25 Sep 2017 Spotlight on Benji
This week’s Spotlight on Tech is focused on Benji, a company that is creating an entirely new category of education. Benji is on a mission to provide an immersive education option that combines the social experience of learning in a classroom with the flexibility and price point of online learning. Read on to learn more about them!
Describe your company and your primary product(s) and/or service(s). Benji aims to solve the twin problems of low completion rates (<5% of enrollments) in online courses and the growing unaffordability of in-person classes. Our solution—connect people with a cohort of local peers, curriculum of expert-vetted content, and access to skilled mentorship and physical space. Without the overhead of a physical classroom space, a payroll packed with full time instructors, and off-loading the cost of content creation, Benji delivers immersive learning experiences at a fraction of the cost of traditional education providers. We offer both tech courses to the public and bespoke corporate training.
How many employees currently work at your company? 2 full-time, 5 part-time.
Where are you located? We currently live in Vancouver and Toronto.
Describe your most recent achievement, milestone, reason for bragging rights. We landed two major partnership deals which we’re very excited about. The first, we are providing the in-person experience for MaRS’ E101 course which attracts over 7,000 enrollees every year. The second, all 40,000 Ryerson students can now take any Benji course for a subsidized rate of $99 due to a partnership with the Sandbox by DMZ.
Are you hiring and what does an ideal candidate look like? We’re currently on the look-out for people who want to curate their own course and for mentors for our learners. An ideal candidate is someone who possess all the prerequisites for working in a start-up (self-starter, passionate about making an impact and the company’s mission, adaptable, etc.) and who also has a deep domain expertise.
Why should a candidate apply to your company? What are the benefits of working for you? Benji is a mission-driven start-up. Every morning, we wake up knowing that we are working towards our north star of creating an alternative for people who want an immersive, relationship-based, education option that is also affordable and accessible. Benji’s content-area expert roles make for great side-gigs as the hours are flexible, the pay is competitive, and the work is impactful. If you’re interested send us an email to matt@mybenji.com for more info.
What is your company goal for the coming year? In a year, people in Vancouver and Toronto looking to learn tech skills won’t have to choose between spending thousands of dollars on in-person courses or learning in isolation through online courses – they’ll ask themselves, “should I enroll in a school, take an online course, or Benji it?” For more information, visit us at www.mybenji.com