Daniel Kessler
Shanghai (CHN)
Role(s):
Founder/Owner/Principal
Kanda
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Startup
Location:
Shanghai
Industry:
Education
Year Founded:
2014
Number Employees:
1-10 people
Business Stage:
Creation/Idea
Entity Type:
Not Incorporated
Description:
If English tutors have a marketplace to sell themselves, they can recruit students and manage their own rates and schedules. We’ve considered both parties’ interests and developed two separate domain websites (applications) that connect through a single backend database; one for students (英文家) and one for tutors (TeachNearby). The functionality and layout of each website is different. The Chinese application is geared towards education and English improvement, and the English application is geared towards tutor advertisement, business, and student management. The Chinese application guides students on how to choose a tutor, how a class should be conducted, best practices, safety, payment concerns, and eventually will include a student feedback and rating system. The English application searches students by close proximity to the set locations of the tutor. Therefore, the tutor can search for students in, or around, his neighborhood as well as by age, gender, or English language level. Both applications hold profile pages (about me) displayed on their counter websites. From a tutor or student’s profile page, each can contact the other via their messaging center.
Thus far, we have prototyped and tested the most challenging technical functions and have made concise design plans moving forward. Our soft launch is expected to last a period of six months to one year after our beta version is released. Because we are narrowly focused on the premise of our business objectives, we aren’t afraid of outside competition. Our beta platform will be free for all users and competitors won’t have the incentive to try to copy and improve upon our model. We want this to be THE site that English speaking foreigners in China all want to be listed on and THE site that English tutors depend on for making their living (both Chinese and non-Chinese). In the end, the students can shop for the English curriculum, teacher, and price they want and the tutors can advertise their services, build their credentials, recruit students from nearby, and schedule training sessions at the rate they are willing to accept. Compared with other grounds for investment, we feel this field is solid, stable, and fertile and has great scaling potential throughout China and beyond.