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Key numbers in millions: 2019 2020 Revenue. 184 293 Profi. -46 -66 Cash in the bank: 285 Disclosure: IAN good at reading S-1s.

by breck 6y ago

totaldude87 6y ago
any debt? i wonder what do they do with that much of cash in hand
echelon 6y ago
I don't see a compelling story for their product. There's great educational content all over the web, much of it freely available. Their credentials are worthless, and in some industries may actually have negative value. They lucked out with coronavirus, as that sent people scrambling for distance learning. That won't last. edit: Apparently folks disagree. We don't all see the same things or interpret the future the same way. I think education as an industry is going to go into decline, but I don't see companies like Coursera as being able to thrive by feeding off the corpses.
- grumple 6y ago
  Companies like Coursera are the reason there is going to be a corpse. I went to university, but I've also taken many online courses from Coursera, Udemy, and others. Coursera's classes in particular were far better than my classes at that top 25 university.
  - echelon 6y ago
    Maybe. That's awesome that you had a good experience with their platforms. The thesis I've come to believe is that universities will be abandoned by the majority of Gen Z because of the high cost and student debt issue. Also the increased awareness of the low value of a college education and the lack of a guaranteed employment. I think we'll see continued enrollment in fields like computer science, and I think the university and community college setting will continue to be popular. Unless Coursera and other platforms can attach value and employability guarantees to the credentials they offer, they're not a 1:1 replacement for universities. They're more of a form of "continued learning" that many universities offer to adults and seniors. Learning for a small audience that actively seeks it out.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - ghaff 6y ago
      >They're more of a form of "continued learning" that many universities offer to adults and seniors. Learning for a small audience that actively seeks it out. Which is why you heard so much howling when Udacity first "pivoted." Continuing education for mostly early to mid-career professionals, often with grad degrees is one thing. (And, yes, there are stories including in the comments here about Coursera being someone's big break but they're a small minority.) Which is great. But it was a real kick in the teeth to the people who saw MOOCs as this great opportunity for populations underserved by traditional higher ed.
  - colinmhayes 6y ago
    People don't go to uni to learn. They go to network, party, and get the signal that employers require. Coursera doesn't replace any of those.
    - dragonwriter 6y ago
      Since Coursera provides major-university graduate degrees including onramp programs that provide alternatives to traditional prereqs, it does provide the signal employers’ require.
    - andyjohnson0 6y ago
      > People don't go to uni to learn. They go to network, party, and get the signal that employers require. Coursera doesn't replace any of those. I know this is a popular opinion on HN, but I think it's lazy and cynical and just plain wrong. Plenty of people go to university to learn, either because they felt that need or realised they had it in themselves when they got there. University education has many problems, particularly right now, but it has also made a large contribution to making the world we have today. I think it's worth valuting that.
    - f6v 6y ago
      I went to university after a relatively long(~10 years) software development career to study bioinformatics. It’s something you can practice from the comfort of your own home, but you can’t learn it without enrolling in the university program. There’s just not enough resources on the internet. And don’t get me started on other biotech degrees.
- evgen 6y ago
  They were already in a good position pre-Covid and that just amped things up for them. Your opinions on the value of the credentials is simply your opinion, and both the market and downvoters here seem to think you are wrong. The interesting revenue that has the biggest upside, IMHO, is for enterprises doing internal training and 're-skilling' for employees. In any company of more than a thousand people it seems there is some branch of HR that organizes courses on everything from how to avoid a sex discrimination lawsuit to using some ML library in the analytics stack -- this seems to be where the long-term money is when it comes to online education.
  - echelon 6y ago
    > how to avoid a sex discrimination lawsuit Where's Coursera's moat here? Dozens of companies offer this, and from what I can gather, companies will want to spend the minimum amount of money they can get away with to cover the legal liabilities. > using some ML library in the analytics stack This was a fad. You don't teach your average software engineers how to do this. If you care, you hire data scientists and have your own ML team. Or you just carry on with business as usual. edit: your downvotes flag my account and prevent me from interacting with the HN community. If that's how you'd like to do things, then fine. I'd rather this was an amicable discussion than a downvote party.
    - evgen 6y ago
      The moat is that Coursera can bundle all of these into a single package and sell it in bulk to these companies. No one wants to deal with this themselves. At the FAANGs that I have worked at there were teams devoted to this task, but it is the sort of thing which is easy to outsource and when it comes to certain compliance courses you sometimes need a legal imprimatur for the course that is a pain for each company to certify but easy for someone like Coursera to do. (I am not downvoting you, just commenting on why some people might be doing so...)
  - ghaff 6y ago
    While true, in my experience, companies are generally looking (rightly or wrongly) more for the sort of content that Udemy and LinkedIn crank out; i.e. practical hands-on material that's often relatively bite-sized. I don't think you typically see University-type courses on corporate training platforms--though I'm sure there are exceptions.
- WoodenChair 6y ago
  > I think education as an industry is going to go into decline, but I don't see companies like Coursera as being able to thrive by feeding off the corpses. People have been saying that for years and yet there is little data to back it up. If anything in economic downturns people are more likely to go back to school so as not to waste the time being unemployed. The fact that Coursera is doing so well during this downturn indicates to me that the industry is just going to transform, not necessarily decline. At least in # of people touched, although revenue might decrease in aggregate. People need the motivation that comes from organized education, whether it be Coursera or college.
- f6v 6y ago
  > Their credentials are worthless The university degrees offered through their platform aren’t.

