Skillshare

Skillshare
Founded New York City, New York, November 2010
Founders Michael Karnjanaprakorn and Malcolm Ong
Area served
 Global accessibility
Key people
 Michael Karnjanaprakorn, CEO
Website Skillshare.com

Skillshare is an online learning community for creators.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Unlike traditional study, online classes at Skillshare are taught by industry experts and focus on learning by doing.[2][7][8][9] The courses, which are not accredited, accept anyone who wants to learn.[10][11][12] The majority of courses focus more on interaction than lecturing, with the primary goal of learning by completing a project.[9][11] The main categories of learning are creative arts, design, entrepreneurship, lifestyle and technology, with subtopics covering a myriad of skills.[13][14][15][16]

History

Michael Karnjanaprakorn and Malcolm Ong started Skillshare in New York City, New York in November 2010, the site was live in April 2011.[1][13] Prior to starting Skillshare, Karnjanaprakorn led the product team at Hot Potato, a social media product bought by Facebook, and Ong was product manager at OMGPop.[17][18] In August 2011, Skillshare raised $3.1 million in Series A funding led by Union Square Ventures and Spark Capital.[17][19] As of late 2013, Skillshare has raised $4.65 million in funding.[6] In February 2014, Skillshare raised $6 million, with financing co-led by Union Square Ventures and Spark Capital, bringing its funding total to $10 million.[20]

Skillshare held the Penny Conference in April 2012, a one-day discussion on the current educational system and how to reform it.[13][21] Speakers included Skillshare’s CEO, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Codecademy’s cofounder Zach Sims, and Pencils of Promise founder Adam Braun.[13]

Skillshare launched its online courses in August 2012.[2][10][22][23][24] In these self paced courses, students collaborate with one another to complete a project.[12] Skillshare started with 15 online courses and as of November 2013, it has hosted more than 250 online courses.[6][22] That same month, Skillshare launched its School of Design.[25]

Skillshare and Levi’s collaborated to launch the School of MakeOurMark in October 2013.[26] These classes focus on individual creativity with courses in photography, tattooing, and various forms of illustration.[26][27]

In March 2014, Skillshare moved to a membership model, with hundreds of online courses in design, business and technology available for $9.95 a month.[28] Later that year, the company announced a new open platform, where anyone can learn and anyone can teach. In conjunction, it released a Free Membership option, with the ability to watch a limited amount of class content each month at no cost.[29]

Categories

Skillshare breaks down the categories of their classes into advertising, business, design, fashion and style, film and video, food and drink, music, photography, technology, and writing and publishing.[30][31] Within each category is a list of available courses being offered under that heading, which are taught by industry leaders.[31][32] All the online courses are self-paced.[2][33]

Notable courses

Industry leaders have taught several of Skillshare's courses. Seth Godin, Jessica Hische, Jeff Staple, Young Guru, Marc Ecko, Guy Kawasaki, Barbara Corcoran, Gary Vaynerchuk and James Franco[34] have taught some of the more notable courses offered by Skillshare.[35]

