The Millenium has seen a shift in how knowledge is imparted. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have revolutionized educational landscape. There are a number of platforms that offer MOOCs. The most popular among them is Coursera.
Since its inception in 2012, Coursera has disrupted traditional education in more ways than one. From online courses from reputed instructors and universities, specializations, vocational courses to even degrees, Coursera has impacted the edTech sector without even creating educational content!
Coursera partners with more than 150 universities, offers over 3800 courses and has a learner base of over 40 million. Its current revenue is over $100 million and by 2026, it is estimated that it will be worth between $43 billion and $65 billion! Would you believe it if I said that Coursera began its journey by converting a few popular classroom courses offered by a handful of colleges and universities to an online format?
So what makes Coursera stand out in a crowded MOOC space? How has it successfully monetized this platform? What are the takeaways from its 0 to 100+ million revenue journey? Let’s find out.
Cater to the needs of all personas in the educational sector: the learners, universities, and employers
To grow and sustain the growth, a MOOC platform has to look beyond learners. While learners are the prime focus of these platforms, other personas are equally important. Over the years, Coursera has established a stable business model. Apart from over 3000 courses that are free to audit, the courses offered by Coursera fall into various tracks and are priced differently.
- Signature Tracks – Paid certification courses where learners get access to graded assignments and examinations. Upon completion, the learners earn a verified certificate from the course provider.
- Specializations – A bundle of related courses offered as a monthly subscription.
- Coursera for Business – Coursera partners with businesses for training their employees and offers courses as an annual subscription per employee.
- Online Degree Programs – Coursera currently offers 14 fully-accredited degree programs from prominent universities. These programs range between $15000 and $30000 and have close to 2000 learners enrolled so far.
Remember that the free to audit courses have no access to graded assignments and course certificates. The feature gets unlocked upon payment.
Incentivize partners
When you grow, and succeed, share your success with those who are one of the cornerstones for your success; your partners. Coursera keeps its partners happy. It pays its partners anywhere between 6% to 15% of its gross revenues for their courses.
Expand your business: Raise funds from time to time
Always aim to take your business to the next level. Funding helps you achieve this. Approach the right people; share your vision and mission. Funding gives you the flexibility and resources required to accelerate and expand your business. Coursera has been successful in teaming up with venture capitalists and investors and has raised over $313 million till date.
These are some of the strategies when adopted intelligently, help your business reach new heights. Wishing you the best!
