We’re solidifying our position as a global online education platform: Juan Gabriel Gomila Salas of Frogames Formación SL

“In the coming years, we anticipate significant growth in learning paths and the implementation of gamification techniques.”

Frogames Formación SL is a leading online education platform, catering to a global Spanish-speaking audience. The platform has witnessed a surge in popularity and is actively working towards extending its offerings to English and other major languages. As part of its growth strategy, Frogames Formación intends to leverage advanced technologies to streamline its operations and enhance the overall user experience.

Frogames Formación is headquartered in the Balearic Islands, Spain.

The Silicon Review recently interviewed Juan Gabriel Gomila Salas, co-founder and CEO of Frogames Formación SL, and here are his insights and remarks.

Interview Highlights

How would you describe your professional journey so far? Tell us about a few roadblocks and learning lessons that helped you grow through the years.

I hold a mathematics degree and a master's in teaching education. When I couldn't find a teaching job in Mallorca, I decided to seek employment at a gaming company, which marked the beginning of my career and the first job I ever got paid for.

After spending three years in the gaming industry, during which I took charge of leading meetings with colleagues, engaging with potential investors, participating in the hiring process, and eventually becoming a product manager for the games we were developing, I reached a turning point in my career. I realized that I wanted to share the knowledge I had amassed during this period with a broader audience. Despite tempting offers from larger gaming companies that promised substantial income boosts, I found that by teaching the same concepts and skills in Spanish, my native language, to a worldwide audience, I could expand these opportunities and make them accessible to a more diverse range of people around the globe.

But back in 2015, there was a significant gap in the availability of online courses in Spanish. This language barrier posed a significant challenge for Spanish and Latin American learners who wanted to access the same knowledge, job opportunities, and salaries as their English-speaking counterparts. When I began teaching on online platforms like Udemy, I came across user interfaces predominantly in English, and it was a surprise for users to find Spanish content on an English-dominated platform.

While I was teaching at Udemy, I left the gaming company and embarked on a new journey as a professor at the University of Balearic Islands, where I served for seven years. During this time, I gained valuable insights into the contrasting dynamics of traditional in-person classes versus online courses. I also became acutely aware of the significant challenges associated with in-person university classes, including outdated subject matter and curricula, teaching methodologies that did not cater to all students, and the lack of motivation often exhibited by long-serving professors who had been teaching the same subjects for three to four decades.

As I was parallelly teaching online, I ventured into launching courses covering a diverse range of subjects, including mathematics, game development, machine learning, and app development, etc. These topics aligned with my expertise as a mathematician, and they also compelled me to step outside my comfort zone and dive into emerging areas such as AI and blockchain.

The workload grew exponentially, and my courses gained considerable success on Udemy. This success prompted other instructors to collaborate with me, adding their expertise in areas like Power BI, Tableau, Python, or Solidity, among others, to complement my offerings. Even modern university professors began to join me in this journey, aiming to infuse innovation into their classes, despite facing resistance from their respective institutions. It raised questions about whether the universities were concerned that we might poach their students or if they recognized that our innovation could potentially disrupt their traditional models.

It was during the turbulent year of 2020, amid the global pandemic, that Frogames Formación SL emerged as a company. During this time, my online audience grew threefold in just half a year, marking a pivotal moment in the evolution of our endeavors. 

Additionally, my work was gaining global recognition, prompting me to travel extensively across Mexico, Colombia, Bolivia, the United States, and Europe to deliver presentations and lectures on technical subjects. I also shared my perspective on entrepreneurship. This journey culminated in my participation as a TEDx speaker in 2019 when I presented "Three Failures Lead to Success," emphasizing personal growth and the importance of perseverance even in challenging times. You can watch my TEDx talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2fJLVOAD3g.

In 2022, after seven years of building my online presence through Udemy, where I successfully sold over 1 million courses and reached over 500,000 students worldwide, I realized that the monetization model in place was not conducive to scaling. The prospect of selling our courses and receiving less than $1 seemed unsustainable. While we had over 150 related courses that could be taken sequentially, Udemy's platform could not provide a coherent learning path. At the end of the day, Udemy operates as a marketplace, and we recognized the need for something more. This pivotal moment led to our decision to part ways and establish our platform, which you can find at https://frogamesformacion.com.