Key numbers in millions: 2019 2020 Revenue. 184 293 Profi. -46 -66 Cash in the bank: 285 Disclosure: IAN good at reading S-1s.

by breck 6y ago

Key numbers in millions: 2019 2020 Revenue. 184 293 Profi. -46 -66 Cash in the bank: 285 Disclosure: IAN good at reading S-1s.

totaldude87 6y ago

any debt? i wonder what do they do with that much of cash in hand

echelon 6y ago

I don't see a compelling story for their product. There's great educational content all over the web, much of it freely available. Their credentials are worthless, and in some industries may actually have negative value. They lucked out with coronavirus, as that sent people scrambling for distance learning. That won't last. edit: Apparently folks disagree. We don't all see the same things or interpret the future the same way. I think education as an industry is going to go into decline, but I don't see companies like Coursera as being able to thrive by feeding off the corpses.

grumple 6y ago
Companies like Coursera are the reason there is going to be a corpse. I went to university, but I've also taken many online courses from Coursera, Udemy, and others. Coursera's classes in particular were far better than my classes at that top 25 university.
- echelon 6y ago
  Maybe. That's awesome that you had a good experience with their platforms. The thesis I've come to believe is that universities will be abandoned by the majority of Gen Z because of the high cost and student debt issue. Also the increased awareness of the low value of a college education and the lack of a guaranteed employment. I think we'll see continued enrollment in fields like computer science, and I think the university and community college setting will continue to be popular. Unless Coursera and other platforms can attach value and employability guarantees to the credentials they offer, they're not a 1:1 replacement for universities. They're more of a form of "continued learning" that many universities offer to adults and seniors. Learning for a small audience that actively seeks it out.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - ghaff 6y ago
    >They're more of a form of "continued learning" that many universities offer to adults and seniors. Learning for a small audience that actively seeks it out. Which is why you heard so much howling when Udacity first "pivoted." Continuing education for mostly early to mid-career professionals, often with grad degrees is one thing. (And, yes, there are stories including in the comments here about Coursera being someone's big break but they're a small minority.) Which is great. But it was a real kick in the teeth to the people who saw MOOCs as this great opportunity for populations underserved by traditional higher ed.
- colinmhayes 6y ago
  People don't go to uni to learn. They go to network, party, and get the signal that employers require. Coursera doesn't replace any of those.
  - dragonwriter 6y ago
    Since Coursera provides major-university graduate degrees including onramp programs that provide alternatives to traditional prereqs, it does provide the signal employers’ require.
  - andyjohnson0 6y ago
    > People don't go to uni to learn. They go to network, party, and get the signal that employers require. Coursera doesn't replace any of those. I know this is a popular opinion on HN, but I think it's lazy and cynical and just plain wrong. Plenty of people go to university to learn, either because they felt that need or realised they had it in themselves when they got there. University education has many problems, particularly right now, but it has also made a large contribution to making the world we have today. I think it's worth valuting that.
  - f6v 6y ago
    I went to university after a relatively long(~10 years) software development career to study bioinformatics. It’s something you can practice from the comfort of your own home, but you can’t learn it without enrolling in the university program. There’s just not enough resources on the internet. And don’t get me started on other biotech degrees.
evgen 6y ago
They were already in a good position pre-Covid and that just amped things up for them. Your opinions on the value of the credentials is simply your opinion, and both the market and downvoters here seem to think you are wrong. The interesting revenue that has the biggest upside, IMHO, is for enterprises doing internal training and 're-skilling' for employees. In any company of more than a thousand people it seems there is some branch of HR that organizes courses on everything from how to avoid a sex discrimination lawsuit to using some ML library in the analytics stack -- this seems to be where the long-term money is when it comes to online education.
- echelon 6y ago
  > how to avoid a sex discrimination lawsuit Where's Coursera's moat here? Dozens of companies offer this, and from what I can gather, companies will want to spend the minimum amount of money they can get away with to cover the legal liabilities. > using some ML library in the analytics stack This was a fad. You don't teach your average software engineers how to do this. If you care, you hire data scientists and have your own ML team. Or you just carry on with business as usual. edit: your downvotes flag my account and prevent me from interacting with the HN community. If that's how you'd like to do things, then fine. I'd rather this was an amicable discussion than a downvote party.
  - evgen 6y ago
    The moat is that Coursera can bundle all of these into a single package and sell it in bulk to these companies. No one wants to deal with this themselves. At the FAANGs that I have worked at there were teams devoted to this task, but it is the sort of thing which is easy to outsource and when it comes to certain compliance courses you sometimes need a legal imprimatur for the course that is a pain for each company to certify but easy for someone like Coursera to do. (I am not downvoting you, just commenting on why some people might be doing so...)
- ghaff 6y ago
  While true, in my experience, companies are generally looking (rightly or wrongly) more for the sort of content that Udemy and LinkedIn crank out; i.e. practical hands-on material that's often relatively bite-sized. I don't think you typically see University-type courses on corporate training platforms--though I'm sure there are exceptions.
WoodenChair 6y ago
> I think education as an industry is going to go into decline, but I don't see companies like Coursera as being able to thrive by feeding off the corpses. People have been saying that for years and yet there is little data to back it up. If anything in economic downturns people are more likely to go back to school so as not to waste the time being unemployed. The fact that Coursera is doing so well during this downturn indicates to me that the industry is just going to transform, not necessarily decline. At least in # of people touched, although revenue might decrease in aggregate. People need the motivation that comes from organized education, whether it be Coursera or college.
f6v 6y ago
> Their credentials are worthless The university degrees offered through their platform aren’t.