Dunce Deals #14 - Pragmatic Leaders, ClassNotes, and Wojo
Hi, I'm John Danner, Managing Director of Dunce Capital. Dunce Deals is my look at the most interesting deals and news from edtech and the future of work. In the last four years, I have made over two dozen pre-seed investments in the space including Lambda School, where I am on the board, Outschool, Prenda, Contra, and GalileoXP. Before Dunce, I founded three companies, NetGravity (IPO), Rocketship Public Schools (12k students) and Zeal (sold 2018).
Thoughts
I have some great personal news this week. My mother is cancer free after a year of treatment for stage 4 ovarian cancer. Yay mom! In much less important, but still positive news, I got my first covid vaccine shot this week, and it’s so great to imagine that I won’t be hiding in a bunker forever.
In the world of Dunce, I’ve been stewing on this blog piece for a few months now about how I think hiring will change post-covid. I hope you like it!
News
I’m tired of waiting for an un-named firm’s lawyers preventing this deal from closing, so I’m happy to announce that one way or another, I will be an investor in Major League Hacking very soon! Really excited to work with them as you will see in the medium piece I wrote today (mentioned above) about the evolution of hiring. These guys have a ton of team debt and are hiring some major positions including head of admissions and VP Engineering. I couldn’t be more excited about them, so please send their jobs to your friends.
Deals
Once again, Edpitches clubhouse sourced all of the deals I’m writing about this week. If you know a founder who wants to get heard by Dunce, GSV, Reach, Rethink, Owl, Learn and Cowboy all in 15 minutes, have them apply to pitch here!
Pragmatic Leaders
Description: Pragmatic Leaders (PL) runs online training programs in product management for mid-career professionals in India. We are a better, faster, and cost-effective alternative to getting an MBA in specialized technology roles like product, growth, and marketing
Website: pragmaticleaders.io
Founder: Talvinder Singh
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/talvindersingh
Email: talvinder@pragmaticleaders.io
Stage: Seed
Raising: Yes
Current Dunce Investment: No
Notes: PL is from the latest YC class and won this week’s edpitches event. I have spent a fair amount of time on the career upskilling space in India but have not invested yet. What I love about PL is that like Lambda School, they only get paid if you get a new job.
ClassNotes
Description: ClassNotes helps students prepare for their standardized tests and academic exams with a guaranteed improvement in their marks. We are currently helping more than half a million students from 20+ countries every month.
Website: classnotes.xyz
Founder: Ozaal Zesha
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ozaal/
Email: ozaalzesha@gmail.com
Stage: Pre-seed
Raising: Yes
Current Dunce Investment: No
Notes: ClassNotes is doing a ton for Pakistan test prep. Unlike some people, I’m a pretty big fan of standardized tests for a couple of reasons. First, they scale and when you have millions of people trying to find work, you need scale. Second, they remove at least some of the human bias in hiring, even though preparing for those tests creates other issues. If you are a test prep supported, India, Pakistan, China, and MENA are the places to do it.
Wojo
Description: A digital career coach
Website: wojo.works
Founder: Liz Maslakova
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizavetamaslakova/
Email: liz@wojo.works
Stage: Pre-seed
Raising: Yes
Current Dunce Investment: No
Notes: Almost all career coaching has been sucked into enterprise and focused around retention. Liz wants to build a tool that helps the employee figure out their life journey, independent of company. I’ve spent time on this space and it’s tough to get consumers to pay, but Liz is sharp and I’m hopeful she can figure out a hook.