Magoosh

Magoosh, Inc.

Magoosh Logo 2015
Type	Educational Technology
Industry	Education, Internet
Founded	2009
Headquarters	Berkeley, CA, USA
Key people	Founders: Bhavin Parikh, Hansoo Lee Investors: Michael Berolzheimer, David Charron, Richard Chen, Warren Hellman, Mitch Kapor, Jack Larson, Keith Ogata, Devon George, Chris Heid, William Vederman, Joshua Lagenthal, 500 Startups
Website	http://www.magoosh.com

Magoosh [pronunciation: mə’guːʃ] (a play on the Old Persian word magush, which refers to a wise person^[1]) is an online test prep company based in Berkeley, California that teaches students through video explanations and lessons.^[2][3] Magoosh provides test preparation materials for the GRE, GMAT, TOEFL, SAT, ACT, LSAT and Praxis^[4] and aims to make test prep more enjoyable, affordable, and effective.^[5] The company also has mobile apps for both iPhone and Android.^[5]

History

Magoosh was founded in 2009 by Hansoo Lee, Bhavin Parikh, and Pejman Pour-Moezzi while they were students at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.^[6]

In June 2009, Magoosh released its first product, GMAT math practice questions with video explanations. They got their first paying customers a couple months later in August.

Over the next two years, as the customer base continued to expand, Hansoo and Bhavin grew the GMAT product and Magoosh team. They hired two full-time employees and, with them on board, expanded into a new test. In August 2011, Magoosh launched their New GRE product for the revised GRE.^[3]

Later that year, in December 2011, Magoosh gave away 800 free SAT accounts to high school students through partnerships with Bay Area non-profit organizations.^[7] It was also around this time that co-founder Hansoo Lee was diagnosed with lung cancer and had to step away from daily operations.

In March 2013, shortly after Magoosh hit profitability, Hansoo Lee died. Bhavin Parikh and former co-founder Pejman Pour-Moezzi, along with Lee’s fiancee Wendy Lim, founded The Hansoo Lee Fellowship for Entrepreneurs, which will be used to support Haas MBA students wishing to pursue their entrepreneurial ventures full-time.^[8]

Bhavin became the sole CEO of Magoosh and the company continued to grow, launching full prep products for the TOEFL and SAT from late 2013 to 2014.

In 2015, it launched study tools for the Science and English portions for the ACT and test prep plans for the LSAT and Praxis exams. To date, Magoosh has about 30 in-office employees at its offices in downtown Berkeley.

Recognition

• Localwise Best Employer: Education (2016)^[9]
• San Francisco Business Times #5 Fastest-Growing Private Company in the Bay Area / #2 Fastest Growing Company in the East Bay (2015)^[10]
• TINYpulse Happiest Company in Education (2015)^[11]
• Intel Foundation Entrepreneurial Award (2010)^[12]
• North Bridge Venture Partners Competition (2010)^[13]
• UC Berkeley Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology Venture Lab Competition (2009) ^[13]

References