George Saines, Nick Winter, and Scott Erickson Founded Codecombat in 2013. the Founders
Who?
George Saines, Nick Winter, and Scott Erickson founded CodeCombat in 2013. The founders met each other tens years ago at Oberlin College in Ohio, where they were roommates. The three of them graduated in 2008 with degrees in computer science (Nick and Scott) and Economics (George).
From 2008-2013, the three worked on their first startup Skritter, which teaches Chinese and Japanese characters.
Nick and Scott handle all things technical, George handles all things related to the operation of the company.
Why?
At Skritter, George was constantly frustrated by his inability to contribute to the development process. He tried most of the existing learn-to-code resources and found them to be boring.
At the same time, Nick and Scott realized that the core of George’s problem was something they had already solved at Skritter: people failing to learn a difficult skill through intensive learning when they should be learning through extensive practice.
For those that haven’t run an EdTech startup, the difference between extensive and intensive is simple. Reading textbooks and listening to lectures typify intensive learning; intensive learning is didactic and concentrated.
Extensive learning, by contrast, is the sort that occurs without specific intent. A child learning hand-eye coordination while playing Nintendo is an example of extensive learning.
As gamers and computer nerds, it seemed obvious to Nick, Scott, and George: what learners needed was a computer game that teaches programming.
What?
CodeCombat is a web (and soon to be iOS) fantasy game that teaches players the basics of computer science. Players don’t learn to be engineers by playing CodeCombat: they learn the more important foundational skills like formal syntax, conditional logic, and variables.
The game itself is set in a fantasy realm in which the player must code to defeat the forces of the marauding ogre hordes.
Where?
In early 2013, Nick and Scott were living in the Bay Area, while George was living in Raleigh, North Carolina. For the first 6 months of the company, the three made biweekly trips to the between the coasts to get the company off the ground. In August of 2013, George and his wife moved to the Bay Area so that George could focus on the company. The founders got into YCombinator on stage at Startup School 2013 in October and participated in the W14 batch.
When?
Nick began testing prototypes of what would become CodeCombat in late 2012. By early 2013, the product had a website and a few beginner levels.
The product was launched on Reddit in June of 2013. After strong positive feedback, the CodeCombat team reworked the game infrastructure and re-launched a beta version in October 2013.
The October launch saw more than a 100,000 visitors in the space of less than a week, and participation in the December Hour of Code saw another 280,000.
They launched multiplayer support in the spring of 2014.
Contact Information
The CodeCombat team can be reached at Nick, George, or Scott @codecombat.com.
Please direct press and blog post inquiries to George.