CELab

What CELab does

CELab (Customer Education Laboratories) is a privately held podcast media platform founded in November 2018 and operated by co-hosts Dave Derington and Adam Avramescu. The company produces 'CELab: The Customer Education Lab,' a long-running podcast series featuring interviews with Customer Education, Customer Success, and Enablement leaders, distributed across Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, and RSS. The editorial focus spans customer learning program design, AI integration in education, LMS platform selection, certification programs, and scaling training operations — with a stated mission of helping practitioners 'Educate. Experiment. Find Your People.'

The company's core product is episodic audio content, supported by a WordPress website and Castos podcast hosting infrastructure. Adjacent offerings include the 'Customer Education Manifesto' (a thought-leadership artifact inviting industry sign-on) and the customereducation.community platform, which hosts episode discussions and facilitates peer networking among Customer Education professionals. The company does not build proprietary software, APIs, or AI products; its intellectual property is concentrated in its content library of 183+ episodes accumulated over a 7.5-year run.

CELab's revenue model is sponsorship-based, with three disclosed recurring or core sponsors: Skilljar (by Gainsight), LearnExperts, and LearnWorlds — all learning technology vendors that use the platform to reach the Customer Education practitioner audience. The company is a 1-10 person founder-operated entity based in San Francisco with no disclosed institutional funding, parent company, or external investors. The audience is horizontal: Customer Education professionals, Customer Success leaders, and B2B SaaS companies seeking to build or scale learning programs. The business is best described as a niche, category-defining media brand rather than a venture-scale software company.

Name

CELab

Legal name

Customer Education Laboratories

Website

https://customer.education

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

CELab is a privately held podcast media platform founded in 2018 that produces 'CELab: The Customer Education Lab,' a long-running podcast series for Customer Education, Customer Success, and Enablement professionals. The San Francisco-based, founder-operated company monetizes its niche audience through sponsorships with learning technology vendors such as Skilljar, LearnExperts, and LearnWorlds.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Educational Podcast and Media

NAICS

Educational Support Services (61171), Business Schools and Computer and Management Training (6114)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Phonograph Records & Prerecorded Audio Tapes & Disks (3652)

akta.pro primary industry

Certification & Credentialed Creator Programs (MPACALAI)

akta.pro secondary industry

Corporate Learning & Training Content Development (EDAGAKAC)

Keywords

• Customer education podcast
• Podcast media platform
• Industry expert interviews
• Professional learning content
• Customer education community

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Sponsorships: CELab generates revenue through sponsored content partnerships with Customer Education technology vendors and platforms. The platform features sponsor integrations including Skilljar by Gainsight, LearnExperts, and LearnWorlds, who sponsor the podcast and gain exposure to the Customer Education professional community.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

CELab (Customer Education Laboratories) produces a podcast series dedicated to Customer Education topics, featuring interviews with industry leaders and discussions on best practices, AI integration, learning management systems, and customer success strategies. The platform also publishes the Customer Education Manifesto and operates an associated community for Customer Education practitioners.

Product overview

CELab (Customer Education Laboratories) is a podcast media platform that produces 'CELab: The Customer Education Lab' podcast series. The company publishes educational content focused on Customer Education, Customer Success, and Enablement topics through episodic podcast episodes featuring industry expert interviews and discussions. The primary product offering is the podcast content itself, distributed across platforms like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and RSS feeds.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CELab: The Customer Education Lab: The primary podcast series featuring interviews and discussions with Customer Education leaders on topics including AI, learning platforms, certification, and customer success strategies.

Products and services

• CELab: The Customer Education Lab A podcast series dedicated to Customer Education topics, featuring interviews with industry leaders, discussions on best practices, and explorations of emerging trends in B2B SaaS learning, AI integration, and customer success strategies. Distributed via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RSS, and the CELab website.
• CELab Manifesto A statement of principles and mission for Customer Education practitioners, inviting professionals to sign and support the Customer Education movement.

Quantifiable outcome

• 183+ episodes produced covering Customer Education topics
• +1 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Skilljar by GainsightcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerSkilljar by Gainsight is a primary sponsor of the CELab podcast. As a customer training platform provider, Skilljar partners with CELab to reach the Customer Education practitioner audience and build brand awareness within the CE community.
• LearnExpertscoreGTM or Marketing PartnerLearnExperts sponsors the CELab podcast, using the platform to reach Customer Education leaders. Their LEAi platform for AI-powered course creation aligns with CELab's coverage of AI in learning.
• LearnWorldscoreGTM or Marketing PartnerLearnWorlds sponsors the CELab podcast as part of their market development efforts targeting the Customer Education space. Their learning platform positions them as a solution for CE professionals seeking to build academies.
• Customer Education CommunitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCELab operates in partnership with the broader Customer Education community, facilitating discussions through the customereducation.community platform. The platform hosts episode-specific discussions and enables ongoing peer-to-peer learning among CE professionals.

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Skillsoft: Large incumbent corporate learning and talent development company. Comparable in serving corporate learning professionals — the broader category of which Customer Education is a subset — and in competing for the same training/L&D sponsorship dollars, but at vastly greater scale and breadth.
• Mindtickle: Sales readiness and enablement training platform. Comparable as a larger, venture-backed training technology company whose buyer personas (sales/CX enablement leaders) overlap with CELab's CE audience, though its product and category are broader than CELab's CE niche.
• Thought Industries: Enterprise LMS focused on customer and partner education. Operates in the same Customer Education category that CELab covers editorially and frequently appears as a guest/subject in CELab episodes, making it a category incumbent rather than a direct competitor.
• Northpass: Customer education platform serving B2B SaaS companies. Comparable in targeting the same CE buyer persona and being referenced in CELab's editorial coverage, but offers a software product rather than media — making it a broader incumbent rather than a direct competitor.

Direct peers

• Gain Grow Retain: Podcast focused on Customer Success and retention that targets a closely overlapping B2B SaaS audience to CELab. Both operate as niche professional podcasts with similar sponsorship-driven business models, making them the most direct competitive peer.
• Reforge: Community-led education company for product and growth professionals. Comparable to CELab in operating model — creator-led courses and content monetized to a niche professional audience — though at significantly larger scale.
• Pavilion: Community-led media and education business for go-to-market professionals. Comparable to CELab in business model (community + content + sponsorships/partners) and scale (small team, content-led), making it a structural peer even though it serves a different professional audience.
• The Business of Learning: A podcast serving learning and development leaders with editorial coverage of corporate learning strategy. Comparable to CELab in format (expert interview podcast) and adjacent target audience (corporate learning professionals), and competes for the same sponsorship dollars from learning vendors.
• Customer Education Consortium: Professional community organization serving Customer Education leaders. Comparable to CELab in that it serves the same primary persona (CE leaders) through content and community rather than software, and competes for the same audience attention.

Others

• Skilljar: Customer training/LMS platform acquired by Gainsight and a named Core sponsor of CELab. Adjacent rather than competitive: serves the same Customer Education buyer persona but delivers a software product rather than media, and is both a peer category-mate and a commercial partner.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about CELab