Society has spent years blaming doomscrolling for our inability to read books or study for exams, but a new startup suggests the problem lies with the content, not the habit.
ScrollEd, a Palo Alto-based company, is pitching this idea at the TechCrunch Disrupt Startup Battlefield 200 competition. Their concept is simple: if students will not open a textbook, the textbook must open itself as a scroll.
Textbooks as feeds
The app converts any text file, including dry PDFs, into a vertical feed resembling Instagram Reels or TikTok. As you scroll, the display shows AI-generated video, audio, text, or interactive quizzes. Swiping up moves to a new topic, while swiping sideways allows you to explore a specific subject further, ending with a quiz.
“The younger generation is increasingly going short form, vertical feed only (especially the 18 year olds we’ve spoken to!), and this poses challenges for any kind of media that requires depth,” Utsav Gupta, ScrollEd’s co-founder, told TechCrunch in an email. “We want to meet them where they are…We just have to be deliberate about how we use it and choose not to maximize engagement on the platform.”
“A short video can make you curious; following that curiosity can mean searching for another explanation or leaving the app,” Gupta continued. “We wanted going deeper to be as easy as moving to the next video.”
Bootstrapped by students
Gupta built ScrollEd this year alongside his co-founder and wife, Rebecca Neff. Both felt dissatisfied after doomscrolling before bed. Gupta studies AI and human purpose at Stanford, while Neff studies computer science at the University of Pennsylvania.
The startup targets educational institutions, corporate training programs, and individuals who want something better to scroll on.
ScrollEd plans to launch its consumer business at Disrupt. (“We’re hoping to ‘disrupt’ social media and short form!” Gupta joked.)
Business model
The company uses a freemium model, combining a free consumer feed with a paid ScrollEd Pro subscription and annual institutional licenses. Institutions pay to deliver educational material through the platform in exchange for reports on engagement, lesson progress, and other data.
In the coming months, ScrollEd intends to focus on its consumer launch, building its lesson library and source-checking workflow, and developing pilots for institutions. The startup is also building infrastructure that will one day allow educators to assess individual learners and adapt to their needs.
“The ambition is a social network that’s better for you,” Gupta said.
What it means
For students, this approach removes the friction of reading dense text by turning study material into a format they already consume. For educators, the model offers a way to distribute lessons without forcing a shift in student behaviour, provided the platform can maintain accuracy and depth.
