Devlin Daley and Brian Whitmer seem to have hit a vein; local investors agree, and have funded Instructure.com to the tune of $50,000. This will take them through 1 year from now, and into near-complete product development and launch. The team has a meeting with several venture capital firms (vSpring among them) this week, so more deals are likely forthcoming.
After years of dealing with the holes and problems with Blackboard, the software that helps universities around the country manage their students, classrooms, grades, etc., the 2 Computer Science PhD’s from Brigham Young University in Provo, UT decided to do something about it. They founded Instructure.com.
Many startups make the mistake of spending too much time developing a product, and not enough time selling it. Instructure.com has done the reverse. They’ve spent the bulk of their time selling Instructure to universities before developing it. The team just finished a nation-wide tour. As they criss-crossed the country’s universities, their strategy was simple. “We just asked the school’s CTO’s what their frustrations with Blackboard were,” Devlin told me in an informal chat on campus.
They told us, “If you can fix problems x through y, you’ve got a deal. We’ll try your software.”
I’m excited to see what comes of this (and so should the millions of students who use Blackboard). I’ll keep you posted on any developments on the story.
6 responses so far ↓
1 Kyle Mathews // Oct 29, 2008 at 11:36 am
Sounds like a cool startup. Their websites a bit lacking in info though. . .
2 Dax Brady // Oct 30, 2008 at 11:31 am
Hands down my CTO would have used this when I was in school. Blackboard is painful from all sides. DEV, User, Admin…it’s a nightmare and I’m pumped that 2 Computer Science PhD’s from Brigham Young University get it!
3 admin // Oct 30, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Pretty exciting — all it takes is a couple of savvy people who are bound and determined, and you disrupt old, decrepit systems like Blackboard.
4 Matt Smith // Oct 30, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Blackboard is overly complex for what little it does. A simplified solution that builds upon the collaboration tools that students like to use nowadays should be a part of the solution.
5 Dax // Dec 4, 2008 at 11:22 am
@ Matt i couldn’t agree more its the large elephant in the room… and it’s gotta go. And second that… get the students involved. The kids I went to school with hands down had waaaay more knowledge then the profs heading up the classes.
6 Adam Wride // Jan 4, 2009 at 10:22 pm
Well done Brian and Devlin! Give Bb a run for their money.
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