Jonathan's Fastlane Idea: 'Study Buddy'

[Jonathan1]

It's a method of advertising we plan on using for our app. We just plan on bribing all the Marines I know with beer money haha

Lol.

 

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[GuestUserX09]

I've just finished up university here and I'm surprised only @CaptainAmerica mentioned the elephant in the room..

In school I was always able, for any subject, to find nearly an unlimited amount of helpful videos on YouTube, Udemy, Kahn Academy, etc. For every tiny question I had, there were dozens of high quality videos that explain it somewhere online if I just Googled it, for free. Many sites are even very interactive and will provide free practice questions, still for free.

My question I would share is, how do you differentiate yourself from the vast amount of high quality free content out there?

 

[Scot]

I've just finished up university here and I'm surprised only @CaptainAmerica mentioned the elephant in the room..

In school I was always able, for any subject, to find nearly an unlimited amount of helpful videos on YouTube, Udemy, Kahn Academy, etc. For every tiny question I had, there were dozens of high quality videos that explain it somewhere online if I just Googled it, for free. Many sites are even very interactive and will provide free practice questions, still for free.

My question I would share is, how do you differentiate yourself from the vast amount of high quality free content out there?

I hear what you're saying. But Google and YouTube haven't killed the test prep market. People who are stressing about high level exams will use google as a supplement, but they want a trusted source for the main content. That's what @Jonathan1 has to do. Establish himself as the trusted content.

After watching this first hand with my wife the past few years studying for boards, there's no way she would have A) trusted Google for the help and B) passed her boards without her board prep. I have friends who are lawyers and dr's who all used the industry standard course prep systems.

His challenge is to make this the mainstream.

 

[Jonathan1]

I've just finished up university here and I'm surprised only @CaptainAmerica mentioned the elephant in the room..

In school I was always able, for any subject, to find nearly an unlimited amount of helpful videos on YouTube, Udemy, Kahn Academy, etc. For every tiny question I had, there were dozens of high quality videos that explain it somewhere online if I just Googled it, for free. Many sites are even very interactive and will provide free practice questions, still for free.

My question I would share is, how do you differentiate yourself from the vast amount of high quality free content out there?

I was thinking about that. I think one key difference is convenience. Imagine have access to a resource that is specific to your syllabus, which mean that every video, text and practice exercise is relevant and not above or below the level of learning required. Everything will be in line with the syllabi and systematically organized. I believe that is better than having to search for content on a topic to topic basis. Would you not feel confident and exam ready if you are covering your syllabus in an almost checklist-like manner and earning progress badges and so on? On the other hand if you search for content online, you may have to look in different places for different topics, which wastes time, then the level of difficulty may be too much or too little. What you need might be mixed with other topics you don't need. Additionally, you don't have that feel that comes with 'checking off' topics as you learn and seeing your progress. You may not have a systematic progression approach etc.

A second factor is that if it is made by a person in the region for people in the region, it may feel more 'at home' as opposed to foreign in terms of accent, cultural references etc. I believe that may matter as well.

 

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[nradam123]

Many businesses have pulled this off.
There are probably a few hundreds here in India.

All of them target a specific niche (Entrance exams, schools, colleges .etc)

Here are a few -
http://byjus.com/
http://superprofs.com/

But I highly recommend that you start teaching students directly initially and understand the pain points before making a full course. This is a hardcore execution game, just making a product will not sell. You will have to get the first 50 customers through direct coaching, tweak the product as you learn and then pitch to the same students if they start liking your classes.

 

[Jonathan1]

I hear what you're saying. But Google and YouTube haven't killed the test prep market. People who are stressing about high level exams will use google as a supplement, but they want a trusted source for the main content. That's what @Jonathan1 has to do. Establish himself as the trusted content.

After watching this first hand with my wife the past few years studying for boards, there's no way she would have A) trusted Google for the help and B) passed her boards without her board prep. I have friends who are lawyers and dr's who all used the industry standard course prep systems.

His challenge is to make this the mainstream.

Keep posting Scot! I love how you capture things. That's exactly it. If I were younger and at that part of my education journey, I would want not a supplement, but a trusted source for main content. That's exactly it. I want to create something that I wish I had when I was at that level.

