The people
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On the TechTO stage
Mike Silagadze of Top Hat presents a Startup Story
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TechTO Together — Mike Silagadze
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Michael Silagadze of Top Hat presents Using a Bottom Up Approach to Break into Enterprise Clients
Watch on YouTube ↗5 lessons about strategy | Nina Angelo, VP of Product Marketing at Top Hat
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Top Hat and Union Square Ventures
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About
Top Hat sells teaching software to higher education — interactive eTexts, in-class polling and quizzing, homework and exams students take on their own devices. Silagadze and Mohsen Shahini started it in 2009 in an apartment near the University of Waterloo, and it grew into a Toronto company of 350+ people. Its defining move was a go-to-market pivot: universities praised the product but wouldn't fund it, so Top Hat sold directly to professors and students on a small subscription instead — the story Silagadze told on the TechTO stage in 2018. He handed the CEO job to Joe Rohrlich in March 2021 and stayed on the board. The company is still operating.
Backers
Union Square Ventures, Georgian, Inovia, Emergence Capital · $130M USD Series E (Feb 2021) after a $55M USD Series D (Feb 2020)
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Quick answers
What does Top Hat do?
It sells teaching software to universities and colleges — interactive eTexts in place of print textbooks, in-class polling and quizzing, and homework and exams students complete on their own phones and laptops.
Who founded Top Hat?
Mike Silagadze and Mohsen Shahini, in 2009, out of an apartment near the University of Waterloo. Silagadze was CEO for 12 years and stepped down in March 2021; Joe Rohrlich took over.
How did Top Hat get its first traction?
By changing its buyer. Universities said the product would help students but wouldn't pay — their variable funding follows research, not teaching. So Top Hat sold directly to professors and students for a small subscription fee, the way textbook publishers had, at no cost to the university.