Opennote

What do they actually do

Opennote is a note-taking and learning app with an AI tutor layered on top. You can write or upload class materials (notes, PDFs, images), and the app turns them into study artifacts like short explainer videos/animations, whiteboards/diagrams, and practice problems. It also provides an in‑context chat that answers questions about your notes, plus a Journals view for ongoing study and a Spaces area to collaborate or share materials (site, intro video, Journals demo, Devpost demo, community).

A typical workflow is: upload or create notes; the app generates videos/diagrams and practice tied to that content; you study in Journals and use the embedded chat for clarifications or next steps (their “Feynman”/“DeepTutor” behaviors). Under the hood, they use a memory layer to personalize the tutor and keep state; a vendor case study also reports token‑cost reductions from this approach (site, intro video, Mem0 case study).

The product is live with a freemium model and two paid tiers (Explorer $15/month and Scholar $25/month) that increase AI generation and export options (PDF/Markdown and Google Drive on paid plans). They also list an enterprise option for colleges/universities and run a campus ambassador program. Opennote is in Y Combinator’s Summer 2025 batch (pricing, Betakit, YC profile, community).

Who are their target customer(s)

• Undergraduate students in heavy, fast‑paced courses: They need to turn lectures and PDFs into clear study materials quickly and are frustrated by spending hours making notes, diagrams, and practice problems instead of actually studying.
• STEM and pre‑med students who learn best visually: They need visual explanations and targeted practice for problem solving but lack time or design skill to create videos/diagrams and tailored exercises from their notes.
• Graduate students and independent learners: They must synthesize papers and complex concepts into teachable chunks and struggle to retain and review material efficiently over months.
• Course staff and university programs (TAs, instructors, academic admins): They want reusable explainer content and practice sets for large cohorts but lack time to produce consistent, high‑quality materials at scale.
• Campus ambassadors and student orgs driving adoption: They need a tool peers will try and keep using, but face friction convincing students to adopt new study apps without easy demos and shareable results.

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: Personally onboard classmates, friends, and a few TAs from founders’ campuses; run 1:1 sessions to upload lecture notes, unlock paid features for free, and collect rapid feedback to iterate (site, community).
• First 50: Use campus ambassadors to run short in‑class demos and study sessions in 2–3 large STEM courses, offering free course‑wide access for usage data and testimonials; seed Discord/Slack study groups with sample notes to show videos/diagrams generation and drive organic signups (community, site).
• First 100: Convert successful class pilots into department pilots by pitching instructors/admins a small package (video vault + practice sets + TA admin access) and a low‑friction quote; emphasize exports/integrations and the personalization/memory story to reduce TA workload and improve retention (Betakit, docs, Mem0 case study).

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

Global higher‑ed enrollment is 264 million students (2023). At Opennote’s $15–$25/month list prices, full‑penetration consumer TAM is roughly $48B–$79B per year globally; U.S. only is ~$4.6B–$7.7B (25.67M students in 2023–24) (UNESCO, IPEDS/NCES, pricing). Broader context: analysts size EdTech in the hundreds of billions (e.g., $163.49B in 2024 per Grand View Research; $270.5B in 2023 per GlobalData) (GVR, GlobalData).

Bottom-up calculation:

Institutional focus (U.S.): 5,615 Title IV institutions × $10k–$100k/year implies ~$56M–$562M if all campuses bought a license (IPEDS/NCES). Student‑only scenario: if 10%–30% of 264M students pay $180–$300/year, that’s roughly $4.8B–$23.8B globally (UNESCO, pricing).

Assumptions:

• A meaningful subset (10%–30%) of higher‑ed students are in fast‑paced courses and willing to pay for study tools.
• Campus contracts fall in the $10k–$100k/year range depending on size/scope.
• ARPA approximates list prices ($180–$300/year) without heavy discounting.

Who are some of their notable competitors

• Quizlet: Student study app that turns notes into flashcards, practice tests, and guided study sessions (e.g., Magic Notes/Learn/Test). Overlaps on automating practice from notes; differs by focusing on flashcards/drill rather than auto‑generated explainer videos/diagrams or a proactive in‑context tutor (features, AI tools PR).
• RemNote: Note‑taking built around learning with spaced repetition, PDF‑to‑cards, and quick quiz generation. Overlaps on memory and turning notes into practice; differs by emphasizing flashcards/scheduled reviews over multimodal videos/animations or a proactive tutor.
• Notion (Notion AI): General workspace with AI that summarizes content and can create study guides or questions in documents. Overlaps on note + AI workflows; differs by not auto‑converting lectures/PDFs into videos/diagrams or providing a learning‑first tutor that tracks forgetting over time (product, AI guide).
• Perusall: Social annotation platform for courses where instructors upload readings/videos and students annotate with analytics for participation. Overlaps on campus/course deployment; differs by focusing on collaborative reading and instructor workflows, not multimodal study artifacts or a personal AI tutor (student collaboration).
• Synthesia: Text‑to‑video platform that produces explainer videos with AI avatars and voiceovers. Overlaps on scalable explainer video creation; differs by being standalone video production rather than ingesting notes to create tailored practice or an in‑context tutor (features).