eduFirebusiness channel where venture capitalists and successful executives will offer advice to young entrepreneurs and the unemployed.
It's like startup education for the masses, where the classes are small and students get to ask questions via email, instant message, or video chat. The goal is to provide online education that might otherwise cost a lot more money if you went back to school to learn it, said Jon Bischke, chief executive of the company.
"There is no better way to learn than live, interactive and straight from the proverbial horse’s mouth," Biscke said.
Among the topics are: How to Choose Your Business Idea, 10 Failures of a Startup, How to Choose a Killer Business Model, The Diamond Cutter: The Buddha on Strategies for Managing Your Business and Your Life, How to Raise Capital for Your Company, 10 Things You Need To Build a Great Company, How to Build a World-Class Team, Making a Career Out of Web Analytics, How to Create a Defensible Product, Startup Customer Development, Underground SEO Tips for Startups, and How to Rock Your Next Interview.
Some of eduFire Business Channel teachers include: Avinash Kaushik, chief executive of Market Motive; Bert Sperling, CEO of Bestplaces.net; Brian Johnson, CEO of PhilosophersNotes.com; Mark Dowds, CEO, Brainpark; Mark Suster, partner, GRP Partners; Neil Patel, co-founder Crazy Egg and KISSMetrics; Niniane Wang, former engineering lead, Google; Noah Kagan, CEO, Gambit; Saar Gur, principle at Charles River Ventures; Sean Ellis, startup marketing consultant, 12in6; Sundeep Ahuja, president, the Extraordinaires; Susan Choe, chairman and founder, Outspark; and Susan Wu, CEO, Ohai.
The new business channel represents a big content expansion for eduFire, a year-old company that has 5,000 teachers teaching live video chat classes for online audiences. Many of the current teachers are focused on foreign-language training or technology education.
During the recession, it could prove popular. The unemployment rate is still at 9.7 percent and seven million jobs have been wiped out during the downturn.
Classes have a one-time fee, or students can sign up for an unlimited number of sessions by buying a SuperPass for $29 a month. eduFire is offering VentureBeat readers a special deal: the first 50 people who send an email to venturebeat@edufire.com can get a one-month free SuperPass. Limit one per person.
The company recently received $1.3 million in funding from Battery Ventures. Bischke founded it in 2007. eduFire has five employees. The site has about 30,000 users. Traffic has hit about 125,000 unique visitors a month, meaning the users come back multiple times a month.