 

[Scot]

I was thinking about that. I think one key difference is convenience. Imagine have access to a resource that is specific to your syllabus, which mean that every video, text and practice exercise is relevant and not above or below the level of learning required. Everything will be in line with the syllabi and systematically organized. I believe that is better than having to search for content on a topic to topic basis. Would you not feel confident and exam ready if you are covering your syllabus in an almost checklist-like manner and earning progress badges and so on? On the other hand if you search for content online, you may have to look in different places for different topics, which wastes time, then the level of difficulty may be too much or too little. What you need might be mixed with other topics you don't need. Additionally, you don't have that feel that comes with 'checking off' topics as you learn and seeing your progress. You may not have a systematic progression approach etc.

A second factor is that if it is made by a person in the region for people in the region, it may feel more 'at home' as opposed to foreign in terms of accent, cultural references etc. I believe that may matter as well.

Run an experiment. The first year you're up and running, follow 30 students who are using your product and 30 who aren't, track their tests scores. If you can prove that your test prep product shows higher scores, done.

 

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[GuestUserX09]

@Scot Yeah this makes sense for the boards.

But that's a tiny group. A majority of students are taking general college courses at best in which there is a deep market of free and high quality content. Chemistry, Physics, Calculus.. That stuff is at best the extent of the market.

Specialized stuff for larger type tests like you're talking is a good idea but the market size is much much smaller.

 

[Scot]

@Scot Yeah this makes sense for the boards.

But that's a tiny group. A majority of students are taking general college courses at best in which there is a deep market of free and high quality content. Chemistry, Phyciscs, Calculus.. That stuff is at best the extent of the market.

Specialized stuff for larger type tests like you're talking is a good idea but the market size is much much smaller.

The way he's explained it, it sounds like SAT or ACT prep. Basically a test to get you to the next step of education where, if you score poorly, you don't advance. TheSAT and ACT prep market is still pretty lucrative.

Besides, in his country, there is no test prep.

 

[GuestUserX09]

@Scot i thought were talking class by class, specific videos.

Test prep however would be solid, SAT and ACT. I know it's still common to spend hundreds on in person classes for SAT/ACT prep, online broken down instruction would be useful but it would churn users after they've taken the test.

Also, why limit it to that country only? If it's online let everyone have a crack at it if they want.

 

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[Scot]

@Scot i thought were talking class by class, specific videos.

Test prep however would be solid, SAT and ACT. I know it's still common to spend hundreds on in person classes for SAT/ACT prep, online broken down instruction would be useful but it would churn users after they've taken the test.

Also, why limit it to that country only? If it's online let everyone have a crack at it if they want.

If you go back to the beginning of the thread he's talking about the specific exam process used in his country. I think Poland is where he lives. Basically to get from out equivalent grade 9 to grade 10 they have to pass a battery of standardized exams. If they don't, no more school. People are motivated to get into the secondary school to escape a life of poverty.

In his country, there are tutors but no tutoring agencies. As of now, there is no "Kaplan" or test prep product.

I'm sure if he was successful he could grow to other EU countries with this problem. But as of now he's trying to target a specific population.

 

[GuestUserX09]

@Scot okay, I see. If it's some sort of proprietary testing setup then excellent.

I'm not saying it can't be done if otherwise though

 

[Honestea]

Hey Honestea, I'm not assuming a 40 year lifespan for one student. Every year, X amount of students will take the exams, and after that, they will be finished with their secondary school education. When they leave the system, a fresh batch of students, let's call them X1, will be entering the grade in which the exams are taken. So every year students are taking the exams and 'passing through the system'. The numbers I used in my estimations does not represent the same students of a particular cohort, but simply the number of students across cohorts.

Take the first line for instance with 1 student. I'm not imagining 1 student from 1 cohort for 40 years, but I'm imagining if over 40 years, and 40 cohorts, if I only had 1 student from each cohort, what the projected sales would be like.

Hope that clarifies.

I got it now. Does the 200/$USD31 per person cost already account for the multiple subjects each student need to take exams for?
Secondly, are you planning to record youtube style videos yourself and sell the DVD? I have taken a real estate license exam (http://www.nyrei.com/onlinestudy.htm) where they offered online tutor, check this out to give you some idea. My feedback, honestly, is that learning from DVDs or online platform can get boring, if it lacks interaction with classmates and teachers. So you need to convince students they'll benefit a lot more from your video than just reading the books and practice on their own. Have you considered designing it to be an interactive program through a software of online platform?
Finally, Are you planning to do all subjects by yourself? Even if you just start from maths and English, do you have advanced degrees in both? I think students normally look at tutor's own academic background- how do you convince students that you qualify?

