More than two million young people - mainly pupils, but also students and increasingly trainees - learn every month with the learning app Simpleclub.

According to the managing directors and founders of Simpleclub GmbH, based in Grünwald near Munich, Alexander Giesecke and Nicolai Schork, it is the most popular learning platform for school and training in Germany.

The two developed their business idea in their youth rooms.

They attended high school in Mosbach in the Neckar-Odenwald district and began to produce math videos, which they taught themselves.

After graduating from high school, which both graduated with straight A's, they founded their company.

Lisa Becker

Editor in Business

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Today they are not yet 30 years old and have persistently and diligently built up Simpleclub over the past few years.

They employ around 80 people, with whom they generate sales in the seven-figure range.

And they are already looking far into the future: Their products and their brand should "go beyond us and hopefully still exist in 50 or 100 years".

Youtube tutorial videos were the beginning

Giesecke and Schork want to make a significant contribution to significantly raising the level of education in Germany.

This is generally falling, and there are also the educational gaps that arose during the Corona period.

Above all, they say, equal opportunities in education must be greatly improved.

"The German education system could already be much better. There are already many concepts that have proven themselves in learning research, but they are not really finding their way into schools." Of course, they certainly do not want to replace teachers with their products.

"We want to support the teachers in conveying content and give them more space for their social role as coach, mentor and motivator," they say.

It seems clear to both of them: Individualized learning with digital means, as they offer it, could make a strong positive contribution.

Unfortunately, not everyone in politics understood that.

Another problem is the strong position of traditional textbook publishers.

Digital learning offers like that of Simpleclub would not have the same opportunities, “although we cover the curriculum just as well.

In addition, we have the opportunity to respond individually to the pace and level of the learners, in contrast to a printed book.” The modern textbook is offered, so to speak.

"But currently there is no way to bring this to schools across the board."

At the beginning of their entrepreneurial career, Giesecke and Schork produced YouTube tutorial videos.

"Now we see educational videos as almost an outdated format because they're static and can't be personalized," they say.

"If a million people watch a video, a million people watch the same video." Now they tailor the content to each learner.

"For example, if you're studying math and you go into the app, the first thing you see is an explanation;

After that, you get an interactive task and, depending on how well you do, another one and then maybe an animation that you can interact with,” explains Giesecke.

All of this is based on Rive, a "very, very modern technology".

Artificial intelligence is not yet at work, but the next logical step.

Expansion with vocational training

"Our aim is to produce the best digital learning content," they say confidently.

The app contains more than 20,000 pieces of content, from 5th to 13th grade, for almost all school subjects.

After starting the application, the state and type of school can be selected, after which the learning content is automatically adjusted.

The free basic offer covers a lot of content.

For customizable learning plans and many exercises including original Abitur exams, the "unlimited" offer costs EUR 16.49 per month.