# Samuel Walder

> Samuel "Sam" Walder is a Chicago-area computer engineer, violinist, and the co-founder and former CEO of Trala, the music-learning company he started with Vishnu Indukuri while at the University of Illinois. Trala paired signal-processing feedback with human instruction, grew from a college hackathon idea into a platform used by more than one million learners in 193 countries, raised $20 million according to Walder, and was acquired by Learnfield in 2025.

- **Role:** Former CEO and Co-Founder of Trala
- **Organizations:** Trala, Inc., Learnfield GmbH, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, Techstars Chicago
- **Education:** Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
- **Known for:** Co-founded Trala and served as its CEO until its acquisition by Learnfield in 2025., Named with Vishnu Indukuri to Forbes' 2024 30 Under 30 Education list., Built a company that Walder says taught more than one million people in 193 countries.

## Career timeline

- **2016** — Walder and Vishnu Indukuri began building Trala while studying computer engineering at the University of Illinois.
- **2017** — Trala won the $15,000 top prize in the non-university tech track of the Cozad New Venture Competition; Walder graduated from Illinois.
- **2018** — Trala had taught more than 15,000 lessons and Walder appeared on Bootstrapping in America.
- **2020** — Trala announced a $3.5 million seed round; Walder discussed the company's path from college through Techstars on the Origin Ventures podcast.
- **2021** — Trala reported more than 400,000 downloads and partnered with violinist Joshua Bell.
- **2023** — Walder and Indukuri were named to Forbes' 2024 30 Under 30 Education list.
- **2025** — Learnfield GmbH acquired the Trala app; Trala had reached 800,000 downloads according to the acquisition announcement.
- **2026** — Walder wrote that Trala had taught more than one million people in 193 countries before its sale.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Trala and served as its CEO until its acquisition by Learnfield in 2025.
- Named with Vishnu Indukuri to Forbes' 2024 30 Under 30 Education list.
- Built a company that Walder says taught more than one million people in 193 countries.
- Raised $20 million in venture capital and grew the team beyond 100 members, according to Walder's 2026 alumni essay.
- Won the $15,000 top prize in the non-university tech track at the 2017 Cozad New Venture Competition.
- Partnered Trala with violinist Joshua Bell and other professional musicians.

## Latest updates

- **2026-07** — Published a first-person University of Illinois alumni essay about the Honors House community and classes that led him toward founding Trala.
- **2025-04** — Learnfield publicly announced its acquisition of the Trala app and plans to expand its worldwide reach.

## Links

- Website: https://trala.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuel-walder
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/tralaapp
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tofgc2RUuUw
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/tralaapp

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/samuel-walder
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-26