Disco: Among Fast Company’s Most Innovative in Education
Why Disco? Our commitment to innovation
In the same way that ecommerce platforms enabled anyone, anywhere, to build and monetize an online store and create the DTC vertical, Disco is enabling hundreds of founders, operators, and learning entrepreneurs to build and grow niche learning communities.
More importantly, we’re enabling curious learners across the globe to find thriving learning communities. By giving our customers the tools and features they need to create bespoke experiences, learners can seek out other kindred learners and communities that support their goals and interests.
Our why focuses on two pillars: Learning and Community. Both are equally powerful levers for enacting change in the world, and we believe they are better, together—learning enables humans to grow, and community gives them a place to belong and be supported.
By creating a platform that values each of these pillars equally and creates space for both to thrive, Disco enables learning community leaders to increase access to decentralized learning, while introducing a new wave of entrepreneurship for emerging leaders eager to create their own thriving learning communities.
How Disco customers are addressing today’s pressing topics
Today, hundreds of global learning communities across a vast scope of disciplines and topics are powered on Disco. While they boast different learning experiences and members from different parts of the globe, every learning community on the Disco platform shares a commitment to improving a particular concern or area of focus.
Entrepreneurship
Disco is enabling learning entrepreneurship that is purpose and profit-aligned. Growing and monetizing learning communities opens up new opportunities for emerging and early-stage entrepreneurs who want to develop learning experiences at scale for kindred learners, and we’re passionate about expanding that access to anyone who seeks it out.
Disco customer YSpace is on a mission to democratize entrepreneurship and expand access to learning, mentorship, and resources within underrepresented communities. Their startup incubator focuses primarily on Black and female-owned businesses and supports founders on their entrepreneurship journey through a variety of transformative programs.
Sustainability
Traditional learning relies on people gathering in-person. With the advent of virtual learning communities and Disco’s purpose-built platform, we’ve been able to shift from a carbon-intensive learning model to a more carbon-neutral learning model that is more sustainable and climate conscious.
Margaret Atwood’s celebrated learning experience, Practical Utopias, brought learners from over 40 countries together to engage in a highly ambitious, collective world-building process guided by expert facilitators and supported by talented illustrators to help visualize imagined worlds. Solutions like Disco facilitate social learning to scale and unlock global access to immersive, transformative, community-powered learning experiences.
Sustainability can also be baked into the curriculum and the outcomes of learning communities. Learn Biomimicry is on a mission to help organizations improve their sustainability efforts by learning from nature itself and using those insights to improve how we live and work. Nature-inspired innovation can be one of the biggest guiding principles of human design and business design, and Disco is honored to help enable Learn Biomimicry to bring their transformative learning experiences to more people across the globe.
Decentralization
The centralized system of traditional and institutional learning models rarely empowers leaders to have agency over how they offer and monetize their knowledge.
Decentralized learning communities enable learning leaders to build thriving, community-powered businesses while supporting more direct learner outcomes. Disco is pioneering a decentralized model where learners can access more relevant learning for their needs. Founders and operators of these communities benefit from being able to own and monetize their expertise.
A stellar example of decentralized learning? BatteryMBA has created the premiere training for upskilling the next generation of battery professionals. In Europe, there’s a need for more than 800,000 people in the industry.
Powered by Disco, BatteryMBA has created an accredited curriculum that doesn’t rely on traditional learning models. Their combination of in-depth technical and business knowledge, from lithium-ion battery cell production to clean tech market trend analysis is one of the most comprehensive training programs we have seen to date. By designing these powerful lessons and enabling community-based learning, they’re able to more efficiently fill vital open roles in the battery industry in a way institutional learning cannot.
Accessibility
Disco’s mission and technology is enabling anyone, anywhere, to access community-powered learning experiences at a fraction of the cost and time, regardless of their physical location and socioeconomic status. People from around the globe with similar interests and goals can build connections and expand their networks by making it easier for everyone to be a part of a niche learning community.
Disco has enabled communities like allWomen to do just this — create access where there was little to none before. In their case, the team at allWomen is unlocking global access to tech training and roles within the industry by fostering deep, professional relationships between members. By designing relevant learning experiences and integrating learning and community on one platform, members feel like they have everything they need to succeed at their fingertips.
Bridging the gap between learning and community ensures we’re addressing some of the most pressing issues we face across the globe. It allows us to rally people from all walks of life to participate in enacting real change at scale — and it starts with you.