Seth Godin's class, "The New Business Toolbox: Help Your New Business Do It Right The First Time" covers lessons in entrepreneurship.[36][37] In Jessica Hische's class, "Introduction to Lettering: One Letterform at a Time", she covers making drop caps.[38] Jeff Staple has hosted two classes, "A Staple of Branding: How to Start Your Fashion Company" and "A Staple of Fashion Business: Introduction to Sales and Sourcing"; covering different aspects of designing a brand and sales and sourcing.[39][40][41] Young Guru's class, "Sound Check: The Essentials of DIY Audio Mixing", covers the basics of mixing and recording.[42][43] Notorious B.I.G.'s "Ten Crack Commandments" is the inspiration for Marc Ecko's "Run Your Own Business: Lessons from Biggie", which covers entrepreneurship and brand creation.[44][45] Gary Vaynerchuk's class, "Context is Key: Social Media Strategy in a Noisy Online World" covers how to endorse your brand correctly on social media.[46]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Jenna Wortham (August 16, 2011). "Skillshare Raises $3.1 Million to Turn Everyone Into Teachers". The New York Times Bits. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Ryan Lawler (August 7, 2012). "Collaborative Learning Startup Skillshare Launches Hybrid Classes, Letting Anyone Join Online Or Offline". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  3. ↑ Dani Fankhauser (March 1, 2013). "Toasting Success With Skillshare's Co-Founder". Mashable. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  4. ↑ Yohance Kyles (October 4, 2013). "Biggie’s "10 Crack Commandments" Being Used By Marc Ecko To Teach Business". All Hip Hop. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  5. ↑ Kadeem Fletcher (September 11, 2013). "Greg Selkoe of Karmaloop Teams With Skillshare for an "Unorthodox Marketing" Class". Complex Style. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Erin Griffith (November 5, 2013). "Skillshare has spent the last year quietly transforming itself. It’s working". Pando Daily. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Online Skill Sharing Classes Offer Affordable Learning". CBS SF Bay Area. June 20, 2012. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  8. ↑ Daniel Goodman (May 12, 2012). "This Company Wants You To Get Paid For Teaching In Your Spare Time". Business Insider. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Christina Chaey (June 2012). "Most Creative People 2012". Fast Company. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Zoe Fox (August 7, 2012). "Skillshare Goes Global, Launching Hybrid Online-Offline Classes". Mashable. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Fellows in the Field: Michael Karnjanaprakorn envisions everyone as student and teacher". TED. July 17, 2012. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 J.J. Colao (August 7, 2012). "Learning By Doing: Skillshare Unveils 'Hybrid' Classes". Forbes. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 Brian Anthony Hernandez (April 23, 2012). "How Skillshare Is Transforming Education as We Know It". Mashable. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  14. ↑ Kanyi Maqubela (April 11, 2012). "Can Online Education Be Both Successful and Good for Us?". The Atlantic. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  15. ↑ Britney Fitzgerald (August 24, 2012). "Avi Flombaum, Skillshare Teacher, Earns $100K A Year As Tech Educator, Quits Day Job". The Huffington Post. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  16. ↑ Antonio Neves (October 6, 2011). "Skillshare: A Marketplace for Education". Fox Business. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Donna Fenn (May 29, 2012). "Skillshare: A New Way to Learn". OPEN forum. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  18. ↑ Myles Tanzer (November 14, 2012). "Tech Insurgents 2012: Mike Karnjanaprakorn". Beat Beat. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  19. ↑ Diana Ransom (May 15, 2012). "Skillshare and Changing the Way We Learn". Entrepreneur. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  20. ↑ Rip Empson (February 28, 2014). "A Year From Launch, Skillshare Lands $6M From USV, Spark To Double Down On Project-Based, Online Classes". TechCrunch. Retrieved March 6, 2014.
  21. ↑ Allie Mahler (April 24, 2012). "A penny for your thoughts: What we learned at the Skillshare Conference". The Next Web. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 April Joyner (April 2, 2013). "Skillshare Takes On the Education Gap". Inc. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  23. ↑ Ki Mae Heussner (November 28, 2012). "With Skillshare’s online classes, instructors get shot at bigger bucks". Gigaom. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  24. ↑ Tom Vander Ark (August 30, 2012). "5 Lessons K-12 Could Learn From Skillshare". Getting Smart. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  25. ↑ Joseph Flaherty (March 28, 2013). "Can’t Afford Art School? Jump Online for a World-Class Education in Design". Wired. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Leah Gonzalez (October 1, 2013). "Levi’s Hires Creative Experts To Teach Online Classes". PSFK. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  27. ↑ "Make Your Mark: Skillshare and Levi Team Up To Teach Creativity". DailyTekk. October 2, 2013. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  28. ↑ Farr, Christina. "Skillshare Debuts New Spotify-like Membership Model for Online Education". VentureBeat. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  29. ↑ Karnjanaprakorn, Michael. "Introducing Open Skillshare". Skillshare.com. Skillshare. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  30. ↑ "Skillshare – Make Money Teaching What You Know". Work at Home Adventures. April 15, 2013. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 "Learn Online with Career Step, Lynda, Skillshare and Treehouse". Work From Home. January 9, 2014. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  32. ↑ Nitasha Tiku (August 14, 2012). "What to Expect From the New-and-Improved Skillshare? Learning By Doing in a ‘Hybrid’ Classroom". Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  33. ↑ "5 Skillshare Classes We Love". 2930 Creative. October 30, 2013. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  34. ↑ Feeney, Nolan. "Now You Can Take an Online Screenwriting Class with James Franco". TIME.com. TIME. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  35. ↑ Dan Schawbel (Feb 3, 2014). "Why ‘Gen Z’ May Be More Entrepreneurial Than ‘Gen Y’". Entrepreneur. Retrieved Feb 10, 2014.
  36. ↑ "Win a Scholarship for Seth Godin’s Skillshare Class". Progress Report. Jan 13, 2014. Retrieved Feb 10, 2014.
  37. ↑ "Let Seth Godin help your business do it right first time: 15% off his 11-part video course". The Next Web. Jan 15, 2014. Retrieved Feb 10, 2014.
  38. ↑ "Jessica Hische: Introduction to Lettering". ADC Young Guns. Nov 18, 2013. Retrieved Feb 10, 2014.
  39. ↑ Brian Farmer (June 27, 2013). "Skillshare: How to Start Your Fashion Company with Jeff Staple". High Snobiety. Retrieved Feb 10, 2014.
  40. ↑ Josh Davis (June 27, 2013). "Skillshare: How to Start Your Fashion Company with jeffstaple". Hype Beat. Retrieved Feb 10, 2014.
  41. ↑ Reese (June 28, 2013). "Jeff Staple Skillshare Class "How To Start Your Fashion Company"". Ahoodie. Retrieved Feb 10, 2014.
  42. ↑ Andres Tardio (August 21, 2013). "Young Guru to Teach $20 Mixing Class Via Skillshare". Hip Hop DX. Retrieved Feb 10, 2014.
  43. ↑ Dan Jackson (Aug 21, 2013). "Young Guru Offers a $20 Mixing Class With Skillshare". XXL Magazine. Retrieved Feb 10, 2014.
  44. ↑ Lauren Nostro (Oct 3, 2013). "Marc Ecko is Using Biggies "10 Crack Commandments" to Teach a Business Course". Complex Music. Retrieved Feb 14, 2014.
  45. ↑ Yohance Kyles (Oct 4, 2013). "Biggie’s "10 Crack Commandments" Being Used by Marc Ecko to Teach Business". All Hip Hop. Retrieved Feb 14, 2014.
  46. ↑ Nick West. "Resume Booster: How to Officially Claim You’re an "Expert in Social Media."". There Are No Roads. Retrieved Feb 24, 2014.

External links