Day1Company Surpasses KRW 1 Trillion in Sales, “Aiming to Become the Megastudy of Adult Education”

Interview with Kangmin Lee, CEO of Day1Company

Specialized Education Through Four CICs
Expanding Target Audience to Freelancers and Job Seekers
Surpasses 1 Million Cumulative Members

“Actively Expanding into Overseas Markets Like Japan and the U.S.”

December 7, 2023 – We are living in an era of lifelong learning. Even after graduating from university and entering the workforce, people are constantly required to pursue self-development. Day1Company, an adult education startup, has keenly recognized this demand for ongoing education among professionals and has built its business around practical, work-centered content. A distinctive feature of the company is its adoption of a Company-In-Company (CIC) system to specialize in different areas of education. Under Day1Company, there are four CICs: △FastCampus (job skills training), △Coloso (education for freelancers and small business owners), △Lemonade (foreign language learning), and △Snowball (education for job seekers).

For the first time, Kangmin Lee, CEO of Day1Company, along with the heads of each CIC—Haedong Shin of FastCampus, Donghyuk Kim of Coloso, Tina Tsu of Lemonade, and Jihoon Kim of Snowball—shared their business strategies in a joint interview with Geeks. All of them are in their 30s.

“Education is the key and catalyst that can change a person’s life the most,” said Kangmin Lee. “Day1Company’s mission is to offer ‘Life-Changing Education,’ which can transform lives.” He added, “Our journey began in 2013 when we launched an offline entrepreneurship education program called ‘Camp,’ and we have since expanded to offer professional training in programming, design, data analysis, marketing, and more.”

Since then, Day1Company has broadened its reach to include foreign languages, specialized professions, and job seeker education, leading the trends in the adult education market in South Korea. The CIC structure was introduced in May 2021, and the company changed its name to Day1Company at that time. The name “FastCampus” was retained for one of the CICs. Lee explained, “Day1 means not losing sight of our initial vision,” referring to a phrase often used by Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Day1Company. Lee emphasized, “Interest in online adult education has surged since the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, we surpassed KRW 1 trillion in revenue and over 1 million cumulative members, growing rapidly.” Haedong Shin, head of the professional development CIC FastCampus, added, “The recent AI boom has significantly increased the demand for programming and AI-related educational content.”

Coloso provides educational content targeted at freelancers, small business owners, and creators. Donghyuk Kim, CEO of Coloso, explained, “In the past, many fields could only be learned through apprenticeship models in person. We’ve made it possible to conveniently learn such content online, offering courses in areas like hair styling, cooking, video design, and illustration.” Coloso has also expanded into overseas markets, such as the U.S. and Japan, producing content with experts in fields like video design and illustration.

Tina Tsu, CEO of Lemonade, the foreign language education CIC, is originally from Taiwan. She moved to Korea in 2016 after working for a mobile startup investment firm in Canada. “I’ve always been fascinated by Korea,” Tsu shared. “I was job hunting here and ended up applying to Day1Company. When I interviewed with CEO Lee, he asked me to start right away. I had only planned to stay for a year, but here I am—still going strong.”

Snowball, a CIC focused on job seekers, primarily offers 6 to 8-month long programs. Jihoon Kim, CEO of Snowball, stated, “Our average student is 28 years old, and we offer personalized learning schedules and 1-on-1 coaching services.” One of the most popular courses is the ‘Naver-Kakao-Coupang-Woowa Brothers (NeKaRaKuBae) Developer Training Program,’ which has gained attention as it prepares students for jobs at South Korea’s top IT companies like Naver, Kakao, Line, Coupang, and Woowa Brothers.

Looking ahead, Day1Company plans to focus on expanding its B2B business. CEO Lee said, “Our goal is to grow annual sales to between KRW 300 billion and KRW 400 billion within the next three years. We aim to become the Megastudy of adult education.” He concluded, “No Korean education company has yet surpassed KRW 1 trillion in sales. We want to be the first to achieve that.”