Top Hat is an education technology startup founded in 2009 that has raised $20 million in venture capital. It develops a mobile-first student engagement platform and originally pursued enterprise sales, which involved long sales cycles and bureaucracy. The company shifted to a grassroots model by going through professors and students, who are single decision makers and allow for faster adoption. This grassroots model resembles other approaches such as how pharmaceutical companies sell through doctors or approved vendor models.

1. Join code: 643 472 URL: tophat.com/e/643472

2. Pick a random number between
1 and 10
Join code: 643 472 URL: tophat.com/e/643472

3. Join code: 643 472 URL: tophat.com/e/643472
• Education technology startup
• Founded 2009
• $20M VC raised
• $8M in revenue
• 100 employees
Top Hat

4. What is Top Hat?
A mobile first student engagement system
Join code: 643 472 URL: tophat.com/e/643472

5. Enterprise sales:
• Painfully long
sales cycles
• Impenetrable
bureaucracy
• Low risk-
tolerance
Business Model v1

6. Business Model v2
Grassroots:
• Go via profs and
students
• Single decision
maker
• Fast adoption
cycle

7. Land and expand?
• Is this land-and-
expand?
• Principal-agent
problem
• Can be good
and bad

8. Similar models
Pharma selling via doctors
Car mechanics
Approved vendors model

9. Other similar models?
Join code: 643 472 URL: tophat.com/e/643472

10. Questions?

11. Mike Silagadze
mike@tophat.com