The creators of Sympoz found that demand for quilting tripled that of any other class they offered, so they spun off Craftsy:
Unlike some other online-education services, which offer back-of-the-auditorium access to university lectures, Craftsy spends upward of $15,000 to develop and film each class. Most courses, which last several hours and are broken up into lessons, are targeted at intermediate-level to advanced quilters, embroiderers and bakers.
The company has invested more than $5 million in technologies meant to mimic the live classroom experience, the founders say. For example, a single-click, 30-second repeat feature allows students to back up and catch any bits they might have missed in a fast-moving video. Videos are layered with 3-D models and magnified graphics that help explain important words and methods.
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Craftsy concentrates on helping people master hobbies that many have spent considerable sums of money on already.
“When you’ve bought a sewing machine, the cost of failure is high,” says Mr. Scott, a co-founder. “Spending $20 to get better is a small investment.”
To date, Craftsy users have paid for 410,000 classes and thesite had 50,000 paid enrollments just this past November. Fifty percent of students who have paid for a class go on to pay for a second. The company says nearly all of its users are women, 83% are over 41 years of age and 75% attended college. Their average household income is more than $80,000.
Craftsy also sells materials like knitting yarn and fabric for quilting. Nearly a quarter of the company’s 2012 revenue of about $12 million came from this e-commerce, Mr. Scott says. November was the company’s first profitable month, Mr. Scott says. It hasn’t touched its latest venture-capital investment of $15 million, and plans to reinvest profit.
The site can be a lucrative outlet for craft teachers. Stefanie Japel, now a Craftsy staffer who helps find other instructors, has taught three knitting courses, including “Circular Knit Lab: Hats Four Ways.” More than 20,000 students have paid to take her classes and she has netted more than $60,000. Teachers get between 10% to 15% of the revenue from a class.