10 Online Learning Platform Business Success Stories [2024]
Building an e-learning platform is one of the most profitable business ventures in 2024.
People are looking for ways to occupy their minds indoors, while others want to advance their skills, so they are marketable.
Therefore, the demand for online learning services is still high.
Do you dream of building an online learning platform like Udemy or Coursera?
Starting an online learning platform is easier than you ever thought. Even if you have never written a line of code, you can hire an experienced web programmer to build an interactive online learning platform.
Alternatively, you can purchase a ready-made online learning platform. Regardless of the approach, ensure your online learning platform lets users signup, create accounts, search for courses, and supports secure transactions so the users feel safe.
Here are some real life success stories of starting a online learning platform:
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. Games for Business ($480K/year)
In 2016, the founder started Games for Business, a game-based learning platform, after realizing the potential of gamification in the market. With a background in digital marketing and experience in game-based projects, they quickly signed major clients in the HR tech market, leading to international recognition and the eventual acquisition of the company by Austria's largest private education group.
How much they make: $480K/year
How much did it cost to start: $150K
Current team size: 15
Games for Business created a game-based learning platform for multinational organizations that doubled its revenue in the first three years and was recently acquired after landing deals on three continents.
So... can you actually make money with a online learning platform?
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. Yellowdig ($5.7M/year)
How much they make: $5.7M/year
Current team size: 36
Yellowdig has created a community-driven active learning platform that has been adopted by over 130 schools and universities, with the goal of making every classroom an engaging and experiential learning environment.
So... can you actually make money with a online learning platform?
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. MentorCruise ($480K/year)
Dominic Monn came up with the idea for MentorCruise while facing the challenge of finding a mentor during his own career development. He realized that mentorship was a major problem for many professionals, so he built a coaching marketplace where career professionals could turn their knowledge into a marketable coaching business and mentees could easily find a mentor. Despite the challenges of building the platform while balancing his studies and a full-time job, MentorCruise now makes around $24,000 per month in commissions and processes over $120,000 every month for its mentors.
How much they make: $480K/year
How much did it cost to start: $0
Current team size: 5
MentorCruise is a career coaching marketplace generating $24k MRR and processing $1M annually for mentors, with most traffic and sales coming from SEO and organic sources, currently looking to expand to the B2B market.
5. Disco ($1M/year)
How much they make: $1M/year
Current team size: 29
Disco's all-in-one platform for knowledge creators and organizations to build their live learning empires raised $5M pre-seed funding in 2021, closed a $15 million Series A funding round led by GSV Ventures.
So... can you actually make money with a online learning platform?
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:
6. CreativeLive ($4.9M/year)
How much they make: $4.9M/year
Current team size: 67
CreativeLive has an anticipated annual revenue of $4.9 million and serves over 10 million students worldwide, having achieved over $1 million in revenue in its first year after launch and being purchased by Fiverr on October 7, 2021 for an undisclosed amount.
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
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- 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
