I invest in TeachApp, a unique app for private tutoring.
The story is short: barely a year after meeting the team, I decided to back them.
Thanks to joining Conector Startup Accelerator as a mentor, and specifically Bankia’s acceleration programme, in July 2016 I was able to see a good number of aspiring startups.
Félix López with the 3 co-founders of TeachApp
Of all the ones I saw, the one that surprised me most was TeachApp: a team of 3 entrepreneurs in their early twenties from Barcelona, with plenty of drive. Alejandro, their CEO, has been a private tutor and has a very good grounding in finance. His co-founders, Angel and Alvaro, are the techies of the team, brilliant programmers.
These stars have developed a really slick app that connects the best private tutors with students, by proximity and according to their previous ratings. In other words, a kind of Wallapop where you always find the best tutor near you.
But what surprised me most and encouraged me to mentor them was that, without spending a single euro on marketing, they had thousands of users and very good online positioning. Oh, and they’re EdTech, which is my passion.
Here’s a summary of their winning pitch at the Bankia by Conector qualifying event.
After 6 months of support and mentoring alongside other mentors, we see a team that listens carefully to the mentors’ advice, works hard, stays focused and meets its objectives after every meeting.
One thing I recommended was to do some thorough testing with tutors through focus groups, and to take on an intern to really go for it with social media marketing.
They have also done some good guerrilla marketing, printing flyers with information about their app and handing them out on university campuses.
Here is their old website, another area where they haven’t let their guard down and are striving for perfection – they even changed their logo during the mentoring process, looking for a more original one.
So I decided to go from MENTOR to INVESTOR as soon as they told me they were going to open a small funding round to step on the accelerator and invest heavily in online marketing to attract users.
In July 2017, taking advantage of my holidays on the Costa Brava, I stopped off in Barcelona to see them and take part in the round. I hope I have a good eye 😉
In October 2017 they also won a place at SIMO Impulso, where I was with them too and where they got very good visibility.
What makes TeachApp unique?
- All tutors are vetted by them
- Very easy searching for the nearest tutor, as well as by subject
- Flexible scheduling to fit lessons around both tutor and student
- Secure payment, which matters in this sector, and a management dashboard for tutors
- An app that works brilliantly on iOS, Android and even on their website if you’re not on mobile
Are you a teacher? Are you good at teaching? Would you like to earn a bit extra every month? Easy: sign up to TeachApp here
Do your children need help with a subject at primary or secondary school? Do you want to improve or learn to play an instrument? Practise or learn a language? What are you waiting for? Go to TeachApp and find your ideal tutor: https://teachapp.es/
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