BUSINESS

Could Lesson.ly's Max Yoder be the next tech star?

Leisa Richardson
leisa.richardson@indystar.com
Max Yoder, 27, is a co-founder and CEO of Lesson.ly, a company that develops and sells training software. In one year, revenue has grown 850 percent, staffing has increased from four to 15, and the client list has ballooned from six to 120.

As co-founder and CEO of a booming tech company, Max Yoder understands but waves off the comparisons some people make between him and other young, successful digital entrepreneurs. Think Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

"That's not a comparison I'm going to make. We'll see if I can do more than start a business in this lifetime," said Yoder, the 27-year-old brains leading Lesson.ly, a company that develops and sells training software and recently receiveda Mira — the tech community's Oscar equivalent — as startup of the year.

While the comparisons are debatable, what Yoder and Lesson.ly have achieved in one year is not. Revenue has grown 850 percent, staffing has gone from four huddled around one table to a room of 15, $1.1 million in financing has been secured from mostly angel investors, and a client list that began at six has blossomed to 120.

"We had some pretty blockbuster growth in 2014. From a nominated team standpoint, revenue standpoint, we had some milestones that were pretty well spaced out through the year, so our names kept coming up," Yoder said. "But I think we worked hard, and that translated into all the right things you want to see in a business — really strong investors, really strong people, really strong clients, really strong product — so we are fortunate in that regard."

It helps, too, to count tech heavyweights — Kristian Andersen, Mike Fitzgerald and Eric Tobias — as co-founders and backers. Andersen and Fitzgerald started software developer Tinderbox, along with Dustin Sapp. Tobias launched iGoDigital, a company later sold to ExactTarget, which was ultimately absorbed by Salesforce. And since ExactTarget, Lesson.ly is the only startup funded by all three ExactTarget co-founders, Peter McCormick, Scott Dorsey and Chris Baggott, a Yoder mentor.

According to Yoder, the idea for Lesson.ly originated when two simple needs converged — Fitzgerald's attempt to easily build a tool that would help teach his children about their vacation in advance of the trip, and Tobias' realization that he had launched and sold three businesses but never invested in a training component. The reasoning: The expense didn't make sense as the companies grew rapidly and existing training products were costly and hard to use.

The intersection revealed an opportunity — create a technology-based, easy-to-use and affordable training software for business.

Enter Yoder. Andersen had hired the Indiana University graduate as an intern at Studio Science, a software design and innovation consultancy for high-growth tech companies. Yoder also had started and failed at his own tech company but had no interest in a traditional desk job.

"He was a known quantity to Mike, Eric and I," Andersen said. "We knew he was our guy. What's interesting is that I'm not sure he was all that interested in doing the Lesson.ly thing initially. We were launching another software business around the same time, and it took some sweet talking on our part to get him to turn his attention toward Lesson.ly. But when he finally caught the vision, he went all in. He took our kernel of an idea and has turned it into something extraordinary."

Yoder admits that he had none of the skills to back up that initial strategy and design internship with Andersen's company.

"Strategy, I looked up on Wikipedia. Design, sure, I understood the concept, but I didn't know things like golden ratio, what swatches were and how to use Photoshop. Things you'd expect from a designer. (Andersen) thought I was curious, he gave me the opportunity.

"Fortunately, I didn't make too many mistakes in the process. He let me really dig in, and we developed a relationship from there. I think I gained his trust through that process and other work we did. So when it came down to it, they had the idea and I had the time and energy. It has worked out."

Judges in the Mira competition cited how Lesson.ly is developing faster than its competitors by throwing out traditional ways of creating corporate training programs and carving out niches in customer service training, employee on-boarding and sales training.

Lyft, Angie's List and ModCloth are among companies that have signed on as clients.

The individual and the team

Steve Grossi, a developer, works on a project at Lesson.ly in Indianapolis, May 6, 2015. Headquarters are on the second floor of a refurbished elementary school on the edge of Downtown. In two rooms, a dozen or so 20-somethings work on laptops, some around a big table, others at standing desks or small tables fashioned into workstations.

The Lesson.ly headquarters are on the second floor of a refurbished elementary school on the edge of Downtown Indianapolis. In two rooms, a dozen or so 20-somethings work on laptops, some around a big table, others at standing desks or small tables fashioned into work stations. The atmosphere is collegial, much like the company's online pitches and descriptions.

The team is divided by makers: the engineers and developers who create the software; sellers: sales and marketing; and service: the people who engage with clients and make sure all is working as it should.

