Starting an education giant in a “bad market” | ClassDojo’s story | Sam Chaudhary (Co-founder & CEO)

Sam Chaudhary is the co-founder and CEO of ClassDojo, a multi-product education platform used in 95% of U.S. schools and over 180 countries globally to connect teachers, students, and families. In this episode, Sam shares the full arc of building ClassDojo, from early skepticism about education and a failed group-making tool, to creating a communication platform loved by millions. In this episode, we discuss: • Why ClassDojo was built for consumers (teachers, students and parents) instead of schools • How ClassDojo grew entirely by word-of-mouth • Sam’s unusual approach to building multiple new businesses • The founder mindset required to build an industry leader • Why relentless resourcefulness is an underrated skill • And much more… References: • Accel: ⁠https://www.accel.com/⁠ • Airbnb: ⁠https://www.airbnb.com/ • ⁠Bill Gates: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/williamhgates/⁠ • Brendan Kereiakes: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/product/ • ⁠ClassDojo: ⁠https://www.classdojo.com/ • ⁠Dominick Bellizzi: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominickbellizzi/⁠ • Geoff Ralston: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffralston/ • ⁠Gonzalo Aguilar Málaga: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/gonzalodecheck/⁠ • Hamilton Helmer: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/hamilton-helmer-42983/⁠ • Imagine K12: ⁠https://www.imaginek12.com//⁠ • Khan Academy: ⁠https://www.khanacademy.org/⁠ • Liam Don: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/liamdon/ • ⁠McKinsey: ⁠https://www.mckinsey.com/ • ⁠Paul Graham: ⁠https://x.com/paulg⁠ • Plaid: ⁠https://plaid.com/ • ⁠Reid Hoffman: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/reidhoffman/⁠ • Roblox: ⁠https://www.roblox.com/⁠ • Sal Khan: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/khanacademy/ • ⁠Superhuman: ⁠https://superhuman.com/⁠ • Tim Brady: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-brady-7a632510/ • ⁠Y Combinator: ⁠https://www.ycombinator.com/⁠ Where to find Sam: • LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/samchaudhary/⁠ • Twitter/X: ⁠https://x.com/samchaudhary⁠ Where to find Brett: • LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/ • ⁠Twitter/X: ⁠https://twitter.com/brettberson⁠ Timestamps: (01:36) Why education is a “bad market” (02:52) Why enterprise education is broken (03:35) Building for families, not schools (06:53) Early challenges and insights (09:45) Sam’s unusual background (11:42) Meeting co-founder Liam at a hackathon (13:22) Getting into Imagine K12 with a group-making tool (19:47) The conversation with Reid Hoffman that changed everything (21:52) Building a network to reach more families (23:30) Scaling by building a community (33:18) Designing for delight and word-of-mouth growth (40:09) Launching the first monetization feature after 7 years (41:35) How to pick markets and when to go broad (46:04) The explosive expansion into the tutoring industry (55:11) Creating safe online spaces for kids (58:01) Harnessing AI in education (59:52) Lessons from ClassDojo’s playbook