Dabble Founders Jessica Lybeck and Erin Hopmann
When Hoply duo Jessica Lybeck and Erin Hopmann stumbled upon a great idea for taking classes and learning new things, they were excited. So excited that they quickly found themselves abandoning Hoply in full-time pursuit of Dabble.
Dabble is a platform for teaching and taking classes – with a twist. Lybeck and Hopmann recognized that sometimes people don’t want to commit to a 6 or 8 week course, and the cost of those courses can be expensive. They created Dabble as a way to introduce (or reintroduce) new ideas, classes and concepts to the young professional community.
For only $20 bucks and a couple of hours, you can learn to do dozens of different things; beer brewing is the most popular course, but you can learn to knit or paint or start a blog….and the list goes on.
With the minimal commitment and wallet-friendly prices, Dabble has sold over 415 tickets since it’s May 23rd launch. 90% of their teachers want to teach again, which suggests that Dabble is here to stay.
“I think we struck the right chord,” says Hopmann. “It’s not just unique to us, it’s what other people were craving too.”
That craving was evidenced just this past week at TechWeek, when Dabble won the People’s Choice Award for the MidVenture’s Demo.
“Every little win like that propels us forward a little more,” says Hopmann. “They say that a startup is a rollercoaster, a bunch of ups and downs, but I felt that so much more with Hoply than I do with Dabble. I think we’ve been so lucky to be on this trajectory that’s so positive.”
If Dabble lacks anything, it’s a somewhat limited curriculum due to its growing size. But as it continues to grow, they want to branch out into new target markets such as moms or corporate. And while they’ve garnered over 200 requests to start Dabble in new cities, Chicago remains its home.
Still, the duo experiments with all sorts of classes, so keep your eyes peeled for your interests. Teachers can submit class ideas and Dabble takes all of the administrative work off your hands, which is a boon to anyone who’s ever tried to teach a class. Even better, these gals will split the ticket with you and you take home a 50% chunk-and they cover the admin costs.
Of course, the price you pay is adhering to their standards which are fun and quirky, but set. This isn’t just another Craigslist for classes.
“It’s important for us to have a Dabble brand, not just be a free-for-all marketplace,” says Hopmann.
Sign up for a class or submit a form to teach one at www.dabblehq.com.
Dabble – How it works from Dabblehq on Vimeo.
