On Tuesday 4 February, the Entrepreneurship Society welcomed Johan Brand, co-founder and former CEO of Kahoot, the game-based learning platform in use by teachers worldwide. Brand shared his entrepreneurial journey and insights with Eton students, centring on how a focus on play and engagement led to his creation of an established global education technology platform, emphasising that entrepreneurial success often comes from having the courage to fail publicly.
Brand’s entrepreneurial vision emerged from a simple observation – the stark contrast between the energy at concerts and a typical classroom environment. “Everyone at a concert wants to be on stage because it’s thrilling,” Brand explained. “We wanted to bring that same excitement to learning.” This insight, as well as his personal experiences with dyslexia, drove him to revolutionise classroom engagement.
Kahoot’s formula for success rests on connecting three pillars, as outlined by Brand: emotional engagement (the heart), intellectual stimulation (the mind), and cooperation (the hand). This approach proves particularly effective for students who traditionally struggle with conventional learning methods. He emphasised the importance of making learning interactive and accessible, noting that Kahoot’s no-code platform was intentionally designed for ease of use.
Despite initial scepticism from investors who viewed Kahoot as “childish,” Brand secured $7,000,000 in initial funding, which he used to develop the platform. He remarked, however, that only $500,000 of this funding was spent building the app, and the additional $6.5 million was spent on scaling the platform. “Building a successful start-up requires progression from personal to team to business to ecosystem,” Brand advised the audience. He stressed the significance of branding, explaining how Kahoot deliberately positions itself as an alternative to traditional educational approaches through enhanced competition and engagement.
The session included an interactive Kahoot quiz, allowing students to experience firsthand the platform’s ability to transform any meeting into an engaging, competitive experience. Brand’s fundamental insight – that quizzes are a universal concept, but with ample flexibility – has proven enduring, with Kahoot now serving millions of users globally.
The event concluded with Brand emphasising the importance of having the vision to transform traditional experiences into engaging, modern solutions. His message to aspiring entrepreneurs was clear: focus on solving real problems, build strong teams, and stand up to the fear of challenging conventional wisdom.