Conner Burt, head of relationships, Mitch Causey, director of marketing, and Corey Kime, director of client experiences, are part of the leadership team. Yoder and the trio are fellow Orr Fellowship graduates, a two-year entrepreneurial program for seniors graduating from Indiana colleges.

Flexibility and autonomy reign.

Burt works out of Raleigh, N.C. Everyone else comes and goes as they need as long as assignments are completed.

"If you need to go do yoga in the middle of the day to do your best, go do yoga, take care of yourself," Yoder said. "Go see your family. Go see your friends. Work from wherever you want. Just know that this is a team, and our self-interests don't rule supremely."

One of the best things about his job, Yoder said, is bringing people into the business and getting them to stretch their talent.

"Nobody can come in here and not feel uncomfortable. I'm really happy that that discomfort tends to equate to personal growth. My job here is to make people really comfortable with themselves ... feel really confident in their strengths, make them build up those weaknesses and ultimately come out of here as people who can help a lot more people. ... The stronger you are as a person, the richer your life is ... the more damage you can do in a really positive way for the greater community."

A motivator for Yoder is the need to control his own future. He has seen firsthand what can happen when careers are left for the market to decide.

He grew up in Elkhart County, the second of three children. His father is a funeral director, and his mother worked in the RV industry. Though she did not lose her job, as thousands did when the economy bottomed out, Yoder said he saw the impact on families, and it is an experience he does not want.

"My generation got to see a lot of companies with very little loyalty in their veins when things got tough. People who worked very hard for very long periods of time got dropped. Pensions got yanked away. That is a world I just never depended on, and I never considered that I could.

"When I saw people doing their own thing and in control of their own destiny, they were very magnetic to me, so I spent a lot of time with them. I read as many books as I could, and I hung out with the people who were doing the things that I actually wanted to do."

Kenn Pascascio works on a project at Lesson.ly in Indianapolis, May 6, 2015. The team is divided by makers: the engineers and developers who create the software; sellers: sales and marketing; and service: the people who engage with clients and make sure all is working as it should.

Foundation for kids

The early success has made Yoder and Lesson.ly somewhat of darlings in the local tech community. There's a book in the works detailing the company's start, and at a recent networking event, fellow Mira award winners gushed over its fast-paced growth and were all smiles as Yoder gave a 60-second pitch about his company.

"The Lesson.ly team's youthfulness and playfulness inject good energy and vitality into the ecosystem," said Mike Langellier, CEO of Techpoint, Indiana's initiative to promote tech companies in the state and sponsors of the Mira awards. "But I've also been impressed with Max's purposefulness in understanding his business metrics and establishing early on the First Fund for giving back to kids in the community."

Yoder said he is proud of the impact Lesson.ly has on the lives of others, including the First Fund, established to give $1,000 scholarships to economically disadvantaged first-graders in Indianapolis schools. The money is put in 529 college savings plans, along with $5 monthly contributions from the family.

"We currently have seven scholars, and we want to bring three more on to round it out to 10," Yoder said. "We want to take these kids all the way through to their graduation and really be the guidepost for them and their parents along the way."

Keeping a laser focus on people — the investors, employees, clients and community — is at the company's core, he said.

But his interests go beyond Lesson.ly.

There's a second-grade teacher he's smitten with, and he spends much of his free time reading and playing music. His favorite book is "The Great Gatsby," and he expects to release a folk/pop album this year.

What he is not interested in is mapping out five- or 10-year plans. "I just hope I'm alive in 10 years," he said.

Andersen, the Lesson.ly co-founder and person who first hired Yoder as an intern, thinks Yoder's potential is big and shouldn't be framed by comparing him to others.

"All great leaders are similar in some ways — for example, they tend to all be able to cast a big (but credible vision) for the future, they are usually great talent recruiters, and they are relentlessly focused on execution," Andersen said.

"After that, though, the differences are as stark as the similarities — some are master consensus builders, while others make decisions by fiat. Some are totally product-focused, while others are masters of finance.

"So while it makes for a good headline to talk about the next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, the reality is that the best way for Max to become the next — insert big shot name — is to become the best possible Max Yoder, to master his own unique gifts."

Call Star reporter Leisa Richardson at (317) 444-6378. Follow her on Twitter: @leisarichardson.

About Max Yoder

Yoder is a co-founder and chief executive of Lesson.ly, a training software development company.

Age: 27.

Education: Indiana University-Bloomington, bachelor of arts in brand management and advertising. Graduate of the Orr Fellowship, a two-year entrepreneurial program for graduating seniors from Indiana colleges.

Quote: "Our value composition is always going to be you get to work with the best people and you get the best piece of software out there so competition doesn't keep us up at night."