Details & Back-story:
LORE, which began its existence as CourseKit (check-out this short animation explaining the pivot), is a hybrid LMS, course creation, and social networking platform for students, instructors, and lifelong learners.

It was founded by three former University of Pennsylvania undergrads, Joseph Cohen, Dan Getelman and Jim Grandpre, who recently dropped out to devote their time to fully running LORE. All of the founders, who are in their early 20's, view their age as an asset in their industry and cite their team's core values as ranging from "be[ing] an artist" to "eliminat[ing] distractions and simplify[ing] everything."

Unique Points of Difference:
Instead of pursuing big contracts from institutions, the company focuses their attention on attracting individual instructors. The interface is intuitive, easy to use, and deceptively flexible.

EdLab Relevance:
As the lab moves forward in the online course creation and management space, it is interesting to explore a "direct to consumer" model instead of attempting to get other large institutions to come on board. Also, as always, simplicity should reign supreme in the world of course creation and dissemination.

Our Takeaway:
Power, simplicity, and a focus on their core user, in this case, instructors, sets LORE apart from the Blackboards of the world.