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Tutorspree (YC W11) Is An Airbnb For Tutoring

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Re: Tutorspree (YC W11) Is An Airbnb For Tutoring

#12

Post by akharris »

sachinag wrote: post #8

I'm curious why you're doing actual subjects and not doing test prep. Did your customer development say that people prefer Kaplan et al for SAT, SSAT, PSAT, ACT, etc.? (Personally, I would really love to have a service that screened potential clients for me. I charge $150-200/hour for GMAT tutoring and I spend way too much time dealing with people bitching about my fees. If I was just given clients who had the abilit…

It's a question we keep playing around with. Our customer dev work said that the subject matter market was, far and away, the most underserved/archaic - so that's where we decided to focus.

But, we don't want to restrict our tutors. They decide what they want to offer, and we'll list them for the subjects they want. I'm pretty sure that the community will grow and change over time, but we want to make sure we're hitting a defined problem first to get a full understanding of what works and what doesn't.

Sign up, and we'll definitely be in touch. We love a good tutor.

Re: Tutorspree (YC W11) Is An Airbnb For Tutoring

#13

Post by danest »

akharris wrote: post #3
danest wrote: post #2

Any information on how the three founders met?

Sure: Josh and I have known each other for years through mutual friends. We started working on the idea that would become Tutorspree at the beginning of the summer, and as we realized we were onto something, started figuring out how to round out our team. That led to a full on search for a technical co-founder back in NYC. It took a fair amount of doing (and if you want to know more about finding a great technical co…

Aaron how much of technical background did you and Josh have when you first started building the website and also when did you guys realize that you had something?

Also do you guys plan on staying in NYC or moving out to California?

Re: Tutorspree (YC W11) Is An Airbnb For Tutoring

#17

Post by akharris »

danest wrote: post #13
akharris wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure: Josh and I have known each other for years through mutual friends. We started working on the idea that would become Tutorspree at the beginning of the summer, and as we realized we were onto something, started figuring out how to round out our team. That led to a full on search for a technical co-founder back in NYC. It took a fair amount of doing (and if you want to know more about finding a great technical co…

Aaron how much of technical background did you and Josh have when you first started building the website and also when did you guys realize that you had something? Also do you guys plan on staying in NYC or moving out to California?

Not much. My last real coding experience was C++ back in AP CS. I started teaching myself python at the same time we were doing full time customer development. I had a couple of friends pitch in some time to help us do some early stage stuff.

We hit a tipping point in early August where we realized we were onto something - no one thing did it, more an aggregation on a lot of signals and a lot of legwork and conversations. We decided the time was ripe to do it for real, and put all of efforts into "finding Ryan."

He handles all the real coding. I pitch in on some of the front end work (taught myself HTML and CSS) - but he's the guy who makes it all come together. Although, I do seem to get stuck with setting up printers and routers.

As for NYC/California: we're out in CA now for YC. We'll do whatever is best for the company when the program ends.

Re: Tutorspree (YC W11) Is An Airbnb For Tutoring

#18

Post by akharris »

rottencupcakes wrote: post #6

A truly brilliant idea. The alternatives are essentially an unverified tutor off of craigslist or an agency that takes 50% of the tutor's money. With a good feedback system in place, I would be surprised if this doesn't become the standard way to find a tutor. Good luck, guys!

That's what parents and tutors kept telling us, and they sounded unhappy. We decided to try to make them happier by building something for them.

Re: Tutorspree (YC W11) Is An Airbnb For Tutoring

#19

Post by akharris »

euroclydon wrote: post #16

We homeschool our children. I want to find top quality tutors for languages like, French, Greek or Hebrew. Also grammar, math, and comp-sci. I'll keep an eye on Tutorspace. We're in Durham, NC.

We'd love to help out as soon as we get to Durham! Sign up for our mailing list, and when we show up, you'll know.

Re: Tutorspree (YC W11) Is An Airbnb For Tutoring

#20

Post by sachinag »

akharris wrote: post #12
sachinag wrote: post #8

I'm curious why you're doing actual subjects and not doing test prep. Did your customer development say that people prefer Kaplan et al for SAT, SSAT, PSAT, ACT, etc.? (Personally, I would really love to have a service that screened potential clients for me. I charge $150-200/hour for GMAT tutoring and I spend way too much time dealing with people bitching about my fees. If I was just given clients who had the abilit…

It's a question we keep playing around with. Our customer dev work said that the subject matter market was, far and away, the most underserved/archaic - so that's where we decided to focus. But, we don't want to restrict our tutors. They decide what they want to offer, and we'll list them for the subjects they want. I'm pretty sure that the community will grow and change over time, but we want to make sure we're hitt…

That's cool - you may be onto something. I'd wager there's some overlap between subjects and SAT IIs, AP exams, and name-your-state equivalents of New York State's Regents exams, as well. I'd do some thinking and planning on your expansion vectors around those things.

As for me, I'm in Ann Arbor right now, so I don't think I'd be useful to you yet. :)

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