Learning a new language is an investment that pays off your whole life – and it might get easier than ever thanks to Preply, a startup launched in March that connects tutors and students via online communication medium Skype.
“All innovations should make life more comfortable, and so did we. Our project provides a service that allows people to find professional tutors with different skills, levels, specialization and location,” says Dmytriy Voloshyn, one of Preply’s three founders.
To find and recruit tutors, the team went to America’s education hub, Boston. There they launched Preply.com last November. The service helps parents find online mentors for their children taking standardized tests as part of their college applications.
“The idea was to cut the distance between students and mentors, to give them a platform for cooperation,” explains Kirill Bigay, the project’s CEO. “Using Skype you can easily improve your language (skills) with the help of a native speaker, who lives at the other end of the world.”
To make the service usable in Ukraine, the Preply team launched a local website Preply.com.ua, where local teachers, especially native speakers, can easily find new students and vice versa.
Several problems are still holding the project back. For one, many Ukrainians are still wary of making online payments, while others need considerable support with the technical aspects.
But Preply has already been picked up by Eastlabs, a startup incubator that provides resources, including seed capital and office space, for innovative projects in exchange for a 15 percent cut in future profits.
Some $200,000 has already been invested in Preply. So far neither the Ukrainian nor American sites are profitable, though revenues are rising.
At present, more than 10 requests for teachers come each day, with some 150 teachers providing their services. Depending on the level, experience and specialization, their services cost from $15 to $200 per hour.
“Those who graduated from university but didn’t have tutoring experience could be good tutors to improve speaking skills, for example”, say Bigay, “but to prepare for the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language, required by many universities) you better choose a person who can guarantee results.”
The tutors’ profiles are available on the Preply website, with information about specialty, skills and specification. Some also include a short video presentation, introducing them to students.
An additional benefit stems from having tutors around the world, the founders say, as this allows students to find teachers available to fit their schedules.
Kyiv Post staff writer Elena Pashkovskaya can be reached at [email protected]
