Lessonly Using New Funding to ‘Double Down’ on Platform

The co-founder and chief executive officer of Indianapolis-based Lessonly says the company plans to use its latest funding infusion to double down on virtually every aspect of its platform. The company, which provides online training software, closed on a $15 million Series C round of funding last week. Max Yoder says he and his team have been able to figure out what works best over nearly eight years in business and can target the funding to grow those efforts.

In an interview with Inside INdiana Business, Yoder said Lessonly’s growth is the result of the hard work of more than 170 employees.

“What we’ve always focused on doing is building a capital efficient business that doesn’t jeopardize its culture or its unit economics for growth,” said Yoder. “We want to grow in ways that keep our culture strong and keep our unit economics strong. What’s gotten us here so far is that mentality and we can continue doing that with a partner like AXA (Venture Partners).”

The funding round was led by AXA Venture Partners, while Zendesk, Atlas Peak Capital, Allos Ventures, Rethink Education and The Yard Ventures also participated. 

Yoder says the key to accomplishing the goal of growth without sacrificing company culture is to approach every decision methodically. 

“It requires a lot of open communication. We have an executive team that has a lot of general conversations together and they understand that growth needs to be something that’s added to the culture and added to unit economics and that requires a lot of conversation and a lot of saying ‘no’ and saying ‘yes’ more slowly. I think it has a lot to do with not pushing things too hard, too fast.”

Yoder adds the funding will also help support Lessonly’s customers who may be relying more on the platform as businesses switch more to remote work due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He says many of the company’s customers, as well as their own customers, are going through tough times.

“We’re doing our best to be as supportive as we can to our customers who do need extra help right now. There’s a lot of different ways we can do that and we are open to all of them and we feel like it’s our job right now to take this gift of funding that we have and use it really wisely and reinvest it in every way that we think creates a better Lessonly, a better Indianapolis and a better ecosystem that surrounds us.”