1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Seong Kim, Corporate Strategy & Development at Chegg Inc. (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: Let’s do some examples. What have you been up to in the last few years that illustrates some of this framework thinking?

Seong Kim: The most recent acquisition that we just announced was just over a week ago. It was the largest acquisition we’ve ever done in language learning. As a company that has its humble roots as a textbook business that had embarked on a massive transition to digital, all of that has been highlighted by the fact that we bet on the inevitable – the move towards digital learning and the need for democratized access to on-demand, affordable, self-guided contact as a companion to the learner.

As we’ve evaluated the questions around what’s inevitable, the success of any solution that seeks to do this democratization in an efficacious way will need to be able to do it on a global basis. They will need to do it to address the hundreds of languages that are spoken at various territories.

There came a point where we realized that we needed to make a meaningful investment in the ability to teach languages. Not simply English or Spanish but language pairs. Teaching Spanish speakers how to learn French. Teaching Italian speakers how to speak Mandarin.

We evaluated that with the very simple question framework which is, “What is the problem we’re solving for?” We’re solving for the ongoing educational demands and the marketability that learners need as future employees of multinational globalized businesses. The need for businesses to be able to connect their various branches, the need for gig economy workers to learn the language of the locale that they’re currently residing in.

There is this confluence of needs and problems that we’re solving for that are big enough to matter and a definition of success that is coinciding with the platform we think we’re investing towards.

Sramana Mitra: One observation is that you are changing or broadening your target segment. The textbook world is K-12 and higher education. You are now talking about the workforce. Language learning takes you into a completely different target segment.

Seong Kim: You’re right. We’ve always characterized our mission as perpetuating and connecting the learning-to-earning journeys of the learners. 84% or more of students routinely report that they enter into the higher education system to get a better job. A fewer percentage of people report that they go to higher education for the academic pursuit in and of itself. If you look at the world of language learners, over half of US college students need help in learning another language.

If you look at the user bases and the adoptees of language-based platforms whether they’re apps or other forms of learning, a quarter to a third depending on the countries and the regions of the world say they’re doing it because they need for education. It’s also to reinforce and create the revenue synergy – for us to be able to offer what we currently offer in other languages and vice versa and to seek out other people in other territories that can benefit from our products.

This segment is part 2 in the series : 1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Seong Kim, Corporate Strategy & Development at Chegg Inc.
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