Digital bulletin boards for users to generate and share content, with flexible layouts.

Multi-Modal Content

Seamless support for adding anything you find online onto Padlet.

Real-time Collaboration

Established niche in classroom activity. Teachers love Padlet for engaging students in class.

• Studied Computer Engineering @ NUS

• NOC SV Alum!

• Summer of 2012 Cohort

  Non-equity Funding

• Y Combinator Batch 13 (2013)

  $100,000 in Pre-Seed

  3 months accelerator

• Seed round (2015)

  Closed $1.2 million USD (Seed)

• Series A (2019)

  $11 million USD

iOS in 2015 and Android in 2016. This was key to Padlet breaking into classrooms and making padlet usable by students and not just teachers

Monetization

Freemium model, first introduced in 2018

Usage boom during COVID-19

80million MAU at its peak.

• Fundraising challenges as first-time founder with limited networks

Unique niche from Day 1.

Not easy to break into education -> double down to deepen our moat in the sector

Professional Development

Workforce training, HR

Creatives

Creative agencies, startups use Padlet to document and share ideas.

• Separate pricing for individual teachers, teams, schools (enterprise)

Distribution

• Close 50/50 revenue split between personal (b2c) plans and schools (b2b) plans as of the time of this case

The company has grown significantly during the pandemic both in org headcount and features. Not feasible to scale down.

Scaling revenue is the only answer.

"We would do everything if we had the resources, but we need to prioritize" - Bryan Chong

Given a small sales team with limited resources and urgent need to scale revenue, should Padlet...

Double down on conferences

Focus on building more scalable sales funnel

Engrained a culture of product-first approach to distribution.

Frequent appearances at various Education conferences across the world -> platform to share the product directly with educators and get feedback

• Strong brand trust and educator loyalty (“cult-like” following).

• Simple, intuitive UX driving viral classroom adoption

• Uniquely sticky product with strong product-market fit for educators

Weaknesses

• No formal sales infrastructure before recent hires

• Manual, unclear upgrade path from freemium to enterprise

• Lack of scalable, repeatable growth systems

"Double Down on Conferences"

• Leverages Padlet’s brand love & teacher evangelists

• Tactics: Conferences, teacher advocacy, feedback loops

• Strength: Authentic, sticky grassroots growth

• Proof: “Padlet for Schools” success via ground-up adoption

• Goal: Professionalize what already works—better booths, systematic lead capture

• Global expansion via reseller/channel partnerships

• Institutional sales: proven district-level demand

Threats

• Rising competition targeting large contracts

• Post-pandemic churn & shifting user behavior

"Build a Scalable Digital-First Funnel"

• Focus: Direct outreach to B2B buyers (IT, Principals)

• Tactics: LinkedIn ads, webinars, case studies, inside sales

• Strength: Scalable, measurable, always-on engine

• Goal: Address core GTM gaps with modern SaaS playbook