Codecademy is a service that lets people take free online coding classes, and has received $12.5M in institutional capital. It’s an awesome idea, but how will it make money if it’s billed as free (emphasis added)?
Learn to code interactively, for free.
We became fascinated with code long long ago. Part of just about any coders journey takes them to Codecademy at some point. I mean it’s free (emphasis added again)!
In fact when it comes to web development there are few better resources than Codecademy. Many of today’s professors in your University computer science programs will even recommend it. Codecademy is great material to kickoff your creative web building process,and will send you down a path of continued learning and interest. Codecademy appears to be committed to creating a great, engaging product first and then worry about developing Revenue Models later. However, I’m sure it’s on their (and their Investors) minds.
Here are the options, in decreasing likelihood:
1. VERY LIKELY – Digital Advertising/Sponsorship
The site has great traffic, visitor time on the site, and user engagement. Plus, the target audience is very niche, interested in Technology and Computer Programming. The team will have to be careful to deliver ads in a manner which won’t dilute the learning experience.
2. LIKELY – Affiliated Products/Services
All these new programmers are going to need the latest and greatest web development tools. Codecademy would be able to highlight products geared towards the lessons and could even create lessons or projects which interact directly with the software/tools for sale. What better to attract a lifelong user of your internet product then when they are first learning?
3. POSSIBLE – Freemium Content Model
While it is possible the team will sell additional content, such as lessons or products, it doesn’t seem to their advantage to place any barrier in front of an already interested participant. Most users who gain the basic knowledge, when faced with a pay model, would likely jump ship and find another source online to fulfill their needs.
4. UNLIKELY – Job Board
A job board would make for a great PR story. Imagine it now “Total noob acquires all knowledge from Codecademy and lands dream developer job at Google” or some other great company. But, the reality is that the typical user’s skills are going to be light years behind actual professional development talent. It’s difficult to believe the site would ever generate critical mass of qualified developers to justify a job board.
Codecademy will continue to grab the attention of those looking to dip their toes into programming. How do you think they will leverage the product to make money?
