Most AI study tools launched with a whimper in 2023.
Quizard launched with 1 million views in 48 hours.
Three college students in a dorm room posted their first 3 TikToks on January 28th, 2023. Within two days, they went from 100 users to 10,000 users and hit #30 on the App Store education charts.
One year later: $1M+ ARR, 1.3M+ students, 35M+ questions answered.
via Michael’s LinkedIn
The Format That Started It All: Caught in Class
Their breakthrough content showed what students actually do on their laptops during lectures: doomscrolling Instagram, playing Roblox, GPT-ing their way through assignments.
and truth to be told that's what happens in most college classes.
The genius wasn't just calling out the problem, but in showing Quizard as the natural solution without making it feel like an ad.
And the craziest part is that they 40m+ views from this format alone, which brings us to our next point:
They picked 3-4 proven formats and deployed them in different contexts.
They ran the college class format dozens of times with slight variations. Each iteration tested different angles, different creators, different hooks, but kept the core formula intact.
When you find a format that generates nearly a 100M views alone, you don't abandon it for something new. You squeeze every ounce of value from it first.
By August 2024, they diversified started incorporating more different formats like man on the street videos featuring real student reactions, influencer campaigns (credibility through popular student creators), UGC videos, Rewarded in-app referrals, and paid ads.
Videos like these are most effective for engaging a wider audience without really selling anything, and building awareness.
This multi-channel approach drove 200% revenue growth in 2 months during back-to-school season.
But what makes them standout the most is knowing that they jumped on all the right trends at the right time, especially given how seasonal consumer edtech is.