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