 

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[Jonathan1]

I got it now. Does the 200/$USD31 per person cost already account for the multiple subjects each student need to take exams for?
Secondly, are you planning to record youtube style videos yourself and sell the DVD? I have taken a real estate license exam (http://www.nyrei.com/onlinestudy.htm) where they offered online tutor, check this out to give you some idea. My feedback, honestly, is that learning from DVDs or online platform can get boring, if it lacks interaction with classmates and teachers. So you need to convince students they'll benefit a lot more from your video than just reading the books and practice on their own. Have you considered designing it to be an interactive program through a software of online platform?
Finally, Are you planning to do all subjects by yourself? Even if you just start from maths and English, do you have advanced degrees in both? I think students normally look at tutor's own academic background- how do you convince students that you qualify?

Hi Honestea (my response is long, so get your coffee if you're interested...lol),

1. I am not settled on pricing; $200/31USD is just an estimated figure of what one subject will cost. I will probably create packages, so 2 subjects won't cost $400, but maybe $350. 3 subjects will cost $450 etc.
2. I am not going to use the medium of DVD's as piracy is rampant here, and DVD's will lend to my content being easily copied. Instead, everything will be fully online and will operate on a subscription basis, not a one time fee.
3. With regard to students being bored, I am considering creating an online community once I have enough subscribers, where they can help each other with studies, homework etc. I was also considering a parental accountability feature where the parent get feedback whether to ensure that the student is using the material, and also feedback on their performance (and growth) in the skill builders. I feel like I need to think of it as not selling to students only but more to parents, as it's the parents that will be paying. Also, I want to 'gamify' the content so that students earn badges and points and maybe level up as they progress etc. (and maybe even implement a leaderboard to see who is doing best, but this may have some unwanted consequences like making some students feel inadequate, so not sure yet)
4. I would love to create interactive software, but I currently do not have the expertise, or the money to pay someone to do it. If it won't require too much learning so as to delay the creation of the learning content, then I am willing to learn.
5. My girl friend and I are planning to do all the subjects by ourselves. We cannot afford to hire anyone. I was thinking about doing a MVP, then using income from that to pay someone to help us with the other subjects so that we can finish all faster, but the thing is that I may be very anal about how I want to content to be (in relation to my learning/teaching philosophy).
6. We do not have advanced degrees. At the tertiary level, I am pursuing a Bachelors in Psychology (which is where my understanding of learning comes from and why I will be anal), and she is studying Culinary management. At the secondary level, together we both have qualifications in Math, English, Literature, Physics, Biology and Agriculture. I did have qualms about not having advanced degrees in the relevant subjects, but here is how I justify my plans:
-I am an autodidact at heart, and so I enjoy learning
-The courses are actually easy at the level for which I want to create content. My Psychology degree has a wide variety of non-psych courses to create an all round student (Eg. Business, Economics, Spanish, Science, Biology, Math etc) and after spending time in the tertiary environment, when I look back at secondary education, most of it seems like ABC's, so its not hard to relearn/learn and synthesize learn-able material for students.
-There is a potential hidden danger in teaching when you have advanced degrees. Simply put, teachers may think they are explaining their subject matter in a manner that is clear and understandable, but often that is not the case. It seems so to them because they have highly developed mental hard-drives in the subject area. The virgin student on the other hand whose mental hard drive is empty, who does not have the many frames of reference struggle to follow and learn. Because we do not hold advanced degrees, it is improbable that we will fall victim to explaining things at too high of a level while. See more about this phenomenon here if you wish: https://hbr.org/2006/12/the-curse-of-knowledge
-Many great minds in history did not attain their excellence through the traditional route (the education system), but were themselves autodidacts
7.In my country, people seem to not scrutinize paper credentials very much. People operate based on word of mouth about effectiveness. 'This person is a good teacher, you should send your child there for lessons' etc. Actually, I know of some people who give lessons who do not hold advanced qualifications in the areas, but it is not a problem. Once Study Buddy is out and people see the value, I hope that people would respond by saying 'Hey, my child is really improving in Math and English, and he's doing everything from home! He gets help with his homework from home as well' The credibility will be established on the program's own merit. I just need that initial following until Study Buddy becomes the default learning companion to students.

-Jonathan.

P.S. Much thanks for the real estate link. Will check it out for ideas.

