You might know us as that “cheap eTextbook startup”. Or maybe “those guys that went on Shark Tank”.
We started our business as college students about three years ago. As students, the cost of textbooks felt like the BIGGEST issue in education. And don’t get us wrong, textbook prices are a HUGE problem, but through the years of building this startup, we’ve gotten a glimpse at the bigger picture.
We realized that even if we were 100% successful with our affordable textbooks (and reached every student right away in their freshman year), we might be able to help them save a few thousand dollars throughout their time in college.
But what about the other $80,000 (or more) that it costs to get a degree these days? Are students getting the full value? The cost of a degree is at an all-time high, and that degree no longer guarantees students a job after graduation. But that does not mean that education has no value. In fact, it’s just the opposite.
We’re facing bigger and more challenging problems today than ever before in the history of our world, and education defines our future because it directly touches every other industry from politics to engineering. We believe that how well students are prepared to think critically, ask questions and be curious impacts whether or not they’ll go on to innovate in their field after graduation.
We realized that the most important problem we could work on was how to help college students get real, lifelong value out of their education, not just them save a few bucks on books. And don’t worry, we still do that too! We’re just thinking a whole lot bigger now.
Our team believes that every student has the potential to become the next great innovator when they become a lifelong learner.
At Packback, our purpose is to awaken the fearless relentless curiosity in every student.
We launched our new product Packback Questions to be a safe place for students to ask questions and be curious. Since we launched Packback Questions (Formerly called Packback Answers) this fall, more than 240,000 questions and answers have been posted by curious students at 50 universities. Packback Books is growing bigger and better than ever, with over 500,000 new titles being added this fall to help fuel more students’ curiosity with super affordable books.
Our previous brand identity had its “nose stuck in a book” too, and it was time that it looked up! We revisited our logo to better reflect our evolving purpose (check it out above!) And as of Monday, April 24, 2016, the Packback website will be located at Packback.co, with a new identity and updated design.
Check out the new Packback.co and let us know what you think!
We are so grateful to all those who have supported us along our journey; our early team members, our angel investors, the amazing Chicago startup community (big shout outs to Catapult, ContextMedia, Learncore, Leo J. Shapiro and 1871 who housed us along the way!), Mark Cuban and the Shark Tank crew, and most importantly, the students who have used our products and believed in our mission since day one.
We are so excited for the future of Packback, but even more excited to follow the journeys of the students using our platform and do everything we can to support their curiosity and help them realize their full potential.
After all, if we shoot for the stars, we might just find out something incredible about our universe along the way.
