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Thanks to the rise of free online classrooms, we have Khan Academy and Coursera to teach us academic subjects like math, science, and history. If you're looking for creative or entrepreneurial courses, you can turn to CreativeLIVE. The two-year-old startup just raised $7.5 million to live-stream workshops on how to start a business, photography basics, and web design, to name a few. Alongside the funding news, CreativeLIVE also announced it has hired Mika Salmi, former president of Viacom Digital, as its new CEO.
Launched in 2010 by a photographer, Chase Jarvis, and an entrepreneur, Craig Swanson, CreativeLIVE was founded to help hobbyists, creative types, and career-changers learn real-life skills without being stuck in a classroom. From the comfort of your bed or home office, you can enroll in workshops about fashion photography, launching an online business, or the ins and outs of public relations, taught by best-selling authors, Emmy-nominated directors, and other esteemed professionals. Every course is live-streamed in real time and completely free.
What's the catch? The courses are offered on a scheduled basis and last about two to three days. If you miss a class, you can't watch again for free, but you can get your hands on the videos and lessons if you pay. Prices range from $50 to $300, and courses are often discounted. You can also pre-order a class that you know you want to take, but won't have time to sit down and watch the live lecture.
The premise of free, live-streamed workshops has worked well for CreativeLIVE. The company says that since its launch in April 2010, more than 1 million students from 200 countries have taken a course. CreativeLIVE also isn't having a hard time getting people to pay an average of $100 for a class. The company says its been profitable since its launch, and has been able to pay out millions to its instructors. Online education has been getting a lot of attention from VCs in recent months, as they place bets that technology can upend traditional education. Lofty academic institutions making their courses available to all comers online is noble, but as CreativeLIVE is showing, maybe it's the more vocational end of education where the actual money is to be made.
