the company was founded in 2008 by john katzman (co-founder of the princeton review), chip paucek (former ceo of hooked on phonics), and jeremy johnson; in 2013, john katzman left to start noodle partners, a similar company. as of 2019, paucek continued to serve as ceo. paucek holds an mba from the university of north carolina at chapel hill that he earned online through that school's partnership with 2u.