The Story of Lynda Weinman and Her $1.5B Company

This lady built a $1.5B company from a $35 domain name by teaching Web Design.

Now It's called Linked Learning!

From learning animation herself to working on Star Trek, she's seen & done everything: pic.twitter.com/8MRezAvArZ

— Tibo (@tibo_maker) March 25, 2023

Lynda Weinman founded Lynda(.)com in 1995 with her husband Bruce Heavin.

It was an online learning platform that offered video courses on web design and software development.

When Lynda sold the company to LinkedIn for $1.5B, it had 6000+ courses and 10M+ users.

— Tibo (@tibo_maker) March 25, 2023

In late 70s, when she was 23, Lynda knew she wanted to be an entrepreneur.

So she borrowed $20,000 from her grandfather to kickstart Vertigo, a retail store that catered to the new wave and punk scene. pic.twitter.com/dWEe2F8ECD

— Tibo (@tibo_maker) March 25, 2023

But, within just four years, she had lost everything and was forced to close the store.

Lynda learned a lot of exceptional things while running the store.

— Tibo (@tibo_maker) March 25, 2023

In the early 1980s, Lynda went to Los Angeles and dove into the world of special effects animation.

She worked on amazing films like The Last Starfighter and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. pic.twitter.com/DoEEtfTu9A

— Tibo (@tibo_maker) March 25, 2023

Lynda started teaching web design in 1993.

After teaching for a while, she quickly realized that there was no book out there for her students to use as a reference.

Instead of complaining about that, she took the matter in her own hands.

— Tibo (@tibo_maker) March 25, 2023

She wrote 'Designing Web Graphics' and it became an instant hit.

Lynda wanted to communicate with her students and her book readers.

So she decided to create a website. pic.twitter.com/wCoVvLmpsK

— Tibo (@tibo_maker) March 25, 2023

In 1995, when she stumbled upon the email address debbie[at]debbie[.]com, she knew what she had to do.

She bought Lynda[.]com for $35 and started communicating with her students and book readers via it.

— Tibo (@tibo_maker) March 25, 2023

After the success of her book, Lynda's husband, Bruce Heavin, had an idea:

"Why not offer a week-long web design class during spring break?"

They advertised the class on their website and were shocked when it sold out, with attendees even flying in from as far as Vienna.

— Tibo (@tibo_maker) March 25, 2023

That one class soon turned into a thriving business.

Using their book royalties, Lynda and Bruce launched their web-design school, offering in-person training programs.

These programs were so popular that they sold out months in advance. pic.twitter.com/NITxTDkM1D

— Tibo (@tibo_maker) March 25, 2023

It was clear they were onto something big.

The business was doing great.

At its peak, they had 35 employees and $3.5 million in revenue.

Everything was great until 2001 - The dot-com crash.

— Tibo (@tibo_maker) March 25, 2023

They had to lay off 75% of the staff and downsize their home.

The company was barely surviving.

So they took this one IMPORTANT decision:

'To Put everything online'

— Tibo (@tibo_maker) March 25, 2023

Remember, this was a time when watching movies on computers was still a new thing.https://t.co/koQFal0BSf put up a pay-wall and offered a $25 monthly subscription service.

With only about 1,000 subscribers to start, the company was barely surviving. pic.twitter.com/6ZchQ0sQGk

— Tibo (@tibo_maker) March 25, 2023

Lynda wasn't confident they'd stay in business.

But she was patient.

She knew that growing an online member base would take time.

— Tibo (@tibo_maker) March 25, 2023

It did take time, just not much.

Fast forward to 2006, and the members 10x'd

When they hit 100k members, Lynda took all of her 150 employees and their families to Disneyland to celebrate. pic.twitter.com/GAbByDuveB

— Tibo (@tibo_maker) March 25, 2023

In 2007, Lynda brought in a CEO to streamline operations.

While the massive open online course (MOOC) craze swept the education industry, the company stayed true to its approach.

Their library quickly. From 20 to 6,300 courses and 267,000 video tutorials.

— Tibo (@tibo_maker) March 25, 2023

Their moat became offering bite-sized videos.

When LinkedIn came knocking with an offer, Lynda was surprised.

She didn't want to retire and they weren't looking for a buyer.

— Tibo (@tibo_maker) March 25, 2023

But upon reflection, the acquisition made perfect sense.

Both sites were go-to resources for career development.

And the deal was sealed.

Lynda .com was bought for $1.5B by LinkedIn. pic.twitter.com/dQC9rf52fw

— Tibo (@tibo_maker) March 25, 2023

Lynda .com eventually became LinkedIn Learning which is still running.

This is a great story of how solving a problem you are facing can lead to outsized outcomes.

— Tibo (@tibo_maker) March 25, 2023