Name: Lessonface Website: www.lessonface.com Headquarters: New York City, USA Vertical: K-12, Lifelong Learning Tech: Web App
Introduce your startup and give a short description of what you are doing.
Lessonface is a marketplace for online music lessons that brings dedicated students to vetted and reviewed teachers.
Who are the founders, how did you meet, what are your different roles in the startup.
Lessonface founders Claire Cunningham and Ashford Tucker met while Ashford was in a band in the early oughts. Claire was at that time running her first post-college company, the NotSo Hostel. Claire handles product and user success, and Ashford oversees legal and branding matters.
What is the main problem in education that you aim to solve.
Helping teachers find the right students for their teaching style and ability, and for students to find teachers who will inspire, challenge, and motivate them. And to take away the headache of booking.
How was the idea for your startup born?
Out of recognizing a growing trend of online lessons and a need for their organization
In which markets / regions are you active. What markets / regions are next.
We have served students and teachers worldwide, but are primarily active in North America
Who is your target audience.
Great music teachers and students ready to learn. Ages 5-105. (We have actually served students between the ages of 5-80+)
How do you engage with your target audience. How do you convert them into users of your product.
Primarily organically - via teacher and student referral.
How many users / downloads does your service have?
A bit over 4,000 users.
What is your business model. How much does your product / service cost.
Teachers set their own lesson rates. Our fee is 15% of lessons sold.
Who are your main competitors? What sets you apart from them?
Teachers using Skype + Paypal is our primary competition. We bring a layer of trust and convenience, in form of a set of tools for finding teachers, arranging lesson dates and scheduling, for both teacher and student.
If you raised funding, how much did you raise. Who are your investors. If not, are you planning to raise funding.
We have raised about half a million USD from angel investors.
Are there milestones you are especially proud of and would like to share.
Students active in the past 12 months on Lessonface took an average of 8 lessons apiece. This number has increased by 30% annually since our launch in 2013, a strong indicator that we're continuing to deliver a better and better experience - and that students are finding teachers that they really like and are sticking with it!
What are the next steps in growing your startup.
We've honed our system and made sure it was delivering well for our users, and are thrilled at the strong response from our early adopters. We're looking forward to growing by students and teachers together.
How can people get in touch with you.
Lessonface.com / cc@lessonface.com / 800-211-7058