 

[Honestea]

Hi Honestea (my response is long, so get your coffee if you're interested...lol),

1. I am not settled on pricing; $200/31USD is just an estimated figure of what one subject will cost. I will probably create packages, so 2 subjects won't cost $400, but maybe $350. 3 subjects will cost $450 etc.
2. I am not going to use the medium of DVD's as piracy is rampant here, and DVD's will lend to my content being easily copied. Instead, everything will be fully online and will operate on a subscription basis, not a one time fee.
3. With regard to students being bored, I am considering creating an online community once I have enough subscribers, where they can help each other with studies, homework etc. I was also considering a parental accountability feature where the parent get feedback whether to ensure that the student is using the material, and also feedback on their performance (and growth) in the skill builders. I feel like I need to think of it as not selling to students only but more to parents, as it's the parents that will be paying. Also, I want to 'gamify' the content so that students earn badges and points and maybe level up as they progress etc. (and maybe even implement a leaderboard to see who is doing best, but this may have some unwanted consequences like making some students feel inadequate, so not sure yet)
4. I would love to create interactive software, but I currently do not have the expertise, or the money to pay someone to do it. If it won't require too much learning so as to delay the creation of the learning content, then I am willing to learn.
5. My girl friend and I are planning to do all the subjects by ourselves. We cannot afford to hire anyone. I was thinking about doing a MVP, then using income from that to pay someone to help us with the other subjects so that we can finish all faster, but the thing is that I may be very anal about how I want to content to be (in relation to my learning/teaching philosophy).
6. We do not have advanced degrees. At the tertiary level, I am pursuing a Bachelors in Psychology (which is where my understanding of learning comes from and why I will be anal), and she is studying Culinary management. At the secondary level, together we both have qualifications in Math, English, Literature, Physics, Biology and Agriculture. I did have qualms about not having advanced degrees in the relevant subjects, but here is how I justify my plans:
-I am an autodidact at heart, and so I enjoy learning
-The courses are actually easy at the level for which I want to create content. My Psychology degree has a wide variety of non-psych courses to create an all round student (Eg. Business, Economics, Spanish, Science, Biology, Math etc) and after spending time in the tertiary environment, when I look back at secondary education, most of it seems like ABC's, so its not hard to relearn/learn and synthesize learn-able material for students.
-There is a potential hidden danger in teaching when you have advanced degrees. Simply put, teachers may think they are explaining their subject matter in a manner that is clear and understandable, but often that is not the case. It seems so to them because they have highly developed mental hard-drives in the subject area. The virgin student on the other hand whose mental hard drive is empty, who does not have the many frames of reference struggle to follow and learn. Because we do not hold advanced degrees, it is improbable that we will fall victim to explaining things at too high of a level while. See more about this phenomenon here if you wish: https://hbr.org/2006/12/the-curse-of-knowledge
-Many great minds in history did not attain their excellence through the traditional route (the education system), but were themselves autodidacts
7.In my country, people seem to not scrutinize paper credentials very much. People operate based on word of mouth about effectiveness. 'This person is a good teacher, you should send your child there for lessons' etc. Actually, I know of some people who give lessons who do not hold advanced qualifications in the areas, but it is not a problem. Once Study Buddy is out and people see the value, I hope that people would respond by saying 'Hey, my child is really improving in Math and English, and he's doing everything from home! He gets help with his homework from home as well' The credibility will be established on the program's own merit. I just need that initial following until Study Buddy becomes the default learning companion to students.

-Jonathan.

P.S. Much thanks for the real estate link. Will check it out for ideas.

3. When I said "bored", I was referring to that watching tutorial lacks interaction with the mentor and classmates on the spot, so it is less engaging than a classroom setting or private tutoring, which is why I think will be more appealing with some interactive content.
I absolutely agree that building an online community is really important- not only will it make students feel more involved with your program, but that's a good way to spread the word to their friends- so I think you should encourage non-paying members to join the community discussion as well and get as much of them as you can.
I also think it's critical to realize parents, not the students, are the ultimate customers, if they are the ones writing the check. That realization will help you target your marketing to parents instead of just students.
4. I have found some useful youtube videos comparing tools to create interactive e-learning on your own. The main ones on the market are Articulate Storyline, Snap (ppt plug in), Composica and Thinkfic (cloud based so they host and include e-commerce component). Check them out. I myself intend to choose one of them to start creating some content for my services.
As to convincing the students, I think it all comes down to how you make them believe you are better qualified than the private tutors- if other tutors are of similar academic background (i.e. no advanced degrees), then I agree, you have your own strong suit.

 

[Jonathan1]

Was
just doing some research online and I found a company essentially doing what I want to do. They are part of a billion dollar conglomerate whose main business is cable, Internet, home phone etc. I don't know how I missed it in my initial research but I feel like I can't compete and my gf and I feel utterly devastated. What should I do? I feel to quit.... This idea was our golden egg.

 

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[Scot]

Good news! Now half of your work is done for you!

