John Scherer

Video Professor, Inc. was a U.S. company that developed and marketed tutorials for a variety of computer-related subjects, such as learning to use Microsoft Word, Microsoft Windows, and eBay. Video Professor was founded in 1987 by John W. Scherer and was located in Lakewood, Colorado. It was known in the U.S. for its ubiquitous commercials and infomercials on late night television. The company has been the subject of controversy regarding its sales and billing practices, as well as lawsuits it has filed against online critics of the company.

The company was an outgrowth of Data Link Research Services (DLRS), a seller of PC clones founded in Colorado in 1987 by John W. Scherer. In 1987, DLRS produced its first VHS tutorial primarily for its own customers, Introduction to DOS. Scherer says that he quickly realized that the tutorials were more profitable than the PC clones, and in 1988 the company switched to focusing solely on the tutorials, and changed its name to Video Professor.

The company was perhaps best known in the U.S. for its frequent late-night commercials and infomercials, most of which featured Scherer. The company's first infomercial was aired in 1991, and since then all but one of the commercials and infomercials had been produced by an in-house production team. The production values of the commercials were intentionally kept minimal. The company started with VHS lessons, but began offering its lessons on CD-ROM in 1996, and online in 2003. Lesson sets were primarily sold through TV offers and online, and in later years, Scherer reached his target audience by repeatedly using the redundant phrase "learning lessons."

For CD-ROM lessons, Video Professor used a continuity sales model, similar to the model for mail order book clubs. The subscription started when a customer ordered a tutorial on a subject of their choosing. This tutorial was often free except for shipping and handling. The customer then periodically received other tutorials on subjects chosen by Video Professor automatically, until the subscription was cancelled. The cost ranged from $60–$399 per tutorial. For online lessons, the same lessons are provided to the customer through streaming media. These lessons are billed on a per-month basis; access to all lessons is available for a monthly subscription fee of approximately $30.