YouLearn

What do they actually do

YouLearn is a web app that turns whatever a student is studying—PDFs, slides, YouTube links, audio/recordings, or webpages—into immediate study materials. After you upload content, it generates summaries/notes, an interactive chat that answers questions with citations back to the source, flashcards and quizzes, and a listening mode for audio explanations (site, app).

The company says it’s focused on college students and self‑learners and publicly reports traction: roughly 150,000 monthly active users, about $70k in monthly recurring revenue, and millions of files processed. The homepage also markets usage by 2,000,000+ learners (YC profile, homepage). The near‑term direction visible in the product is making the tutor persistent across courses (Spaces/course organization, Voice, practice exams, performance insights) and expanding into Pro and Team subscriptions (app, pricing, YC profile).

Who are their target customer(s)

• College students taking multiple courses: They juggle long readings, PDFs, and lecture recordings and need fast, reliable summaries and course‑tied practice to prep for exams without re‑reading everything.
• Self‑directed learners taking online courses or reading papers: They collect scattered videos, articles, and notes and want one place that turns inputs into searchable explanations and flashcards so learning stays organized and actionable.
• Working professionals upskilling for certifications or job changes: They have limited study time and need short, focused practice (flashcards, timed quizzes) plus quick clarification of specific concepts rather than rereading full documents.
• Instructors, tutors, or small course admins: They want to assemble or scale course materials efficiently—generate practice exams with explanations and share organized Spaces—without manually authoring every quiz or worksheet.
• Learners who prefer audio or multimodal study (including non‑native speakers): They struggle to absorb long texts and benefit from voice explanations, simpler summaries, and interactive chat that can rephrase or walk through material step‑by‑step.

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

• First 10: Onboard classmates, friends, and close contacts with 1:1 demos. Help each person upload one real course file, capture feedback, and ask for two referrals; start with college students and self‑learners (site, YC profile).
• First 50: Run small, low‑effort pilots with student groups and TAs. Offer free access for one course in exchange for feedback and a shared quick‑start guide; post walkthroughs in class Discords/Slack and require pilot leads to invite peers into a shared Space (pricing/Team).
• First 100: Productize sharing/referrals and replicate the classroom‑pilot model. Turn best pilots into short case studies, recruit campus ambassadors to run recurring demos, and target online course creators/study communities that already use PDFs and YouTube links (app).

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

The core TAM spans higher‑ed students and self‑learners globally. UNESCO reports 264 million students enrolled in higher education in 2023 (UNESCO). MOOC platforms alone had 220M+ registered learners by 2021 (excluding China), indicating a large base of self‑learners as well (Class Central, MOOC platforms overview).

Bottom-up calculation:

As a conservative build‑up, combine higher‑ed students (264M) with MOOC/self‑learners (220M), assume 25% overlap (~360M unique). If 3% convert to paid at ~$8/month for 12 months (~$96/year ARPU), revenue TAM ≈ 360M × 3% × $96 ≈ $1.0–1.1B (UNESCO, Class Central).

Assumptions:

• MOOC/self‑learner counts overlap with higher‑ed by ~25%.
• Paid conversion of 3% from active learners is achievable with strong study‑aid fit.
• ARPU approximated at $8/month sustained across a year (~$96/year).

Who are some of their notable competitors

• Quizlet: Large flashcard and practice‑test platform with AI study guides; strong for flashcards and class sharing, but less focused on multimodal ingestion or source‑grounded chat (Study Guides, Flashcards/Test).
• RemNote: Notes + spaced‑repetition app that can turn notes, PDFs, and videos into flashcards and offers AI tutor features; competes on long‑term SRS/notes workflows rather than instant multimodal Q&A (product, SRS/AI).
• ChatPDF / PDF AI tools: Lightweight document Q&A/summarization with source references; overlaps on document chat but typically lacks integrated flashcards/quizzing and course‑space organization (overview).
• Humata.ai: AI assistant for files with summarization, Q&A, and team features; emphasizes document assistance and pricing/limits over full study flows like spaced practice and progress tracking (product/pricing).
• Perusall: Classroom platform for annotating readings/videos with instructor analytics and LMS integration; focuses on collaborative annotation and class management vs. one‑to‑one tutor chat and auto‑generated flashcards (product).