Year in Review - Pluralsight [PDF]

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and website, saying goodbye to our old logo and hello to a fresh look. We welcomed two companies and over 200 course authors into our .... We've been working with top industry experts to crank out the best technology training imaginable. ... 9 of the top 10 most- ... writes a popular, longstanding blog on storage, hosts.
2015

Year in Review

HALLOWEEN

Truth seekers. Entrepreneurs. Eternal optimists. It’s not easy living by your core values 365 days a year, but at Pluralsight, we aren’t afraid to put in the work to do just that. Staying true to these values is the reason we accomplished so much in 2015. We overhauled our approach to product development, building a user-centric design and product team. We launched a new brand and website, saying goodbye to our old logo and hello to a fresh look. We welcomed two companies and over 200 course authors Pluralsight Halloween...................... 3 Pluralsight in the press..................4-5 By the numbers...................... 6 Awards highlights...................... 7 Our customers..................8-9 Evolving our product............... 10-11 Meet our authors ..............12-13

Acquisitions.............. 14-15 Brand launch ..............16-17 Employee photos.............. 18-19

into our family, and we added 1,000+ courses to our library. We celebrated Halloween decked out as “Star Wars” and “Lord of the Rings” characters, and spent a day giving back to our communities. Could we have done these things without leading with our core values? Maybe, but the output wouldn’t have been the same. And we certainly wouldn’t have had as much fun along the way. I hope you enjoy a peek into our world as you look back at a year we’re really proud of. With what we have in store for 2016, you’ll want to keep watching.

Hack Day................... 20 Our rules and values.....................21 2

— Aaron Skonnard, CEO 3

Making headlines We stirred up all sorts of press in 2015, with major publications covering our two acquisitions, standout company culture and how we’re squashing the skills gap.

With lynda.com selling for $1.5 billion, Pluralsight could prove an even bigger outcome for all involved if it maintains its current pace. The company’s doubled sales for five years in a row, with $82 million in bookings last year. It’s also doubled its headcount through half a dozen acquisitions in the last 18 months with an eye for more. Alex Konrad | 4/9/15

But what makes Pluralsight so unique is their specific attention to promoting a unique culture, one free of usual boundaries, where everybody — from the CEO to the newest employee — is created equal and openness takes precedence above all else. Think of it as the business equivalent of a hippie community — just replace the weed, body odor, and general joblessness with motivated

Pluralsight has transformed into a significant acquirer these days, having spent at least $190

and productive individuals. Basically, a place John Lennon would have loved to work at.

million snapping up online education startups over the past two years. Recent deals include

Christopher Rawle | 1/20/15

the $36 million acquisition of learn-to-code site Code School and an even larger $75 million  for skill measurement startup Smarterer. Harrison Weber | 7/9/15

Pluralsight, one of the largest online teaching platforms valued at roughly $1 billion, offers courses solely focused on highly technical engineers. Its courses cover everything from software coding languages, like Javascript and Ruby, to IT and design software, like VMWare and Adobe. Eugene Kim | 1/26/15

The two companies [Pluralsight and Code School] will also work together to help students decide which courses to take—and in what order to take them—to advance their careers, and to create an evaluation system to help students prove what they’ve learned. Klint Finley | 1/26/15

For instance, Pluralsight’s Authors are gurus and innovators in their own right - and their reputation and expertise appeal directly to today’s discerning IT professional.  On-demand learning allows you to address all of these requirements by giving employees control over their own learning. Today’s workforce want their information in a searchable format of their choice so they can digest a short burst of training to upskill rapidly - and on a device of their choosing.

The CEO is the pace setter of the company–the one who drives growth and strategy, mission and values. One such CEO is Aaron Skonnard of Pluralsight. This visionary grew his company

Chloe Green | 9/22/15

from humble beginnings to a multinational organization with 450 employees. Ryan Westwood | 11/24/15

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Democratizing professional technology training We’ve been working with top industry experts to crank out the best technology training imaginable. See how our library has grown this year to better address critical skills gaps at companies across the planet!

2015 AWARDS HIGHLIGHTS

BY THE NUMBERS Courses released this year

1000+ Total courses

4,600

2698.89 New hours of training added in 2015

150+ Countries served

Forbes Most Promising Companies (No. 42) Customers

DEV

IT

CREATIVE

1. B  uilding a Web App with ASP.NET 5, MVC 6, EF7 and AngularJS

1. PowerShell: Getting Started

1. Introduction to Maya 2016

2. E  thical Hacking: Understanding Ethical Hacking

2. Introduction to Unity 5

3. C  # Fundamentals with Visual Studio 2015 6

3. E  thical Hacking: Hacking Web Applications

Entrepreneur’s Top Company Cultures for 2015 (No. 20)

2M+

Most popular new courses

2. G  etting Started with Entity Framework 6

Inc 500 | 5000 (No. 338)

3. P  rofessional Tips for Modeling Complex Shapes

Most popular categories 1. Microsoft

6. Open Source

2. C#

7. ASP.NET

3. JavaScript

8. Angular

4. .NET

9. ASP.NET MVC

5. Visual Studio

10. SQL Server

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Companies lead with our learning:

Customer love Whether they’re dishing out positive vibes on Twitter or telling us how we’ve boosted their company’s productivity, our fans aren’t shy when it comes to sharing their praise.

