Stanford beginnings
NovoEd’s story began in 2012 when engineering professor Amin Saberi and PhD student Farnaz Ronaghi sought to create a new and better way to take an online Technology Entrepreneurship class at Stanford’s social algorithm laboratory. It was at that time that Massive Open Online Classes (MOOCs) were taking off at Stanford. There was a lot of potential and even more hype about MOOCs, but Amin and Farnaz were dissatisfied with the format and delivery of these courses.
Amin and Farnaz wanted more from online learning and knew it was possible.
They had a vision of learners working in teams and encountering the kinds of challenges they would have faced in a classroom, centered around group discussions, peer feedback, and an open exchange of ideas. They understood that true learning isn’t an isolated activity but happens collaboratively and is felt experientially.
“When I looked at these classes, one thing that I saw missing was that they were mainly focused on scaling the lecture hall experience,” Farnaz says. “They’re mainly about bringing access to high-quality content with lots of videos and quizzes.”
“What I liked a lot about my education at Stanford was the fact that I was exposed to very smart people. I was working with others. I was basically hearing their thoughts. I was challenged by their questions. That exposure to other people’s thoughts was actually the main thing that helped me grow, learn, and do better with my own work. I felt like that’s a big aspect of education that has been missing.”
First of its kind
Farnaz and Amin quickly discovered that the opportunity for learners to connect and gain exposure to new ideas was the key driver of engagement. At first, the business model was similar to that of Coursera and Udacity, selling courses to learners around the world. But Amin and Farnaz concluded that this wasn’t the optimal approach to sharing this powerful new learning platform.
There was a better way. This realization led to the first big pivot in NovoEd’s business model — the evolution to a business-to-business “B2B” or business-to-business-to-consumer “B(2B)2C” model. Over the next few years, NovoEd found increasing interest from a corporate market hungry to scale the benefits of collaborative learning for high-value skill development and capability building. NovoEd isn’t an LMS or an LXP — it’s the first learning platform in the market to offer its software and services to organizations who then provide valuable and relevant courses to their own employees or customers, driving high-impact learning at scale.
Fast-paced growth and a laser focus on the future
In 2018, NovoEd was acquired by Boston-based private equity group Devonshire Investors. In Devonshire, NovoEd found a financial partner who shares our passion for collaborative learning and our commitment to the corporate learning and development market.
The resources provided by the Devonshire acquisition allows us to continue our innovation in product functionality, providing full-service customer support, and growing market reach, strengthening our position to deliver on the vision initially articulated by Farnaz and Amin.
Today, Farnaz is our Chief Technology officer, deeply involved in the day-to-day activities of the company, and Amin is an advisor to the Board of Directors.