• 29 March 2024
Clark On Apple’s Planet Of The Apps

Clark On Apple’s Planet Of The Apps

Jun 27, 2017

We’re excited to share some great news about Clark. We were featured on last night’s episode of Planet of The Apps, Apple’s first original series, where we had the opportunity to pitch the Clark product to an esteemed panel of judges, including Jessica Alba, Gwyneth Paltrow, Gary Vaynerchuk, and will.i.am while standing on a moving escalator (without handrails!) followed by a rather successful investment pitch to Lightspeed Venture Partners (LSVP).

Following our successful pitch to Lightspeed we closed our Series Seed led by LSVP, with additional participation from Rethink Education, Flatworld Partners and Winkelvoss Capital. We’re one giant leap closer to making a meaningful impact in the lives of tutors, independent educators, and students across the country, starting with New York City.

You can watch our episode on Apple Music today here.

Our journey started more than a year ago when we first applied to participate on the show. We went through multiple rounds of interviews and demos of the Clark features. Last November we received an exciting call to go to Los Angeles for a final round of interviews, which is when we found out we were officially on the show.

Planet of the Apps brings together innovative entrepreneurs to share their apps and detail how they will impact the way we live our lives. It starts with a lightning pitch, where each entrepreneur has 60 seconds to share their idea in front of the judges on a slow-moving escalator. This was not our favorite part — there were no handrails, and Megan has a serious fear of heights!

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From November 2016 through February 2017 we had the privilege of working with Gary Vaynerchuk during which time he gave us insight on how to perfect our product and get it to where it needed to be. We were thrilled to be advised by Gary, who created VaynerMedia and has built and invested in America’s most well known brands. We couldn’t have asked for a better partner in Gary: he knew how to take our brand to the next level and stand out in a crowded industry. . Gary’s mentorship and advice was invaluable, and he made sure we stayed true to Clark’s mission.

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At the end of the seven weeks, we had the opportunity to pitch Clark to the partners at Lightspeed Venture Partners, an esteemed venture firm known for accelerating the work over 300 companies, including Snapchat where they are one of the earliest investors. They saw the potential of Clark and agreed, on air, to invest in the future of education.

We’re so thankful to have been part of the pilot season of Planet of the Apps and to have met so many smart, creative, and passionate innovators along the way who, like us, are working to make an impact on the world. Companies in the tech and app space typically do a lot to commoditize work, but often don’t do a lot to support the people who are actually doing the work. At Clark, we truly believe that our mission is to help tutors create and maintain successful, efficient businesses and we’re humbled that Lightspeed has made the decision to support an investment in in that mission — one that we believe is always worth making.

We’re ready to keep the momentum going and can’t wait to show you what Clark has in store. Stay tuned for more exciting things to come this September!

Megan & Sam

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About The Author

Megan O'Connor

Megan O'Connor