Chegg: Disrupted Overnight

Chegg built a billion-dollar business selling students fast, correct answers, step-by-step solutions and homework help behind a monthly subscription, with the stock once above $110. Then ChatGPT launched in late 2022 and gave better answers instantly, for free. By 2025 revenue was down roughly a third year over year, the company had cut about 22 percent of staff, and the stock had fallen toward a dollar.

For founders and operators, this is the cleanest case study in substitution risk you'll find. It forces an uncomfortable audit: how much of what you sell is really just 'we'll find the answer for you,' the exact thing a model trained on the internet now does for nothing? The case sharpens how you locate the part of your product that can't be copied, before a free tool decides for you.