids. With the help of co-founder Lauren, who had experience running book clubs, they created Lit League to provide parents with the tools to run their own book clubs at home and foster a love of reading in children.
How much they make: $36K/year
Current team size: 0
Lit League is a startup that creates book-themed activity boxes for kids ages 3-12, offering a monthly subscription or individual box options; the company has tripled its growth in one year, becoming an approved materials vendor for 11 different charter schools in two states.
6. Amber Book ($4.3M/year)
How much they make: $4.3M/year
Current team size:
Amber Book, an online licensure course for architects founded by Michael Ermann, generated $4.3M in revenue in 2022 with over 3K customers, 800+ digital flashcards, 500+ practice problems, and 50+ hours of animated instruction, with over 16K enrollees paying $390/month.
So... can you actually make money with a education products business?
Of course. There are millions to be made in this industry.
But how?
- Research real, profitable businesses and see exactly how much money they make.
- Study exactly what works, and what doesn’t.
- Take action, because now you have the roadmap.
Join Starter Story and build your next big thing:
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings