Miyagi – The Mobile App that Connects Tutors and Students (#SWSB 1st Place Winner & Crowd Favorite)

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Miyagi – The Mobile App that Connects Tutors and Students (Startup Weekend Santa Barbara's 1st Place Winner & Crowd Favorite)

Private tutoring represents a $7 billion industry in the United States, growing by 5% annually. Globally, it’s projected to reach $108 billion by 2018.

Yet, there’s a void in the market. Online tutoring marketplaces charge tutors steep commission fees of 20-40%, while physical tutoring centers under-utilize technology.

We surveyed dozens of students, parents, and tutors nationwide and conducted in-depth interviews with several of them. Our research revealed many problems.

Students and parents have trouble finding trusted tutors, and sometimes it’s tough to get quality help on short notice.

Tutors need help across the board – from finding students, to scheduling and billing. Most of all, they need relief from the high commission fees many tutoring marketplaces require, some as high as 80%!

So, we created Miyagi.

With Miyagi, students and parents can read reviews of local tutors to find someone they can trust. They have more affordable options and peace of mind knowing all tutors in the network have been thoroughly screened. They can also schedule sessions, message prospective tutors, and find help instantly.

Tutors have lower service fees than any other option available. They can build their student base quickly and easily maintain it through Miyagi’s seamless administrative integration. Tutors will also enjoy immediate billing and can use the app’s handy timer to guarantee accurate payments.

Miyagi generates revenue by taking a small percentage of each transaction. Our tiered service fee structure – 15%, 11%, and 7% – rewards use and referrals. The more time a tutor logs or the more students they bring to Miyagi, the more money they earn.

Our financial modeling demonstrates what we could expect in revenue in three years. Let’s say we have 10,000 tutors who all work 3.5 hours each week at the industry average of $60 per hour. At the 7% service fee, that’s $5.4 million in estimated revenue for one fiscal year (and it's a relatively conservative estimate, too!). Approximately 50% of the funds generated will go toward administrative costs, while the remaining will be reinvested back into Miyagi.

We plan to launch slowly and grow steadily. We will start locally to ensure the maturation of a region before expanding. Partnerships with local elementary, middle/junior high, and high schools, as well as colleges will help grow the network. All tutors will be trained and vetted by Miyagi staff to build a network of quality tutors that parents and students can trust.

We’ve accomplished a lot in just one weekend:

--App architecture and design alpha
--Workflow wireframed
--Web service API prototyped
--Social media accounts set up, branded, and content distribution begun
--Brand identity
--Professional financial modeling
--90-second video
--Funding account set up

We’re eager to take Miyagi to the next level through further app development, marketing, and growing our community of students, parents, and tutors. To do this, we need investment seeding.

Help us help students learn more and tutors earn more.

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Team: Gabe Bryant, Zak Erving, Lauren Salaun, Zachary Walker, and Keane Angle.

Scripted, Produced, & Edited by: Keane Angle and Lauren Salaun