Online English Co-Learning Playground

The specific problem is that millions of ESL students learn English language for years but remain unable to communicate confidently or fluently (although can do multiple choice/written assessments on vocabulary and grammar). Generally, only those who can afford overseas or international school education are able to do so (case in point: only 3% of Thailand's total student population), because they get to practice/use the language regularly and naturally, while the remaining majority students are stuck with ineffective Grammar-Translation approach (legacy of the pre-Internet/video call era when 'textbook' is the only scalable and affordable way to teach English in non-English speaking countries) that is tedious and not motivating.

Most ESL offline and online players focus on common everyday-life content (e.g., the weather, daily life, family, school) based on standardized curriculums like the CEFR. Young kids, however, don't find them interesting or fun. It feels unnatural to them (to be speaking about these things in a foreign language when they are already doing so everyday in the local language). So, we are not creating another "English classroom", but we are creating a "natural, virtual English speaking environment", more similar to overseas education/traveling experience, through creative content such as "The Beginning of Your Hogwarts Journey", "Exploring Pokemon's World", "Squid Game Escape Room", and "How to Become a YouTuber".

Kids really enjoy because it doesn’t feel academic. Given a group setting with peers who share same passions/interests and have similar level of English proficiency, the social element makes the whole experience much more fun and kids become much more motivated to learn and to practice communicating in English. They want to have a good time, to feel belonged, and to connect with new people. This approach works especially well with Asian kids who have the language basics (vocabulary and grammar) but are often shy and are often too inhibited. With tutors smoothly facilitating discussions and activities, the engagement level is through the roof, and that’s the most effective way to help kids become more confident and fluent.

The scale of this problem (English proficiency) is very large affecting millions of people throughout the world in non-English speaking countries (severely limiting their choices and opportunities in life).

Our platform is a marketplace similar to Outschool.com, but just for English learning purposes. The lesson content are different because they are designed to encourage as much interaction and discussions as possible (i.e., no lecture-style class). We are on track to have 1,000+ high-quality class content (to be updated regularly) across many different categories like Fantasy/Adventure, Arts & Crafts, Music & Drama, STEM, Life Skills, etc. So, to parents/students, we look like Netflix but for live experience. However, since our classes are live (not on-demand videos), we focus on facilitating the matching between students and tutors through our recommendation algorithms. We recommend students based on their preferences, past behaviors, “what their friends are booking”, etc. And we recommend tutors on both the time (to offer classes) and the lesson topics to choose (based on what’s trending and not over-supplied yet), whether to pull from our central library of content or to make their new UGC content.

Given our focus on providing a full immersive experience that doesn’t feel academic, we use post-class quizzes and speech recognition models to measure and keep track of individual student’s progress along the major language acquisition metrics like speed (words per minute) and sentence length (t-unit) for fluency, accuracy, and pronunciations. Furthermore, each lesson has learning objectives that are tied to CEFR Can Do statements and Skills Development (based on P21’s, e.g., Global Awareness, Health Literacy), so every student will also have a track record and personalized learning pathway showing what knowledge and skills they have obtained through out their journey with us.  

Majority students (and eventually, adults) in ESL countries throughout the world, who want to be able to communicate in English to improve their opportunities and choices in life. 

They are currently underserved because most 'solutions' that are effective are too costly. By creating a more affordable 'virtual English speaking environment' that can be accessed from anywhere in the world, they don't need to pay $30,000+ tuitions a year to attend international school or to spend on summer abroad programs/overseas traveling (for language learning). 

Co-founders, Parith (bit.ly/parith-linkedin) and Natthida (bit.ly/natthida-linkedin) are very passionate about making quality education accessible to everyone. Despite coming from business backgrounds, both have extensive teaching experience during college/grad school days and have access to a very large pool of prospective Millennial tutors through networks and affiliations with various Youth-related organizations.  

Our advisors include Derek Hopper (Applied Linguist from Oxford: bit.ly/dhopper-linkedin), Pin Pin Tea-makorn (AI/ML expert from Stanford: bit.ly/pinpin-linkedin), and Korn Chatikavanij (former Finance Minister and founder of English for All non-profit project).    

All of us are into education and rather ‘academic’ ourselves - Natthida, ranked first in her undergraduate class, Derek and Pin Pin are part-time college lecturers, and Parith’s extended family owns one of the top international schools in Thailand.

Edsy is founded because of a personal pain point. Parith and Natthida, along with the majority 97% of the student population in Thailand/Southeast Asia, grew up in local schools which only teach English minimally and focus on grammar rather than actual communications (due to limited resources), that’s why most students nationwide still can’t speak English and the proficiency ranking remains among the worst globally. International/bilingual schools are only accessible to the fortunate minority who can afford up to 50x higher tuition fees. Nowadays, the hype is all about STEM, 21st century skills, etc., but the necessity of English proficiency can’t be overlooked - it is still the gateway to global knowledge and choices in life. A decent technical background but limited English proficiency would always handicap your opportunities in life.

Our product is fundable to VCs (subject to more traction) due to its commercial and monetization potentials. However, we would like to further amplify our impact towards the lower-income/bottom of the pyramid segment (currently we serve lower-middle income families and above) who would also benefit tremendously from our solution and better English proficiency/communications ability. We believe Solve's resources and network of experts would be crucial in helping us find a way to further democratize high-quality English learning FOR ALL SEGMENTS, not just lower-middle income and above, be it adjustment to the product/format, new partnerships, and etc.

Yes, it could because our solution arose out of a key insight that: The biggest issue with ESL kids is not about language foundation, but tendency for inhibition, so it’s about creating the right environment where students are motivated/eager to speak up and practice. We found that they speak up THE MOST when they get to interact/engage/socialize with peers on topics of mutual interest (e.g., Harry Potter, Pokemon, Minecraft)

For the next year our goal is to achieve product-market fit within the segment we are currently serving (i.e., lower-middle and middle-income families). For 5-year goal, we want to expand our reach towards the bottom of the pyramid so we can have a meaningful contribution and impact to all those in need within the society, affecting hundred thousands of lives in non-English speaking LDC countries.

Improvement in students' English communications ability, as measured by fluency (t-unit/sentence length, speed/words per minute, vocabulary diversity, pronunciation, etc.).

Also for future plans once we expand to cover all segments including the bottom of the pyramid, indicators related "Quality Education and "Reduced Inequalities" of the SDGs.

Since the traditional academic/Grammar-Translation approach of ESL is ineffective in making kids becoming more confident and fluent in English. Our theory of change is such that our "Affordable Virtual English Speaking Environment" would offer a more effective, more safe, and more motivating space for students to pick up English language naturally and have regular airtime to practice. Short-term outcome would be ESL kids enjoy and become happier/more motivated to learn/practice English. Long-term outcome would be that they have better English proficiency, which ultimately opens a lot of doors for them in terms of opportunities and choices in life...because English language is in the end the gateway to global knowledge and opportunities. 

We use speech recognition to help measure progress (e.g., fluency, accuracy, mastery) after kids participate in a series of these English virtual environment/immersion classes. 

Our 2 co-founders include a female co-founder. The entire team of 10 full-time has only 3 male, the rest are female.

Our business model is selling affordable online live lessons and split revenue about 50-50 with tutors. 

We are already financially sustainable. 

Revenue generated about $20,000 per month. $150,000 raised from Singapore-based Iterative.vc accelerator program, and $40,000 grants received from the Thai government.