Introduction
In our increasingly digital world, having computer science skills is not just convenient — it’s necessary. But many schools are struggling to adapt their curriculum to offer computer science classes. The best solution available are after-school programs, but these still need teachers and lessons that schools often can’t provide.
Brite was created as a solution to this problem. It’s an educational technology (edtech) platform focused on providing pre-made lessons in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The platform provides ready-to-use curriculum that any teacher can oversee. We reached out to co-founder Dmitry Litvinov to learn more about his background in STEM education and Brite’s strategy for providing investor returns.
Note: This interview was conducted over phone and email. It has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
What inspired you to take the leap and start Brite?
Prior to starting Brite I was an engineer (and later engineering manager) at Amazon and an educator for more than seven years. During my time at Amazon, both my co-founder and I would come to work to solve education problems in the K-12 space, and after work we would teach technical skills to adults and teens.
One day, after another failed attempt to hire an engineer for my team, we thought “What if instead of trying to break bad old habits of adults, we could help kids build good ones?”
Despite the high demand for tech talent, close to 80% of K-12 public schools in the US don’t have technology curricula, and we felt that it was out calling to bring the change.
That was the beginning of our journey of positively impacting and innovating the STEM education space as startup founders.
How is your experience with Mighty Coders helping you lead Brite?
Prior to Brite, my co-founder Renato and I launched, grew, and later successfully sold an after-school academy for teaching kids computer science named Mighty Coders. During that time of running the academy, we experienced our customers’ pain first-hand. That experience not only helped us to create a scalable solution for this market segment but also truly understand our customers concerns and be compassionate.
How do you acquire customers?
Today our main channels are:
- SEO and organic traffic
- Partner referrals
- Email outreach
What is your break even point?
It depends on the mode the company is in.
If we are in “funded growth” mode with more employees on staff, our break even point will be at $45,000 to $50,000/month.
If we are in “organic growth” mode, then our break even point will be at $20,000/month.
Edtech is a difficult industry. What in your business model and strategy can maximize investors’ returns?
Our goal is to grow Brite into a leading content platform, where educators can not only license content developed by professional content creators, but also create their own lessons and projects and monetize it by licensing to other teachers.
This approach will create a “maker economy” open ecosystem where educators can find the content they need, as well as be found by others.
Our goal is to become the main “engine under the hood” of one out of every three educators around the world.
As you think about the business five to 10 years down the road, what do you see exit opportunities looking like? Have you set any future goals for the company?
I would be looking to get acquired by a large edtech company that shares our mission and vision. A company in a similar segment has been recently acquired for $500 million — our goal is to surpass that.
We look forward to seeing where Dmitry and his team take the company. Brite is currently raising on Republic.
