Chegg
 |
|
| Type of business | Public company |
|---|---|
| Traded as | : CHGG |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Headquarters | Santa Clara, CA |
| Founder(s) | Osman Rashid Aayush Phumbhra Josh Carlson |
| Key people |
Dan Rosensweig, CEO Aayush Phumbhra, Founder |
| Industry | Education |
| Products | Online textbook rental, eTextbooks, homework help, course scheduling and review, and scholarships via Zinch. |
| Employees | 300+ (July 2012) |
| Slogan(s) | Save Time, Save Money, and Get Smarter, "Find cheap textbooks" |
| Website | www |
Chegg is a company based in Santa Clara, California, that specializes in online textbook rentals (both in physical and digital formats), homework help, online tutoring, scholarships and internship matching. It is meant to help students in high school and college. The company was created in the United States by three Iowa State University students in 2001 and was founded by entrepreneur Aayush Phumbhra. The name Chegg is a contraction of the words chicken and egg, based on the founders’ experience after graduating from college; they could not land a job without experience, but could not get experience without a job, a chicken or the egg type of quandary.
In 2001, Josh Carlson, Mike Seager, and Mark Fiddelke create the precursor to the business called Cheggpost.com, a Craigslist-type classified service for college students at Iowa State University. Aayush Phumbhra, who attended Iowa State University and was an avid Cheggpost.com user, approached Carlson in late 2003 with the idea of taking the company national. Phumbhra mentioned the service to a friend, Osman Rashid, who saw potential in the idea, joined as chief executive officer to help fund the company in 2005, and formally launched Chegg, Inc., which was incorporated in August. Carlson remained until February 2006 and then left to pursue other interests. In April 2006, Chegg found some initial investors, including Sam Spadafora, Mike Maples, and others. The co-founders quit their regular jobs to focus on Chegg full-time. They tested services, acquired three college classifieds businesses, and publicized Chegg via campus campaigns at SUNY Canton and word-of-mouth. In summer 2007, the firm launched "textbookflix.com", which used a textbook rental model modeled after Netflix. Rashid and Phumbhra decided to switch the "textbookflix" name to "Chegg.com" in December 2007. According to a company spokesperson, Chegg rented its two millionth book in 2010.
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