eLearning Brothers was founded back in 2009 in the Salt Lake City, Utah area by siblings Shawn and Andrew Scivally. The company provides elearning templates, custom elearning design, and training for elearning professionals all over the world. The company has raked in $3.4 million in revenue last year and had a 649% growth within a 3 year period. In 2015 eLearning Brothers was ranked #5 for top education company and #18 for top Utah based company by Inc.com.
Products and Services
> Template library
>Images, videos, and stock photos library
>PPT graphic library
>Gamification builders for elearning design
>eLearning course development
>Software training for elearning professionals
Shawn Scivally has a professional background as graphic designer for a couple years before going onto to become a Multimedia/Instructional Designer for Chase Bank and later an elearning multimedia developer for Wendy’s International. Andrew Scivally started his career in elearning as training specialist for JPMorgan Chase, he was with this company for several years and eventually became their Training and Development Lead. In 2006 Andrew Scivally joined Zion Bank and became their VP of Training and Development. After the sudden passing of Shawn’s wife in 2008, he (along with his 3 children) moved from his home in Ohio to Utah to be closer to the rest of the family. The two brothers sat outside of a movie theatre and discussed their life long dream of starting a business together, the elearning industry was a natural choice for the two brothers as both were currently working within it.
Shawn started off by designing templates for elearning and showcasing them on a website. There was an interest for this and they gained a few customers, raking in roughly $1000 per month. They created a business model where people pay a fee to sign up for an annual membership to access 25, 000 elearning templates as well as quizes, games, player skins, cutout people, layouts, and other elearning design resources.
The brothers faced some obstacles with their entrepreneurial project in the beginning. Shawn was more introverted and wasn’t too comfortable with selling, he would much rather stay on the product development side of the business. Andrew was still working full time and his day job took time away from hours he should spend selling. In 2010, the brothers quit their days jobs and focused on their company full time. Even though business was picking up this was still not an easy decision especially for Andrew who had 6 children and $1 million mortgage debt. There were many times that no money was coming in, eventually things began to pick up by 2012.
eLearnining Brothers has a very unique selling technique. Their sales team would never suit up or be formal at trade shows. They were encouraged to be quirky and energetic, wearing bright orange shirts and shorts. They wanted to market themselves as a brand that provides a colourful, interactive elearning experience that will motivate learners to get excited about education.
I chose this particular venture because most of their clients are companies who are looking for elaearning resources to train their employees. I have an interest in employee development and would love to start a venture where I focus on adult education. This venture gave me a unique perspective because my original idea was to have a venture where I develop specific elearning courses, I never really thought about the possibility of creating elearning templates and other resources for company in-house instructional designers to use. I also love their company culture, I love how quirky their team is and how dedicated they are to innovating their products. That is the the type of leader I aspire to be. Have a fun atmosphere and down to earth leadership style where people enjoy working with my company and for my company. On an unrelated note, I am also very close to my younger sister, she is my best friend and it was touching to see two siblings being there for each other through the tough times and building something great together which was another reason this company stuck out to me. I love how the founders value family.
Andrew Scivally Shawn Scivally
C0-Founder of eLearning Brothers C0-Founder of eLearning Brothers
