# Scoodle Financial Model Two-sided marketplace + SaaS subscription platform connecting students with verified educators for Q&A, content, and lesson bookings - "Twitch for educators" - Canonical: https://finamodel.com/startups/scoodle - Excel download: https://finamodel.com/startup-models/scoodle.xlsx - Category: Marketplace - Model type: Marketplace / GMV - Funding round: Seed - Funding: $2M - Founded: 2021 - Geography: UK (prices in £; scoodle.co.uk); targeting global scale - Customer: B2C ## About the company Scoodle is a platform connecting students with verified educators for questions, learning content, and lesson bookings. Educators build searchable profiles, contribute answers and resources, and use matching tools, while students discover teachers through a marketplace-like learning experience. The platform deliberately charges no commission on lessons; its primary revenue is a £10-per-month educator subscription billed annually. The deck reported rapid user growth to 150,000 users, 1.5 million student questions answered, and a tutor funnel in which one in five starts a trial. The model is a SaaS ARR build with marketplace activity as the acquisition engine. New educators, trial starts, paid conversion, monthly price, retention, and upgrades determine recurring revenue, while student engagement supports tutor demand. Tutor acquisition cost, trial conversion, educator churn, and content activity are the main forecasting inputs. ## What's included - 5-year monthly revenue build with stage-appropriate growth assumptions - Full P&L, headcount plan, and operating-expense schedule - Cash-flow statement, runway, and burn-rate tracking - Valuation via exit multiple with a DCF cross-check - Returns analysis with MOIC and IRR - Unit economics including CAC, LTV, payback, and cohort retention ## Product & value proposition Three-sided platform: students ask questions / book lessons; educators build profiles, share content, earn from lessons and content royalties. Key differentiators: - 0% commission on lesson bookings - educators keep 100% of lesson fees - SEO-indexed educator profiles (LinkedIn-style discovery) - TeachRank algorithm (ML-driven student–educator matching) - Q&A layer (StackOverflow-style; educators answerable and bookable) Subscription tier for educators (£10/month, billed annually; 3-day free trial): - Up to 10x more messages, premium search listing, zero fees on lessons, unlimited resources, no ads ## Market - TAM: $5.2 trillion / 2.6 billion users (global education spend) - SAM: $346.5m / 156 million users - SOM: £12.5m / 1 million users: "The market will be $200bn in 2 years" (online learning sub-segment, no source cited) No CAGR figure provided in deck. ## Revenue model Primary: Educator SaaS subscription - £10/month billed annually - Free tier exists; paid tier unlocks premium features - 3-day free trial funnel; 1 in 5 new tutors start trials - 4.7% of new tutors convert to paying users Scale target: 100k subscribers × £10/month = £12m ARR Secondary (implied, not explicitly priced): - Content royalties for educators (mentioned in slide 2; no rate stated) - No booking commission charged (0% model - platform monetises via subscription only) No student-side monetisation described beyond implied ad-free premium experience. ## Traction & metrics User growth (quarterly, Google Analytics): - Apr–Jun: 14,000 users - Jul–Sep: 20,500 users - Oct–Dec: 31,500 users - Jan–Mar: 51,000 users (~262% cumulative growth over 4 quarters; ~62% QoQ in final quarter) Pre-seed milestone: grew to 150,000 users, helped students 1.5 million times, revenue generating (growing 10% weekly at time of that round) Current raise milestone: targets 500k MAUs, £100k MRR, 10,000 education influencers Revenue: - 20% weekly revenue growth, Nov–Apr - Gross revenue line tracking above 10%-weekly target at latest data point - No absolute revenue figure disclosed CAC: - Student CAC: £0.70–£0.90 - Educator CAC: £2.30–£3.20 - Referral uplift: 20% (every 10 downloads → 2 free users) COVID tailwind: CPMs fell from £1.50 → £0.50 (3x reduction), revenue and MAUs both increased with minimal marketing spend increase. ## Unit economics - Student CAC: £0.70–£0.90 - Educator CAC: £2.30–£3.20 - Subscription ARPU: £10/month (£120/year) - Trial-to-paid conversion: 4.7% of new tutors - Trial start rate: 1 in 5 (20%) new tutors Implied educator funnel: 100 new tutors → 20 start trials → 4.7 convert to paid → £47/month new MRR per 100 tutors acquired at £2.30–£3.20 CAC each = £230–£320 CAC spend → payback ~5–7 months ## Competition / moat Positioning: "LinkedIn