Student Brands

Student Brands (formerly StudyMode) is a Los Angeles County-based company that owns and operates a network of educational websites and applications.

Student Brands’s network of websites includes StudyMode.com, where students can download model essays and term papers, book notes and AP notes; Cram.com, where students can share and review flashcards; and Cite.com, a citation generator and bibliography builder. The company also owns several international websites including BuenasTareas.com, a Spanish-language version of StudyMode.com, Etudier.com, the French version, and TrabalhosFeitos.com, the Portuguese version. The company acquired and re-launched websites including Bartleby.com, Monografias.com, and 123HelpMe.com.

Student Brands was founded by Blaine Vess and Chris Nelson in 1999 when they re-launched the website, OPPapers.com. The company was originally run out of a dorm room at North Central College. By 2007, revenues and profits exceeded US$1 million. Todd Clemens joined the company in 2008. The company subsequently grew through the acquisitions and international site launches. Its portfolio now includes more than a dozen websites in several languages and reaches about 2.5 million visitors per day. Annual revenues exceed $10 million.

For more than a decade, the co-founders ran the company out of Vess’s home with about thirty remote contractors. In 2011, the company moved into a physical office in West Hollywood. In 2015, the company moved again to the Taft Building in Hollywood and then moved once again to its current location in the PacMutual building in Downtown Los Angeles. It now has over 60 employees.

Acquisition
Student Brands was acquired by Barnes & Noble Education in August 2017 for $58.5 million.

Learneo acquired Student Brands from Barnes & Noble Education in May 2023.