Sympoz leads online crafts education, looks to add 30 employees

John Levisay co-founded Sympoz and its flagship brand, Craftsy, in 2010 to bring a classroom-like feel to online education. Craftsy classes run the gamut from cake decorating to jewelry-making to quilting and include about eight interactive video lectures with experts. Sympoz also offers entrepreneurial classes that are not under the Craftsy umbrella.

The company is hiring and looking at a significant expansion in the next 12 months.

“We're presently at 88 employees and we're constantly expanding the team,” says COO Josh Scott. “We're hiring across all functions.” 

Scott anticipates the company will soon eclipse the 100-employee mark.

“We may add another 30 to 40 people in 2013," Scott says.

The company will add at least two new video production teams and fill several marketing and mobile engineering positions to support and expand the company's iPad and iPhone apps.

“We think of Craftsy as a destination for passionate enthusiasts,” says Levisay. “Sewing is distinct from knitting, and within sewing there are 20 subcategories. Same with quilting, and same with beading. There is such a depth of content and these industries are huge. Quilting alone is $5 billion.”

In 2012, enrollment totaled around 700,000 students in more than 200 countries.

“It just continues to grow,” says Levisay. “We're adding four new classes a week and we have four production teams.”
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Eric is a Denver-based tech writer and guidebook wiz. Contact him here.
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