You already know what Pluralsight is all about, but where the heck did the name come from? And how does it relate to what we do? Let's have a little fun and break it down.

When we first discovered the name Pluralsight, we thought about all the people who were going to make our company possible. First, consider the founders: Plural, not singular. We had a competitive advantage by starting with multiple founders rather than just one person. Each of the founders brought something unique and valuable to the table, and we've always been greater than the sum of our parts. But it wasn't ever just about the founders; we also thought of our instructors (we started as a classroom training company).

 

From the very beginning we wanted to seek the truth. To have clear sight into the reality of our business, and a clear vision of our direction. But this wasn't all we thought about when choosing our name; "sight" is actually short for "insight."

Insight is the capacity to gain understanding, the capacity to learn. We were learners from the start--we love learning new things and sharing them with the world through teaching. If you put these words together, Plural and Insight, you get a bunch of people with the capacity to learn and the desire to share their knowledge. You get a team (that word is equally important); a team of learners. We've experienced how much more powerful we are together than any one of us is on our own.

So, our company is really named after our people; a plurality of insights. We value each and every individual in our company, we help them grow and watch their insights deepen. As each person improves, together we improve exponentially as a company.

It's fitting that the financing company that led both of our rounds of funding so far is named Insight Venture Partners. The board members we gained have helped the founders and top leadership learn and grow. They have been true to their name, seeking the truth with us at every board meeting.

So, to answer the question, our name doesn't speak to what we do, it speaks to the attitude we adopt. It speaks to our culture. We're in the business of democratizing professional learning, but I believe that if we wanted to do something entirely different, say, build roller coasters, we could figure out how to do that and we'd become great at it over time, because we're learners. And our company has staying power because we care deeply for, and believe in, the individuals behind it.