created a professional identity. Facebook created a social identity. Scoodle will create the teaching identity." Differentiation vs implied competitors (Tutorful, Superprof, Chegg, etc.): - 0% booking commission (vs typical 15–25% on rivals) - Content + Q&A + booking in one platform - TeachRank ML algorithm for discovery - SEO-indexed profiles for organic educator discovery Named validators: Biz Stone (Twitter/Medium founder, invested); investor base includes ex-Google, Miniclip, Oxford professor ## Team & funding ask / use of funds Team: - Ismail Jeilani - CEO & Co-founder; ex-Google (digital marketing); ex-PM edtech; ran £400k teaching business; FT top 100 minorities in tech - Mujavid Bukhari - Co-founder & Data; ex-Google (YouTube, gDocs, Gmail); ex-Codecademy (100k students) - Imdad Ahad - CTO & Co-founder; ex-UK Government Digital Services; ex-FTSE 100 (BT, BAE, Shell, GE, Accenture); YouTube 500k+ views - Rasheed Wihaib - Engineer, ex-Shazam & Google - Hayley Ard - Marketing, ex-Head of Consumer Lifestyle @ Stylus - Muntasir Syed - Engineer, ex-Haplo (edtech) - Brad Wallington - Senior Product Designer, ex-Head of Design @ YR Live Funding history: - Angel round: £180k → built iOS/Android/web, 25,000 users, joined Oxford Foundry accelerator - Pre-seed: £680k → 150,000 users, 1.5m student interactions, revenue, team of 6 Current raise: - Target: £1.2m (£800k committed) - Use of funds (implied by milestones): learning resources platform, video platform, enhanced ML ranking/matching; growth to 500k MAUs, £100k MRR, 10,000 education influencers --- ## Recommended financial model **Archetype + why:** SaaS ARR model with marketplace supply/demand funnel overlay. Revenue is purely subscription-driven (£10/month educator premium); the marketplace layer (lesson bookings, Q&A) is the acquisition and engagement engine, not a revenue line. Model should track educator funnel → trial → paid conversion → ARR, plus student MAU growth as leading indicator of educator demand. **Forecast horizon & granularity:** Monthly for 3 years (36 months); Year 1 detailed, Years 2–3 quarterly rollup acceptable. Deck targets are milestone-based, so monthly granularity needed to validate 500k MAU / £100k MRR waypoints. **Key drivers & assumptions:** Supply side (educators): - New tutors/month: ~500/month at current stage, growing with paid acquisition + referral; scale per budget - Educator CAC: £2.30–£3.20; blend to £2.75 - Trial start rate: 20% of new tutors - Trial-to-paid conversion: 4.7% of new tutors (or ~23.5% of trial starters) - Paid churn rate: 3–5%/month - typical for B2C SaaS at this stage; no deck data - ARPU: £10/month, billed annually (model as monthly for simplicity) Demand side (students): - MAU growth: from ~51k (Jan–Mar quarter-end); implied acceleration to 500k MAU target - Student CAC: £0.70–£0.90; blend to £0.80 - Referral uplift: 20% of paid installs are organic referral - Student monetisation: £0 for now Revenue: - MRR = paid subscribers × £10 - ARR = MRR × 12 - Target: £100k MRR = 10,000 paid subscribers - Scale case: £12m ARR = 100,000 subscribers Costs: - Marketing / paid acquisition: primary spend line; drives both student and educator CAC - Headcount: 6 FTE at pre-seed; model incremental hires against milestones - Infrastructure (hosting/AWS): ~5–8% of revenue at scale; minimal at current stage - Content royalty payouts: negligible until video platform launches; flag as future cost line **Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear - which variables flex):** - Bear: Educator CAC £4+, trial conversion 3%, churn 6%/month → slow ARR ramp - Base: CAC £2.75, conversion 4.7%, churn 4%/month → hits £100k MRR in ~18–24 months post-raise - Bull: CPMs stay low (COVID tailwind sustained), conversion 7%, churn 2%/month → £100k MRR in 12 months; referral loop kicks in at scale **Required sheets / outputs:** 1. Assumptions - all drivers with scenario toggle (Base/Bull/Bear) 2. Educator Funnel - new tutors → trials → paid converts → active subs (waterfall) 3. Student MAU - growth model with paid + organic/referral split 4. P&L - MRR/ARR, marketing spend, headcount, infrastructure, net burn 5. Cash & Runway - opening cash (raise proceeds), monthly burn, runway months 6. KPI Dashboard - MRR, ARR, paid subs, MAU, student CAC, educator CAC, conversion %, churn % ## Frequently asked questions ### Is the Scoodle financial model free? Yes. The Scoodle model is a free Excel download with live formulas. ### Can I change the assumptions? Yes. The workbook is editable and its live formulas recalculate when assumptions change.