Careers at CreativeLive

Mission

CreativeLive’s mission is unleashing the creative potential of millions.

History

CreativeLive was founded in 2010 in Seattle by Chase Jarvis (CEO) and Craig Swanson. The Company was founded as an education platform, it broadcasts live online classes open to audiences across the world for free.

CreativeLive was born out of disappointment and frustration with higher education systems. The founder Chris Jarvis was immensely passionate about photography, which, as we are all aware, has not been widely accepted into mainstream education models. Chris was inspired to find his own way and find his own mentors in order to grow in his passion and subsequently CreativeLive was born.

The idea behind the Company was to provide courses that may not be accessible in the conventional systems to various people. Chris Jarvis had also been encouraged by a successful presentation of a live streamed photo shoot he made on Ustream when the service launched in 2007 and twenty-five thousand viewers watched the shoot.

CreativeLive has an edge that most online tutorials lack. The lessons are broadcasted live and tutors are engaged by a few scholars present in the studio while a majority of the audience watches online. For any broadcast, an average of 20,000 to 60,000 live viewers tune in online. The largest online audience CreativeLive was a lecture course by author Ramit Sethi titled ‘Essentials for Creative Entrepreneurs’; the three-day course exceeded an audience of over 150,000 live viewers.

The underlying question here is if all the broadcasts are free, how did the Company expect to generate revenue? What’s their angle? The answer to this is simple; all courses broadcasted on the site take an average of two to three days. If the viewer attends all the broadcasts, then the course will be free. However, if the viewer misses the live broadcast, to access it that viewer must pay a fee ranging $50 to $300.

Additionally, if a person intends to watch or attend a certain course but will not be available at the time of the live broadcast, they have the option to pre-order it also at a specified fee.

CreativeLive currently has four fully functional production studios in their offices in Seattle and San Francisco some of which are over 12,000 square feet. The professional approach taken by CreativeLive makes their broadcasts seem more like television broadcast as opposed to conventional internet educational clips.

In October 2012, CreativeLive received $7.5 million in its Series A funding from Greylock Partners and by March 2013, the Company had received further funding of $500k from GV, CrunchFund, and CAA Ventures. In November 2013, CrunchLive received $21.5 million in its Series B funding led by Felicis Ventures, Greylock Partners, Social Capital, and CAA Ventures. The Company then received $21.5 million on February 2015 led by Lepe Partners, Greylock Partners, Social Capital, and GV as supplementary for the company’s initial Series B funding.

CreativeLive’s radical approach to education has granted a platform for people with sidelined passions to grow to their skills in a world that would have otherwise frustrated their dreams. The Company has over 650 expert instructors and creative professionals and serves more than 10,000,000 individual students across the world. The Company currently has an estimated annual revenue $4.9 million and a permanent employee base of roughly 280 personnel.