If I see a future need today, I don’t have to hire a new person who’s an expert at something to fill that need. Instead, I can train up one of my existing people One of our new technicians had used

because Pluralsight has the courses to

Pluralsight on his previous job and asked

fill those skills gaps.

9 of the top 10 most-profitable US technology companies

me to take a look at it...We were pleasantly surprised at the quality of the training, how

-Adam Kavan, Associate Director of Networks and Systems

current it was and how in-depth. -Richard DiMichele, IT Training Manager.

GET IN ON THE TWEET LOVE

@PLURALSIGHT

10 of the 12

leading animation studios

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We are involved with Pluralsight today because of who was generating content and because what they

leading finance organizations

generated was as good online as it was in person, if not better. What I’m really looking for is content that’s relevant and content that is good quality. I think from the very beginning when we started working with Pluralsight, that’s what we found. -Spenser Aden, Director of Product Architecture.

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15 of top 20 defense contractors

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Product prowess This year marked the transformation of our product, and the arrival of a new and improved learning experience. We put our customers first, listening to their feedback and adapting to roll out a total refresh in 2015. Can’t stop. Won’t stop. We always have our ears tuned to our customers on what they want to see next.

New course page | Learner & admin dashboards | Fresh Android & iOS apps | Shareable playlists Updated search & browse | New invite options & more!

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2015 AUTHOR STATS

Meet our authors - the best in the biz We work with top thought leaders and experts in the fields of dev, IT and creative. Meet a few of the bright minds that power Pluralsight!

NIGEL POULTON

18 Average years of experience of our author base

Pluralsight author Nigel Poulton has been hooked on technology since he was a kid—with everything about it seeming completely magical to him. And these days, Nigel gets to bring that magic into his everyday life as an IT pro. Nigel has worked in the industry for 15 years, writes a popular, longstanding blog on storage, hosts the In Tech We Trust podcast and spends his free time rooting for his favorite football (soccer) team and with his family. Learn more about Nigel

SIMON ALLARDICE In 2015, Simon Allardice, one of the world’s best teachers of development-

$4.3M Projected royalties of our 5 highestpaid authors

related topics, joined Pluralsight full-

JULIE LERMAN

time. He dropped his first course, iOS 9

Julie Lerman, the leading independent authority

in delivering courses that saves our users

on Microsoft’s Data Access Technology: Entity

time—helping them learn a topic a little

Framework, is proud of all of her courses—but

bit quicker, a little bit easier and a bit

especially the one that she co-authored with Steve

more memorably than they would from

Smith on Domain-Driven Design Fundamentals. Her

someone else.

favorite course, what she deems her “passion course,” is Automated Testing for Fraidy Cats Like Me.

Fundamentals, in November. He finds joy

Learn more about Simon

206 New expert authors added to our network

Learn more about Julie

121 Newly published authors 12

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Here we grow again Welcome, HackHands and Code School!

Devs looking to turn it up a notch (and have fun doing it) were excited to learn that Code School joined

In July, HackHands joined Pluralsight, leading the way for on-demand mentoring via screenshare and video

the Pluralsight team in January. Its interactive, in-browser coding challenges and themed tutorials are

chat. “I’ve worked in a lot of corporate cultures,” co-founder Forest Good said. “Pluralsight gets it right.”

perfect for techies looking to add a new skill to their resume.

Code School Team

HackHands Team

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3…2…1…lift off It’s launch time. Brand launch time. On October 28, after thousands of hours brainstorming and creative ideation, we launched our new brand look and feel. It was time. This baby was done. More than just fresh swag and pretty colors, the new brand is our visual representation of our mission to democratize professional technology learning and help people own their futures.

GIVES BACK

All systems are “GO” Along with our new brand, we dropped a new website and moved to a new CMS. Oh, and our backend systems got a total overhaul so we can better support our customers.

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Postcards from Pluralsight We planted our headquarters in Farmington, Utah, but you can spot proud Pluralsight employees on every continent across the globe. (OK, our Antarctica office doesn’t open till 2017.) Here’s a snapshot of the revelry happening at our offices.

Orlando

EMEA

OKC

Schaumburg

Farmington

Boston

San Diego

ANZ

Lehi

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India

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WE’VE ONLY GOT TWO RULES BUT WE TAKE THEM SERIOUSLY:

No. 1 No. 2

Be respectful, considerate and kind, even when you disagree. Always act in Pluralsight’s best interest.

WHO WE ARE (AKA OUR CORE VALUES):

Truth Seekers. We study things out and do what’s right, focused always on continuous improvement.

Entrepreneurs. We take ownership and embrace autonomy. We’re not afraid to wear multiple hats to provide solutions.

Eternal Optimists. We bring positive energy and lift others up. We find joy in our work and we’re not easily discouraged.

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CHEERS TO 2016, WHEN WE’LL PICK UP THE FUN AND CONTINUE BUILDING THE BEST TECHNOLOGY TRAINING ON THE PLANET.

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#WeArePluralsight We have fun, and we want the world to know about it. Go behind the scenes and see our favorite moments by following #WeArePluralsight.