Dutch Student Entrepreneurs Building a Large Scale EdTech Marketplace: StuDocu CEO Marnix Broer (Part 5)

Marnix Broer: We didn’t really have to dilute ownership to raise €100,000. However, if we didn’t have the €100,000, the decisions we made were probably tougher to make. If you have some money, you dare to take a bit more risk. It might have actually made a difference.

Later on in 2016, we raised from two venture capitalists – one in Amsterdam and one from Berlin. We showed them that we had a great working system in the Netherlands. We had a product-market fit. We were making revenues. We’ve just done the test in Belgium, Spain, and Australia. The students love the product as well.

They bought in on that story. We raised $1.35 million. With that, we could start expanding more quicker. We did similar rounds later. We did a slightly bigger round of around $5 million in 2019. A year ago, we raised $50 million.

Sramana Mitra: What is the revenue trajectory?

Marnix Broer: Positive. It’s going great. It’s definitely within reach to cross $200 million a year.

Sramana Mitra: How long did it take you to cross a million?

Marnix Broer: The first year, we did €70,000. We have doubled over the years. It’s strange to look back from this perspective. Last year, you’ve gained as much or even more revenues than you did in the first 11 years.

Sramana Mitra: In your kind of business, you have so much content now. The content is additive. It’s a lot easier to attract people because you have so much content. The user-generated content tends to accelerate as you go along.

Marnix Broer: Right. That’s the beauty of the model. You have a marketplace, but you don’t lose your supply.

Sramana Mitra: This one has no expiration date.

Marnix Broer: With content, you could argue that it’s not everlasting. From what we see in our data report, a document can definitely be useful for at least five years.

Sramana Mitra: Where are you operating at right now?

Marnix Broer: We’re quite global. We focus on around 30 countries at the moment. We’re attracting users from 70 countries. Our final goal is to help every student around the world.

Sramana Mitra: The 30 countries are European countries?

Marnix Broer: We started in western Europe, then southern Europe, northern Europe. Then we went to North America and then South America. We started in Africa and Asia. We also expanded to eastern Europe. Within Africa, there are still many countries we can expand to. Especially in Europe and America, we’re present in all the countries.

Sramana Mitra: How do you compare or compete with Course Hero and Quizlet?

Marnix Broer: With Quizlet, we might have the same audience, but we’re complementary. Both products can be combined. They’re offering a different tool than us. With Course Hero, it’s more of direct competition. For me, the key difference between Course Hero and us is we have a freemium model. We have a lower price point. We have better-quality notes.

Sramana Mitra: Your revenues are in a similar range.

Marnix Broer: Not yet. They are definitely bigger. If Course Hero is able to do that in revenues, we can be bigger, given we are in so many more markets than they are.

Sramana Mitra: Great story! Thank you for your time.

This segment is part 5 in the series : Dutch Student Entrepreneurs Building a Large Scale EdTech Marketplace: StuDocu CEO Marnix Broer
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