Many startups have great ideas, many hold fantastic hopes. Some want to change the world. However, many don’t get to that point. It makes it all the more pleasant when a startup has a real success story to share. And Kokoroe has one of those stories.
A fresh approach to online courses
Kokoroe is a French startup offering online courses. Unlike most other similar services, Kokoroe went for a very challenging approach.
Most courses take a long time to design and by the time they’re out, some of the content is already obsolete. This is especially true when covering technology courses.
Kokoroe has a fresh approach to this problem. They don’t actually make the videos. Great stuff is already available on YouTube, the only problem is finding it.
Kokoroe works with expert curators who pick the best videos for a given topic. Courses are ready in a flash and updated regularly.
Since most adults already have extensive streaming experience (yep, Netflix bingers, I mean you), the Kokoroe interface mimics those streaming websites. The user is right at home and quickly finds interesting things to watch.
Profitable after only 8 months
The feat for Kokoroe is to have become profitable after only 8 months. Part of it is due to clever partnerships including Pôle Emploi (the government-owned employment center).
It is also due to Kokoroe’s ability to draw lessons from early stages and adapt. They started as a B2C service but soon found that businesses, including big names with their own training units, were eager to use their solution. Orange, Danone, BNP offer Kokoroe courses to their employees who seek life-long learning. Numerous SME have joined in.
Kokoroe understood their strength lies in their dynamic catalog. Unlike monolithic, unchanged courses available elsewhere, Kokoroe adapts on the go. IBM talked about quantum computing earlier this month at the CES 2019? Kokoroe will have a course ready on that topic by next week.
Unforeseen craving for soft skills
What surprised the team was the unexpected craving for soft-skills courses. The courses are divided into three parts: jobs skills, new technologies, and soft skills. They expected a rush towards the new technologies but soft skills seem to drain a lot of attention. They are expanding this section to encompass well-being in the workplace. The new course on meditation is already a winner.
New challenges for 2019
Kokoroe will recruit again this year to reach out to more businesses but has also some cool features coming up. One of them is to offer a podcast format. It is particularly useful for people wanting to learn while commuting.
Kokoroe is also considering a development in Africa where training needs are huge.
Kokoroe has – again – a lot on their plate for the coming year but has shown great flexibility in adapting to the needs of their users. This is how a good idea to begin with becomes a profitable one. Well done!