Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • April 2015
  • Teaching Plan
  • HBS Case Collection

Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement?

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Lisa Mazzanti
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:10
ShareBar

Abstract

This is a Teaching Plan for the case on Codecademy, an open-platform, online community for learning computer programming, launched in 2011. By 2014, the company had raised a total of $12.5 million in funding and was, on many fronts, an overwhelming success. However, there were still no revenues. The founders decided it was time to experiment with different monetization strategies before deciding on a way forward. Although they wanted to avoid being prematurely pressured into decisions that went against their open-platform philosophy, they also knew that in order to fulfill their mission to democratize education, they had to eventually build a revenue-generating business. But what business model should they pursue, and what monetization experiments should they run?

Keywords

Business Model; Internet and the Web; Open Source Distribution; Social Entrepreneurship; Education

Citation

Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Lisa Mazzanti. "Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement?" Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 815-117, April 2015.
  • Purchase

About The Author

Jeffrey J. Bussgang

Entrepreneurial Management
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • April 2025
    • Faculty Research

    Sharon Goldberg and BastionZero

    By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, James Barnett and Maxim Pike Harrell
    • 2025
    • Faculty Research

    The Experimentation Machine: Finding Product–Market Fit in the Age of AI

    By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang
    • January 2025
    • Faculty Research

    Summer Health: Raising an AI-First Company?

    By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Sarah Mehta and Maxim Pike Harrell
More from the Authors
  • Sharon Goldberg and BastionZero By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, James Barnett and Maxim Pike Harrell
  • The Experimentation Machine: Finding Product–Market Fit in the Age of AI By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang
  • Summer Health: Raising an AI-First Company? By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Sarah Mehta and Maxim Pike Harrell
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College.