Dunce Deals #9 - School16, SHE, and Campus
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, and Contra. Before Dunce, I founded three companies, NetGravity (IPO), Rocketship Public Schools (12k students) and Zeal (sold 2018).
Thoughts
Sorry for being late this week. Hawaii time has taken over. Here is the fourth piece in my series on finding product market fit.
News
Congratulations to Gagan and Wes for helping Li Jin and Lenny create what both look to be amazing cohort based courses! Both sold out in record time.
Deals
School16
Description: Live classes for non-technical roles in tech.
Website: school16.co
Founder: Sergei Revzin
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sergeirevzin
Email: sergeirevzin@gmail.com
Stage: Pre-seed
Raising: Yes
Current Dunce Investment: No
Notes: As many of you know, I’m getting more and more obsessed with moving Americans into tech. Sergei and his brother are focused outside of coding, a spot where there may be a lower bar for entry level jobs.
SHE
Description: A community for wellness, friendship, and reaching your dreams for teenage girls.
Website: she.community
Founder: Rina Patel
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rinagpatel/
Email: rina@thethinkersglobal.com
Stage: Pre-seed
Raising: Yes
Current Dunce Investment: No
Notes: Rina is an extraordinary recent college grad that I met through the Transcend Network. While SHE is outside my usual scope, this site would be an amazing gift to teenage girls.
Campus
Description: Live tik tok
Deck: https://docsend.com/view/7ifesif7uzx5pkxw
Founder: Marisa Hodgdon
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marisabangash/
Email: marisahodgdon1@gmail.com
Stage: Pre-seed
Raising: Yes
Current Dunce Investment: No
Notes: While this is outside the scope of Dunce deals, anything replacing static with live content is interesting to me. Focused on Gen Z creators.