Interview with Zach Sims, co-founder & CEO of Codecademy

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/zsims" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Zach Sims</strong></a> is the co-founder and CEO of <a href="https://www.codecademy.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Codecademy</a>, the leading online learning platform for technical skills. </p><br><p>Since its founding in 2011, Codecademy has helped over 50 million people from 190+ countries learn how to code. The company has raised over $82M from investors like Union Square Ventures, Naspers, Owl Ventures, Y Combinator, and Kleiner Perkins, supporting its vision to close the technical skills gap and transform people’s lives through engaging, flexible, and accessible online education. </p><br><p>Zach and Codecademy have been recognized by reputable thought leaders as technology pioneers, appeared on numerous 30 under 30 lists, and won many awards. Yet, behind all the hype, things were not always smooth sailing. </p><br><p>In this episode, we talk about the story of Codecademy with Zach and dive into some of his key learnings throughout the journey: the difference between building a movement vs. building a business, the industry's attitude towards VC fundraising, the future of education, and more.</p><br><p>Topics</p><p><strong>00:22</strong> — Introduction with Roxanne Varza </p><p><strong>01:05</strong> — The background and growth stories of Codecademy </p><p><strong>05:08</strong> — Key learnings around VC funding from the early days of Codecademy </p><p><strong>06:50</strong> — Codecademy in a few numbers </p><p><strong>08:06</strong> — The type of people that Codecademy addresses </p><p><strong>08:51</strong> — How Zach learned to code </p><p><strong>09:46</strong> — The evolution of coding since 2011 </p><p><strong>11:00</strong> — The importance of coding education and no-code </p><p><strong>12:08</strong> — How Codecademy keeps up with the no-code trend </p><p><strong>13:14</strong> — Life-changing stories from Codecademy learners </p><p><strong>15:16</strong> — Code education for kids </p><p><strong