ALWAYS A GREYHOUND: CHUCK COHN Class of 2004
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Clayton Alumni accomplish interesting and incredible things in every industry, all across the country and even around the world! Each month, we’ll profile a different Greyhound graduate. If you know a Clayton Alum who should be recognized, we want to tell their story! Contact us at globe@claytonschools.net.
ver since he was 5-years-old, Chuck Cohn has always known that his dream was to be an entrepreneur. What the Clayton alumnus discovered early, however, was that starting and promoting a business is never easy. Throughout his youth, Cohn made several unsuccessful attempts at starting businesses, one of which included a summer camp in his front yard on Maryland Avenue. This early lack of success did not crush his interest in entrepreneurship, and during his time at Clayton High School Cohn took advantage of the many math and business classes and clubs offered. Cohn’s company, Varsity Tutors, is the largest online learning platform in the United States, connecting more than 100,000 students with 40,000 tutors who teach over 3,000 subjects. Headquartered on South Hanley Road in St. Louis, the company has expanded to include offices across the U.S. Cohn’s interest in high-quality tutoring began in high school. Finding himself failing a math class, Cohn sought out a talented and in-demand math tutor who was able to help him turn his F into an A. .After graduating from CHS in 2004, Cohn pursued his interests in business at Washington University in St. Louis (WashU), where he studied finance and entrepreneurship.Once again, Cohn found himself struggling, this time with a
calculus course. Two friends offered to tutor him the night before an exam and he was able to pass. “I probably would have gotten a zero if it weren’t for their help,” explained Cohn, “and I had an epiphany that there was really an opportunity to pair students with people like them who were passionate and had great communication skills.” Inspired to make a change, Cohn suggested that his friends join him in starting a small tutoring business. Borrowing $1,000 from his parents, Cohn created a three-page website to promote their services. His group then began to spread the word by posting advertisements in coffee shops and calling schools. Cohn develop his idea further in an entrepreneurship course at WashU. “One of the things I benefited from was going and seeking out smart people that were willing to provide their expertise. One of the life hacks I’ve used along the way is recognizing that there are people out there that have solved problems and experienced challenges comparable to what you might be experiencing. Sometimes it takes a little bit of work to find them.” During his senior year, when Cohn found himself having to step out of class to answer phone calls from parents, he realized his business required more support. Cohn hired his first full-time employee to help manage certain tasks. By the time he graduated WashU in 2008, Varsity Tutors was still a small business with an uncertain future. So Cohn took a job in investment banking and continued working on Varsity Tutors nights and weekends. A year later, he took a position at a venture capital firm where he was able to meet and learn from other entrepreneurs. “I was exposed to a lot of great management teams, and heard them describe how they would take a concept or a small product and grow it into something that was truly special and industry-leading.” By the end of 2011, Varsity Tutors had 11
full-time employees and 200 tutors. In order to make further progress, Cohn decided to quit his day job and focus his full attention on the company. Within a few short years, the company completed two rounds of Series C funding and counted Technology Crossover Ventures, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and singer Adam Levine among its investors. Varsity Tutors became the most well-funded startup in Missouri, with $107 million dollars in capital. After slowly gaining local and national recognition, Varsity Tutors was bound to make an international impact. In September 2017, the company announced the acquisition of First Tutors, a multinational private tutoring company based in the United Kingdom, marking the first major expansion. Cohn attributes the company’s success to its goal: providing affordable, convenient, and high-quality services to the public through the medium of technology. “We’ve [taken market share] through the application of technology: by taking complex problems, coding them into software, and trying to make them repeatable and scalable in a way that had never happened in this particular industry. It had been labor and data intensive, which is why you had never seen a company be able to scale live learning on the internet in the way that we’ve been able to do at this point.” Varsity Tutors demonstrates that technology is the future of learning, connection, and innovation. Cohn says that this is just the beginning. Early in 2021, Varsity Tutors’ parent company Nerdy announced plans to go public by merging with special purpose acquisition company TPG Pace Tech Opportunities. In September, the company became St. Louis’ newest public company, and the first valued over a billion dollars. “With learning rapidly shifting to online, and increased consumer acceptance of that, I think there’s an ability to help scale live learning and expertise transfer that has never occurred before,” said Cohn. ”It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity for an entire industry.”
SERAPHINA CORBO SENIOR MANAGING EDITOR
Always a Greyhound Alumni Profiles are brought to you by the Clayton Education Foundation: Funding classroom innovations, providing educational opportunities and promoting lifelong connections for alumni. www.ClaytonEducationFoundation.org
