Tech
Here’s an exclusive look at the pitch deck that Y Combinator alum Careerist, a tech career training and job placement startup, used to raise $8 million
subscribers.
Become an Insider
and start reading now.
Have an account? .
- Careerist is an edtech startup that helps train and recruit workers for open tech jobs.
- The startup was founded in 2019 and was in Y Combinator’s spring 2021 cohort.
- Now, the team has grown to over 100 employees and just raised $8 million in venture capital funding.
Careerist cofounder and CEO Ivan Tsybaev’s first discovered his passion for computer science as a child. As a high school student in Russia, Tsybaev would attend coding competitions, and wanted to pursue computer science in college.
Unfortunately, his family couldn’t afford to send him to Moscow for college to pursue this track. But ultimately, he went to Sakhalin State University and became a financial analyst instead. Yet for years, he still “kept this frustration” that he wasn’t able to become a software developer, he told Insider.
subscribers.
Become an Insider
and start reading now.
Have an account? .
Tsybaev moved to the United States in 2009 to become a tech entrepreneur. After founding several companies, including the online trucking marketplace TruckerPath, he teamed up with TruckerPath colleague Max Gusakov and the business development professional Max Glubochansky to launch Careerist, to be the tech careers bootcamp he wished he had when he was looking to pursue a career in software development in high school.
Now, Careerist has raised $8 million in a Series A round from a range of investors, including Cathexis Ventures, Xploration Capital, Cold Start Ventures, Grand Park Ventures, Y Combinator, and angel investors like James Herbert from First Republic Bank and Mikita Mikado, the founder of PandaDoc.
Through Careerist, early and mid-career professionals can take live technical training and complete self-paced coursework taught by third party tutors. Tuition for the different programs vary, but are half as expensive if students pay in a single upfront payment rather than in monthly installments. A Careerist course in systems engineering, for example, runs around $3,500 upfront or $7,000 in installments, according to the website. In contrast, a bootcamp from Flatiron School would cost over $17,000. Careerist offers its students multiple financing options like loan programs, Tsybaev said.
Careerist also offers tech recruiting help, automating the job application process to help users find viable leads for new roles. The team also has partnerships with a number of employers for internships, to help students gain working experience while applying to full time roles, Tsybaev said.
The startup was accepted into Y Combinator’s spring 2021 batch, which was an exciting accomplishment for Tysbaev: “I got three rejections before getting accepted,” he said of his past applications with other startups. The accelerator helped the Careerist team get in touch with investors for the company’s seed round and also many employer partners, and was very helpful in figuring out how best to grow the business, Tysbaev said.
Check out the 12-slide pitch deck Careerist used to raise $8 million:
Careerist
Careerist
Careerist
Careerist
Careerist
Careerist
Careerist
Careerist
Careerist
Careerist
Careerist