Sign up for a month of it. Figure out how theirs is set up. Now, find out what you could do better. What can you do to distinguish yourself? Better yet, if they charge a crazy dollar amount, you can be a value brand if need be.

The week after we decided on our domain name, a website popped up on my search doing the EXACT same thing. With a similar domain name too. I had a brief moment of panic and doubt. Then I laughed. Because I felt bad. Bad that I was going to destroy their website by being #1.

Hell, even MJ said in his book that he wasn't the only limo site.

Doesn't matter if there's a big conglomerate doing it. Do me a favor. Google. SAT test prep right now. Tell me how many search results you get. Try MCAT tutoring programs. There's going to be more than one. Be their competition.

 

[Jonathan1]

Good news! Now half of your work is done for you!

Sign up for a month of it. Figure out how theirs is set up. Now, find out what you could do better. What can you do to distinguish yourself? Better yet, if they charge a crazy dollar amount, you can be a value brand if need be.

The week after we decided on our domain name, a website popped up on my search doing the EXACT same thing. With a similar domain name too. I had a brief moment of panic and doubt. Then I laughed. Because I felt bad. Bad that I was going to destroy their website by being #1.

Hell, even MJ said in his book that he wasn't the only limo site.

Doesn't matter if there's a big conglomerate doing it. Do me a favor. Google. SAT test prep right now. Tell me how many search results you get. Try MCAT tutoring programs. There's going to be more than one. Be their competition.

Wow Scot. You've been so encouraging and valuable in sharing your insights and ideas. Thank you. I actually do not feel despondent anymore. We will go through with it. We will be their competition, and will crush them! We will crush them badly! I like that their existence shows me that there is a market for what we want to do. They have over 1000 students already (they recently started), and that is encouraging in a sense.

 

[Scot]

See, they just started! So they're not entrenched in the market. You don't have to have 100% of the market anyway. I'm glad I could help. Kill it!

 

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[Honestea]

Was
just doing some research online and I found a company essentially doing what I want to do. They are part of a billion dollar conglomerate whose main business is cable, Internet, home phone etc. I don't know how I missed it in my initial research but I feel like I can't compete and my gf and I feel utterly devastated. What should I do? I feel to quit.... This idea was our golden egg.

Wow Scot. You've been so encouraging and valuable in sharing your insights and ideas. Thank you. I actually do not feel despondent anymore. We will go through with it. We will be their competition, and will crush them! We will crush them badly! I like that their existence shows me that there is a market for what we want to do. They have over 1000 students already (they recently started), and that is encouraging in a sense.

Existence of competition proves existence of the market. No competition means either no market or you haven't done enough homework. And even if your competitors already had a big market share (which they don't with just 100 students), there's new demand each year as student move on after their tests and a new batch of students become your target customers, which is much different than traditional industries where you have to persuade customers to ditch existing brands and switch to yours.

Key is to provide better products and services. Ask yourself what you can do that the competition cannot, and what you can do better what they are already doing.

 

[Jonathan1]

Existence of competition proves existence of the market. No competition means either no market or you haven't done enough homework. And even if your competitors already had a big market share (which they don't with just 100 students), there's new demand each year as student move on after their tests and a new batch of students become your target customers, which is much different than traditional industries where you have to persuade customers to ditch existing brands and switch to yours.

Key is to provide better products and services. Ask yourself what you can do that the competition cannot, and what you can do better what they are already doing.

Great points Honestea.

Thank you.

 

[Scot]

Any updates?

 

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[Jonathan1]

No progress. I was sick. Had the zika virus. Also still trying to accumulate money to buy the basic stuff (camera, graphic tablet etc). In the mean time I will resume prepping the actual content.

 

[Scot]

No progress. I was sick. Had the zika virus. Also still trying to accumulate money to buy the basic stuff (camera, graphic tablet etc). In the mean time I will resume prepping the actual content.

Holy crap! That's nuts, sorry to hear you got Zika dude. Best of luck pushing forward.

 

[Ika]

Great idea Jonathan! I have not read the whole thread, but I really like your thoughts.
One additional idea that came into my mind when reading the name was that there is a function for students to connect with other students taking the exact exams- So people can chat with other students that need the same informations. That could help with questions but help with learning as well, they can motivate each other or learn together (without leaving the house).
Maybe as a "premium" package, all they have to do is fill in their classes and as soon as there is a similar student they receive a notification.
The difference to learning with your friends is that they paid for it, which shows an amount of motivation to study - So they can be sure their study buddy is not going to leave them hanging - I personally needed that in my final time!

 

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