Based on our dissatisfaction with previous platforms and our experiences with universities, we envisioned Frogames as a revolutionary learning platform, exclusively in Spanish. Our core principles included providing daily support to our students, helping them with their queries, and guiding them through their learning journey via structured learning paths.

Drawing from my background in the gaming industry, we aimed to make learning an engaging and enjoyable experience by incorporating gamification elements. This involved monthly competitions, rewards, achievements, and digital incentives, transforming the learning process into a dynamic and entertaining adventure.

Furthermore, we introduced a valuable blockchain certificate system, backed by Accredible. These certificates validate our students' progress and newly acquired skills, aligning with Bloom's taxonomy standards. Importantly, they can easily add these certifications to their LinkedIn profiles with just one click. As a pioneering Spanish-speaking platform, we embarked on a distinctive path, and to this day, thousands of our students have improved their resumes and secured higher-paying jobs thanks to the certificates proudly displayed on their profiles.

During this transition, my role shifted from being primarily an instructor/teacher to that of a CEO. My responsibilities evolved to encompass numerous facets, including conducting meetings with potential partners, companies, and universities eager to collaborate with us. I also took charge of organizing upcoming releases and found myself spending less time in front of the camera, recording content.

Fortunately, our dedicated team of instructors, who have been with us for the past five years, stepped up admirably. They assumed responsibility for each of the 12 available learning paths, ensuring their continued success. Moreover, they proactively brainstormed new learning paths to stay at the forefront of online education in our native language. With a focus on modern technology, apps, and website enhancements, we remained aligned with the ever-evolving landscape of online education.

Q. Trust is one of the most important currencies of leadership that requires authenticity and consistency to maintain. What’s your take on this?

Trust has been pivotal in my journey. Following the launch of our online platform, the technical responsibilities were handed over to our Chief Technology Officer, María Santos, who also oversees student Q&A. She has excelled in this role, allowing me to focus on forging new partnerships and introducing fresh features to the platform. The same holds true for our 25 instructors spread across the globe. Each one understands that to maintain our leading position in the Spanish market, all learning paths, whether for individual courses or our regular subscribers, must be finely tuned, kept up-to-date and engaging for students. My confidence in them is unwavering, and we only meet occasionally, typically once or twice a year, to identify areas for improvement, brainstorm new course ideas, and determine which ones require updates.

Q. How do you see Frogames Formación changing in five years, and how do you see yourself creating that change?

In the coming years, we anticipate significant growth in learning paths and the implementation of gamification techniques. Our vision includes expanding the scope of learning paths to encompass broader subjects such as Economics and Business, English for developers, Social Skills, Psychology, Engineering, Cybersecurity, Digital Laws, and much more. This expansion will necessitate a closer collaboration with a growing number of instructors, enabling us to scale the platform's reach and unlock its full potential.

Moreover, establishing strong partnerships with innovative companies and universities interested in integrating Frogames into their workflow will be of paramount importance. The first university to collaborate with us will enjoy a substantial advantage, as their students will have the opportunity to select courses from both the university's curriculum and our online platform. This dual approach will enhance their skills and prospects, ultimately increasing their chances of securing better job opportunities. It's worth noting that universities often require 4-5 years to update their curricula, while we can swiftly adapt and teach new technologies as soon as they emerge in the market, thanks to our digital certificates.

I believe that AI will have a significant role in our endeavors, and the integration of ChatGPT and similar tools with our content can greatly enhance the learning experience. I can imagine students interacting with chatbots, asking questions, and receiving answers based on the knowledge we provide in each of our courses. This AI-powered approach can offer personalized and immediate assistance, making learning more interactive and efficient for our students.

As already noted, expanding our courses to other languages through the use of these tools is a promising prospect. This way, non-Spanish speaking users can also access and benefit from the extensive library of materials we have developed, which includes approximately 20,000 videos spanning over 5,000 hours of content across 175 courses covering 12 learning paths. It not only broadens our reach but also makes high-quality education more accessible to a global audience, further solidifying our position as a global online education platform.

“I believe that AI will have a significant role in our endeavors, and the integration of ChatGPT and similar tools with our content can greatly enhance the learning experience. I can imagine students interacting with chatbots, asking questions, and receiving answers based on the knowledge we provide in each of our courses.”