Validation 1
Identifying the problem
We’ve identified the problem when one of us tried to look for students to tutor online. We came across a few websites that were tailored for tutoring, but lacked a lot of features that would have made the process of finding a tutor easier - such as search filters for location, subject, type of tuition - individual or in a group etc. We’ve also had a look at the interactions tutors have wit potential tutees on Facebook groups and identified the importance of having reviews on our platform and much more.
Our Solution
Initially we thought that we would like to develop a well designed platform that will streamline the process of finding a tutor - that would include good filters for location, preferences for where the tutoring class should take place, the subject, availability etc. We were not sure whether the tutors or tutees would be open to move their classes online (especially for those who are looking for a niche subject to study).
If they would be open to it, we thought it would be great to have an integrated virtual teaching space on the platform. We also thought of encouraging students to leave reviews for their teachers, in order to make the matching process easier for other potential students using the platform. Also, the communication between the potential student and the teacher would take place on the platform - in this way the personal details of either party can remain private.
Customer Discovery
We are aware that the private tutoring market is huge in Romania and usually parents/students find a tutor through the word of mouth. However, we were curious to find out if the parents and teachers were interested to look for teachers online and even consider switching from face-to face classes to online tuition. On the other hand, we also wanted to see if teachers were open to tutor online or to use an online platform in order to expand their customer base.
Customer Validation
We created an online form that we shared on Facebook with students, parents, teachers and full-time employees in order to find out more about their experience in finding a tutor/tutee.
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We had 99 responses and we also had interest from full time developers as well as parents in getting involved in the project. We shared the form in many Facebook groups for parents, students, tuition and we have also messaged our friend directly and asked them to help share the form.
Overall, people were interested and excited about the project - half of the people who completed the form left their email address for updates regarding our project!
While we were sure about 2 of the customer segments - the parents and the teachers, we’ve also identified a 3rd segment - full time employees who are interested in either taking tutoring classes online or offering tutoring classes. In the next section, we’ll focus on the answers for each customer segment.
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Here is the full analysis on the answers we received from those who completed our form online.
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Ready for the next step?
Now that we've gathered more information about the needs of our customers, we have a good idea of how the platform should look like. We'll try to include as many of the features suggested while trying to keep the signing up process easy and accessible.
We're keen to start working on our platform (we know we have quite an ambitious project ahead of us and we hope to deliver a great product)!