Zachary Sims – Codecademy

This resource has been valuable in my work. I teach coding to middle school students and it has been a great way to challenge them to deepen their understanding of various languages. It has also helped me learn some of the basics of various languages. His story and advice are inspirational and valuable. It shows what can happen when someone persists and strives to do their best!

Thanks for sharing this inspiring story with us. For me, the most impressive takeaway is Mr. Sims’ second advice, “Transparency is the best policy when running a company”. I know that radical truth and radical transparency are also one of the work principles of Ray Dalio, and I know that it’s extremely difficult to really implement it in the day-to-day work. Probably that’s the reason why Mr. Sims succeed in his entrepreneurship case.

Perhaps Mr. Sim's greatest strength is his humility in that he doesn't know everything or that he doesn't have a the traditional path of education as other entrepreneurs. With that, his emphasis on honesty and communication allows him to never stop learning as well as empower his employees to take on greater roles. His story is truly inspirational and the culture of his company seems like a great venture to invest in.

The lesson that I take from this profile, and the admiration I have for this entrepreneur, is the focus on learning. There's such a strong thread of a focus on learning: principle #3 (ok to not know everything - and do something about it!), the customer development view, identification of the gap between programs and the skills needed in the workplace, or even the recognition that university is not necessarily the path for all. Zachary seems have been able to navigate between "education" and "learning" with a strong focus on the latter. If our goal is just education (credentials, programs, events), rather than learning we can lose sight of the objectives of the investment (time and/or money).

Zachary Sims is one of the rare, successful start-up founders that dropped out of college to lead a venture with minimal experience. I admittedly would not have invested in his venture based on his lack of experience, credentials, and decision to drop out of a top tier school that could have helped develop his business acumen and critical thinking skills, but his success exemplifies what is possible with passion and dedication. Considering Mr. Sims founded Codecademy at 20, his experience at other tech start-ups was probably limited; however, his idea matched with an experienced leadership team and Board helped the company succeed. The company’s 2017 partnership with Amazon also demonstrates Mr. Simms willingness to evolve and find new markets to sustain the company’s success, especially since the online skills training space is quite saturated. Sims advice is inspirational, though I find his encouragement to ditch your phone during the workday an indication that someone else might be doing most of the heavy lifting in terms of the company’s operations (unless he sits at a desk most of the day answering emails on his laptop). Nonetheless, Sims ambition, willingness to take risks as demonstrated by his dropping out of school, and response to the opportunity he saw in the market makes him a stand-out leader.

I was very impressed how Zachary Sims could recognize a need (graduates learning to code) and passionately pursuing providing an efficient and powerful solution. I think Mr. Sims focusing on experiencing the customer perspective is indicative of a start up priority, no wonder so many start up entrepreneurs prefer the start up stage! I personally like Mr. Sim’s assertion that it is OK to not know everything. In my experience, I have found that past business culture has prioritized leaders being all-knowing, but contemporary business culture seems to emphasize a good leader is not afraid to let others know their knowledge limits but also demonstrate skills in valuing others’ skills. I wonder if that is a biproduct of living in a world of instantly available information; regardless, the new emphasis on discovery allows for business leaders like Mr. Sim to grow.

Zachary is one of the entrepreneurs who had the gumption, risk adversity, and luck, to be able to get out at the forefront of an online course age. He saw an opportunity, dropped out to seize it, and lived to tell another day; perhaps several many more after that due to his success. I'm impressed with his back story, and the courage that it takes in order to take up a venture like this.

I admire Zachary Sims’ humility, confidence, and tenacity, a rare combination of qualities that certainly contributed to his success. He was confident enough to quit school, but humble enough to admit he knew nothing and hire talented people who knew more. I also admire that he endeavors to see everything from his users’ perspective. I am sure his confidence, persistence, and eagerness to continue learning are how he has kept his place at the top.

What stood out to me about Zachary Sims is his involvement within his own company. He acts upon the philosophies he builds codeacademy upon. Not only does he emphasize the importance of customer feedback, he continues to build upon that by taking all of his own courses so that he can see from his customer's perspective. A successful entrepreneur is one that evolves and by putting customer feedback first, this guarantees a company that will not remain static.

I am very impressed by Zachary Sims! He is definitely an entrepreneur I am inspired by and would invest in! He saw a need for training people how to code and then truly seized the opportunity by jumping in with both feet and creating Codeacademy. I think it is very worth noting how he adapted his own company (by taking his own courses) after learning from previous jobs that a lack of understanding the user-experience can pose problems for the company. I truly believe that people who are the most reflective will become the most successful as they are always pivoting and adapting after their own successes and failures. There is no doubt in my mind that we will see more ventures from the dedicated Zachary Sims in the future, and I can’t wait to see what programs he comes up with next!