On this episode of Story Mode, the weekly interview series featuring the compelling narratives of the people who shape the world of video games, we talk to Vadim Polikov, Founder & CEO of Legends of Learning.

Dive into the world of education and gaming with Vadim Polikov, CEO and co-founder of Legends of Learning, as he shares insights on transforming classrooms into engaging environments through gaming. We explore Vadim's journey, and how he came to found Legends of Learning, a research-driven platform hosting over 2,000 educational games. Discover how Legends of Learning is revolutionizing education by connecting game studios with teachers, making learning fun, and boosting student performance. Vadim also sheds light on the impact of screen time, the research-backed benefits of game-based learning, and the exciting future where game studios contribute to educational innovation.

About Vadim Polikov:

Vadim has led Legends of Learning as CEO for 7+ years, where he’s focused on helping educators make their classrooms fun, engaging, and productive learning environments through research-driven, curriculum-based games. With 1,000,000+ monthly active users, the platform’s reach is expanding from their initial market in K-12 schools to the corporate Learning space and the consumer markets. Helping fuel that growth is Legends' quickly growing developer marketplace which has 500+ studios from 50+ countries that have built 2,000+ learning games. Before Legends of Learning, Vadim had a diverse career as a serial entrepreneur, including founding and selling a solar company, founding an research publishing platform, and building a healthcare device company.

In this episode, you'll learn about:

01:20 - An overview of Legends of Learning and what they do.

02:06 -  The story behind why Vadim started Legends of Learning and what teachers told him was missing in educational games.

04:35 - what’s crucial when designing educational games and what Vadim has learned about what works and what doesn’t.

08:48 - What studies say about the impact games can have on children’s education.

13:56 - How Vadim looks at overall screen time for kids in general, including his own children. Spoiler alert: there’s no magic number.

16:42 - Legends of Learning bottoms-up distribution strategy and how they went about building their go-to-market strategy.

21:50 - The Legends of Learning founding team and the composition of roles on the team today.

23:44 - Why Vadim decided to get funding and how he looks at the rationale behind funding for any startup. 

25:48 - The next milestone for Legends of Learning and what is coming up in their journey.

27:18 - What Vadim is most excited about for the future of the gaming industry.