zach sims (@zsims) / X

zach sims

18.5K posts

zach sims

@zsims

exploring what's next. angel investor. former co-founder and ceo of @codecademy the easiest way to learn to code.

nyc and sf

Joined February 2007

Pinned
zach sims
@zsims
Jun 2, 2023
Today is my last day leading @Codecademy after 12 years. @ryanbubinski and I went from a prototype we hacked together in 3 weeks… To a business with more than 50m users that we sold for $500m+. Here are a few things we learned turning a breakout product into a great company:
zach sims
@zsims
Feb 23, 2021
For @Codecademy's first 4yrs, we were in the 📰 every wk. Those weeks, we made $0. The past 4 years, we've been out of the headlines. Now, we've raised $40m, our first raise in ~4yrs. How'd we go from the center of the hype cycle to the brink of bankruptcy and back? Read on...
zach sims
@zsims
Mar 14, 2020
1/ To help students and teachers affected by COVID-19 and school closures around the world, we are offering 10,000 scholarships to @Codecademy Pro for free to students and teachers across the world. What does this mean? pro.codecademy.com/learn-from-hom…
zach sims
@zsims
Dec 22, 2021
after 10 years of building @Codecademy, our next chapter will be with @Skillsoft! i'm so grateful to our team, our learners, and our investors for helping us to build something that's helped tens of millions of learners (and it's only the beginning!).
Skillsoft Strikes $525 Million Deal to Acquire Ed-Tech Rival Codecademy
From wsj.com
zach sims
@zsims
Jan 28, 2020
is a bad venture capitalist called a venture crapitalist?
zach sims
@zsims
Jan 14, 2020
if I had a dollar for every VC congratulating themselves on the plaid deal, i would probably have $5.3bn by now.
zach sims
@zsims
Feb 23, 2021
Replying to @zsims
We struggled, but hit $1m ARR in ~6 months to raise a successful Series C to keep the company alive. On the way, we learned an important lesson: hype doesn't pay the bills.
zach sims
@zsims
Feb 23, 2021
Replying to @zsims
Most startups die of self-inflicted wounds, not because of their competitors. Keep your head down and focus less on competitors and more on product market fit. Hire the right people and remember that the user is your customer, and your investors and journalists aren't.
zach sims
@zsims
Feb 23, 2021
Replying to @zsims
Ignoring the hype: I find this one hard myself. Every day, one of your competitors is in the news or goes viral on Twitter. Don't pay attention. Your Twitter followers don't pay the bills. If someone *really* wants something you've built, they'll pay you for it.
zach sims
@zsims
Nov 19, 2023
.@sama was the first person to invest in and believe in us at @Codecademy. he’s been an inspiration and driving force behind many founders since then and went on to change the world with openAI. rooting for his success.
zach sims
@zsims
Jan 8, 2025
Replying to @garrytan
i remember you telling us back pre-launch @Codecademy "you should be embarrassed when you launch your first product...but maybe not this embarrassed" 😄
zach sims
@zsims
Feb 23, 2021
Replying to @zsims
Building a sustainable company: raising money doesn't make you sustainable. Understanding how to make more than you spend does.
zach sims
@zsims
Jan 21, 2020
does anybody actually help companies these days or do they just tweet about helping companies?
zach sims
@zsims
Feb 23, 2021
Replying to @zsims
We pledged to do things differently this time: we focused not on vanity metrics, but on real metrics. We stopped tracking press mentions and started tracking how quickly we could get to cash flow positive. It felt impossible, but we made it happen 18 months later. 📈