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Pioneers & Protagonists

Mike Karnjanaprakorn, cofounder of Skillshare

The easiest way to explain Skillshare is…
a community marketplace to learn anything from anyone.

The idea came from…
a combination of three experiences: 1) putting together The Feast Conference which showed me the power of connecting people around learning experiences; 2) watching Sir Ken Robinson’s “Bring on the Learning Revolution” TED Talk; and 3) playing in the 2010 World Series of Poker. Yes, it’s random! I donated 100% of my poker winnings to charity and got coached by some of the top professional poker players in the world. When I got back to NYC, my friends asked me to teach a class on what I learned, which is when everything clicked. And thus, Skillshare was born.

I believe it’s the right moment for Skillshare to take off because …
we need to start a learning revolution. The pinnacle of education should be learning, not going to college.

What is Skillshare? from Skillshare on Vimeo.

The biggest challenge to overcome is…
creating a global marketplace for learning and convincing every single person they have something valuable to teach.

Favourite Skillshare moment so far was …
the day we launched, there was a tweet going out every minute about Skillshare. It was great to see so many people support our mission and vision behind disrupting education and democratizing learning.

My big piece of advice to social entrepreneurs is…
to drop the world ‘social’ and call themselves an ‘entrepreneur’ instead.

Another example of Collaborative Consumption I admire is …
Airbnb. They’ve grown a remarkable community built around trust, reputation, and having fun.

It’s 2015 and Skillshare has achieved…
our true vision of disrupting education worldwide. The accreditations that our students receive from Skillshare become just as valuable as degrees from top universities around the world.

Archive of Pioneers & Protagonists Interviews

  10 Questions for Benita Matofska, founder of The People Who Share

  10 questions for Marta Nowinska, founder of Swapsity

  10 questions for Ryan Rzepecki, founder of SocialBicycles

  10 questions for Jamie Wong, founder of Vayable

  10 questions for Theo Kitchener, founder of The ShareHood

  10 questions for Kelly Scales, founder of Bid & Borrow

  10 questions for Campbell McKellar, Founder of Loosecubes

  10 questions for Marcio Nigro, founder of Caronetas

  10 questions for Jess Ratcliffe, founder of GaBoom

  10 questions for Philipp Rogge, founder of frents

  10 questions for Tim Hyer, founder of Rentcycle

  10 questions for Barbara Pantuso, founder of Hey, Neighbor!

  Ella T. Gorgla, Founder of I-ELLA

  Cathy Tao, co-founder of Tourboarding

  Mike Karnjanaprakorn, cofounder of Skillshare

  Juha Koponen, Founder of Netcycler

  Michelle Shearer, Founder of MamaBake

  Leah Busque, Founder and CEO of TaskRabbit

  Ron J. Williams, founder of SnapGoods

  Stephen Rapoport, founder of Crashpadder

  Anthony Eskinazi, founder of ParkatmyHouse

  Drummond Gilbert, founder of goCarShare

  David Mahfouda, Founder of Weeels

  Andreas Randow, Founder of StudioShare.org

  Emma Jamvold, Founder of SwapItBaby

  Dave Llorens, CEO of One Block Off The Grid

  Orli Cotel, co-founder of Swap for Good

  Owen Rees-Hayward, Co-founder of Thingloop

  Juliette Anich, Co-founder of The Clothing Exchange

  Keara Schwartz, Founder of Share Some Sugar

  Hans Schoenburg, co-founder of GiftFlow

  Meriel Lenfestey, Co-founder of Ecomodo

  Steve Sammartino, Founder of rentoid.com

  Micki Krimmel, Founder of NeighborGoods

  Shelby Clark, Founder of RelayRides

  James Reinhart, Founder of thredUp

For a complete archive of Pioneers & Protagonists Interviews click HERE.