Our second media coverage
http://yourstory.com/2015/07/pyoopel-com/
We are humbled by the support we are getting from everywhere. Let's make this big.
Our first media coverage
We hope this is just the first in a long series. This gives us amazing credibility boost.
Pyoopel.com in 3 paragraphs
Higher Education is an expensive choice for everyone around the world. Test Prep makes it even more expensive and out of reach of a lot of worthy candidates. With the advances in technology, it is now possible to study and prepare online for major tests. The cost of delivering online education is cheaper for both the student and the teacher. With this knowledge, we started out working on a solution that could provide
completely free test prep to students:
www.pyoopel.comPyoopel is an online learning platform, a MOOC (Massively Open Online Course). We have initiated free detailed preparation for about eight different tests till now. Most of them are complete, some are a work in progress, and some are improved upon through community requests. For the last 6 months, we have worked hard to get the website prototype
working and functional. In two quarters, we have reached out to 5000+
students. We have kept all lines of communication open with the
students, in an effort to guide them as much as we can. We have formed a
Facebook group on which we interact with students, and help
them as much as we can. The response has been amazing and has reassured
us that we are on the right path.
It's not just a cause driven campaign. We too have our personal motives here. Apart from creating a successful online company, we want to disrupt this industry and usher in something exciting. The ideas that intrigue us include:
(a) Can Test-prep be avoided?
(b) Can an online learning company figure out a way to instill self-motivation in learners?
(c) Can teaching videos be exciting? (We are changing our own old videos with more beautiful-looking and aesthetic ones. But there is so much more that can be done.)
Test Prep at Pyoopel is completely free for the students
Our courses are detailed. They are not simple informational courses, neither are they courses meant to work on a freemium model. A lot of these websites dupe students by claiming that they are MOOCs (Massively Open Online Courses). They claim that they will prepare students for free. But once you visit their homepages, or product pages, they try to sell you something or the other. This is not how MOOCs are supposed to function. At pyoopel, we provide all the video lectures, and quizzes and pdfs for free. The courses, are well structured with detailed syllabus with a definite end in mind.
Who are we?
We are the two cofounders: Swati Choudhary (my website) and Bharat Patodi (and mine). We have been working on our own for the last 3 years and trying to make it stick. We have seen our shares of ups and downs. Our friends, family and free learning enthusiasts have stood by our side (we love you all). It's been a fantastic journey that has taught us so much, humbled us and made us fun-loving people.
What We Need & What You Get
Through this crowdfunding, we intend to create a small studio. We have a rudimentary one right now, (which we love btw) but it is time to upgrade. With your money, we will purchase the following stuff, and use them to make a lot better-looking video lectures:
- Laptop Upgrades
- A Nikon D5200
-
Rode Videomic*
- Blue Yeti USB Mic*
-
Vanguard Gh-200 Ball Head*
- Vanguard Alta Pro 263AT Tripod*
- Lighting
- Props
- Coffee
- Others
* These items are cheaper in the US compared to the prices offered in India. So if someone would be so kind as to ship them for us, we would be extremely grateful.
With all this, we intend to create the following three free courses:
GMAT: This is an expensive test, and its preparatory courses are equally expensive. A lot of our students have asked us to create the course. Now, we will!
Here is a link to the GMAT course so that you can keep a check on our work.
SAT: We know Salman Khan has beaten us to it, but we are going to give him a run for his money. Oh! We'll make amazing videos and questions. We promise.
Here is a link to the SAT course so that you can keep a check on our work.
CAT (Common Aptitude Test): The main test for entry to Indian MBA institutes. We have already covered a basic version for this test. With the resources, we will create the advanced learning topics.
Here is a link to the CAT course so that you can keep a check on our work.
The Impact
We intend to reach 20,000 students with all these courses by the end of
this year. With the detailing that we intend to throw in, we hope that
we can become the one-stop solution for free test-prep for the students. This
could mean a huge saving for the students.
We have already done this with 5000+ students. Now, we can do it with more.
Risks & Challenges
This project faces some obvious problems. The first one is a lack of funds. We have run pyoopel with our money for the last 6 months. But the lack of a visible financial model has left us thinking about ideas to safely monetize the website. For the same reason, we think investors would not be extremely keen to put their money in. But, we are fast thinkers and learners (all instructors have to be!). Currently, we are thinking of some fresh-off-the-moon ideas to help us keep it running. And we are sure, we'll come up with an amazing idea that does not hurt students in any way and still helps make money to keep the website going.
The second problem that we have faced and are trying to overcome everyday is a perception: "Free = cheap". As you can see from our detailed work on the website, our work is definitely not cheap. The quality of the work is not just evident from the courses themselves, but also from our credentials. We are professionals in content creation and delivery; we have worked in this field for the last five years with multiple test-prep institutes and publishers. Our websites (www.bharatpatodi.com & www.swatichoudhary.me) can give you ample evidence for this.
Other Ways You Can Help
If you can contribute and help this startup to grow, that would be peaches. But if you can't, well could you please spread the word for us? Maybe someone in your circle likes what we do and could help us. Use these indiegogo sharing tools and help us reach our goal.
Note about perks: The course that the sponsors want us to create should be favorable to
free learning and learners. Also, pyoopel.com reserves the right to (a)
deny any unfavorable course request (b) creative freedom while creating
any course. Please don't ask us to create a course that is not
appropriate for our audience or hurts them in any way.