$2 Million Seed Financing From General Catalyst Partners Fuels Release of Free Learning Publishing Tools and Curated Learning Streams for Docker, AngularJS, Node.js and Other Hot Development Technologies
BOSTON, MA– October 22, 2015 – Outlearn today unveiled its cloud publishing platform and curated content catalog for professional developer learning. Now developers can use Outlearn to discover and share the best learning content from across the web, publish original content publicly or privately, and assemble custom learning paths for trackable team learning in the enterprise. The company also announced that it has received $2 million in seed financing from General Catalyst Partners with participation from Paul Sagan, former CEO of Akamai Technologies.
New Vision for Professional Developer Learning
According to IDC, the world’s 29 million professional technology workers say their most vexing challenge is keeping current with new technologies. Chronic talent shortages are forcing managers to hire less-qualified candidates who then have to climb an even steeper learning curve, often with little help beyond self-directed web searches and asking busy colleagues for assistance. Technical books and online video tutorials categorically fail to address the crucial last mile of “this is how we do it here” knowledge that developers need in order to become a fully productive member of a specific team.
“It’s time to stop forcing talented engineers to fend for themselves and start a revolution in technical upskilling,” said Jeff Whatcott, Outlearn co-founder and CEO. “We’re giving pro developers and their managers the tools they need to efficiently organize, discover, and consume the great technical content from across web, and the essential tribal knowledge tucked away on corporate wikis and in the minds of experienced engineers.”
The Outlearn Platform
The Outlearn technical publishing platform allows domain experts to publish original training articles, recommend helpful web links, and organize learning content from many sources into online learning paths that carefully guide learners from concept to concept, tracking progress as they go. Unlike traditional learning systems, Outlearn combines a free learning publishing platform, a fast-growing catalog of free developer learning content, and a community of expert curators and contributors.
Outlearn users can assemble custom online learning paths to train themselves, their team or their whole organization. Expert curators maintain the Outlearn Catalog, a continuously updated aggregation of the best technical learning content, organized into Topic Streams that cover specific technologies. Outlearn today rolled out Topic Streams for the Go language, Docker, AngularJS, Node.js, and Pro JavaScript, with more to come soon.
$2M Seed Financing
Outlearn is backed by a $2 million seed investment led by General Catalyst Partners, with participation from Paul Sagan, former CEO of Akamai Technologies. Proceeds from the investment are being deployed to develop the Outlearn service and content catalog.
“Technical training and education is one of the last domains to be significantly disrupted and reimagined by modern technology,” said Donald Fischer, Venture Partner at General Catalyst Partners. “We are excited to back a team that has a compelling vision for positively transforming the way professionals learn, and we look forward to working with Jeff and Will as they realize their vision.”
Pricing & Availability
Outlearn is free today for individuals to both publish and consume public learning content. Premium services include team learning experiences, private learning, and organization-level content publishing starting as low as $15 per person per month.
About Outlearn
Outlearn is a publishing platform for developer learning content. Domain experts and platform providers use Outlearn to create and publish modular learning content. Development teams use Outlearn to assemble and deliver custom learning paths from public content and/or self-published private content. Unlike traditional learning systems, Outlearn offers an open content format, an open content catalog, and a modern learner experience. To learn more, please visit: www.outlearn.com.
