At a Glance
- Campus founder Tade Oyerinde and Teddy Solomon discuss scaling their platforms at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025.
- Campus now has 3,000+ students and 100+ part-time professors, offering associate degrees and certificates.
- Fizz operates on 200+ campuses, lists over 100,000 items in its marketplace, and has raised $40 million in funding.
- Why it matters: Their strategies show how education and campus social apps can grow while keeping users engaged.
At the 2025 TechCrunch Disrupt event in San Francisco, founders Tade Oyerinde of Campus and Teddy Solomon of Fizz shared the tactics that propelled their companies to scale while retaining consumer interest.
Campus: Affordability and Custom Learning
Oyerinde explained that Campus launched à la carte courses to meet employer demand for specific skills, such as coding. He added that the Pell Grant helps keep tuition low, and that billionaire investors like Sam Altman and Jason Citroen allow the company to focus on educational impact rather than profit.
Tade Oyerinde said:
> “Everyone in this room, not just two-year degree-seeking people, will be able to go to Campus and learn with us.”
Tade Oyerinde added:
> “They don’t need the money… What they really want is to fundamentally shape the way that education works in this country for the better.”
Key campus strategies:
- À la carte courses tailored to employer needs.
- Pell Grant integration for affordability.
- Billionaire investors prioritizing impact over profit.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Students | 3,000+ |
| Professors | 100+ |
Fizz: Marketplace, Global Reach, and Monetization
Solomon highlighted that Fizz now operates on more than 200 campuses and previously reached high schools. The app includes a peer-to-peer marketplace listing over 100,000 items and a video component that expands beyond text posts.
Teddy Solomon said:
> “We’ve already worked with companies like Perplexity.”
Teddy Solomon added:
> “There are subscription models that have worked well with apps, but right now we’re focused on our ads business, and we’re focused on building a great product that keeps our users around and makes them happy.”
Fizz’s growth focus:
- Expanding to Global Fizz beyond the U.S.
- Monetizing primarily through ads, with Perplexity collaboration.
- Emphasizing user satisfaction over subscription revenue.
Key Takeaways
- Campus’s à la carte courses and Pell Grant keep tuition affordable.
- Fizz’s marketplace and video features drive user engagement.
- Both companies prioritize impact and user satisfaction over immediate profit.
Both founders emphasized that keeping users engaged and focused on impact is essential for sustainable growth.
