socialtalkr

[Summary]

Teacherjames is an eBay for English Learning (launched in July2007), where students can buy TJ points to pay Teachers (The highest paid teacher in TJ today earns about 1000USD a month! Part time job anyone?). Teacherjames will eventually branch out to multiple languages and let teachers open “stores” to sell saved lessons and more (similar to eBay stores). Teacherjames has already started to see revenue (nicely done!) and is actively looking for series A investors, and you can check out their business plan in our links summary.

CEO Jerry Damon Chang (JD) is an indie film producer turn internet startup founder, and he says they’re both very similar industries. Read on to discover why JD says internet and film producing are similar? How does an ex film producer build a website? How did he recruit his talented core team? How does he market and sell Teacherjames today? and how he plans to expand Teacherjames!

Read on to discover Jerry Damon Chang

[note: 11 Aug] I’ve spoken to JD about the new site and while there has been some delays, it should be up and running by this Friday

[JD]

Hey. How’s it going? I’m ready whenever you are :)

[SocialTalkr]

Hey JD! Great. So I’ll jump right into it.

JD, can u describe Teacherjames in one sentence?

[JD]

Ok. We offer an educational social platform online for language teachers and students to integrate, educate, and network using the latest technologies. Our focus is to create the platform and then empower the user, whether it be teacher or student to manipulate it.

[SocialTalkr]

Can you describe to me, the experience I would have, if I was a student registered with Teacherjames. What would I be able to do?

[JD]

Sure…as a student on Teacherjames.com, you are able to search over hundreds of teachers by all different qualifications and search tools including video introductions by the teachers in order to find the best one that’s suitable for your needs.

You are empowered to choose the price of lesson, type of lesson, schedule of lesson, and classroom materials. This means that you are not bound by any preset curriculums or price points…and because we have a great peer ranking system, you can really see which teachers have risen to the top of the crop by their peer recommendations and Apple Lesson Rankings

Some students are looking for something specific…i.e. a college student preparing for an exam. A businessman looking for presentation help in Finance that he has to give the next day.

We also have pre-recorded packages that the student can choose. Since each lesson in our “e-English” classroom is fully recorded and viewable, we empower the teacher to package their previously taught lessons in “Teacher Store” packages that they can sell in the future. For example, if a teacher has been teaching STUDENT A conversation English pertaining to banking for 6 months…accumulating 30 hours of classroom sessions…That way students can really browse and find the right type for them

[SocialTalkr]

Is it intentional that the lessons taught over Teacherjames are about language? or can they learn about other subjects too?

[JD]

Right now, they are just on language…that’s what all of our themed features are, and specifically we are targeting Asian markets (especially Mainland China where there is emphasis on English learning)… but soon, we will do many more languages…and then we will think about expanding subjects and also get into corporate enterprise.

The idea for now, is to create the brand of “Teacherjames.com”. That’s what the entire company is focused on, creating a global brand…from that, we can extend to anything.

[SocialTalkr]

Why the name Teacherjames?

[JD]

1. because in Asian cultures (at least in China and Taiwan), if you teach at small prep schools,…all the little kids call you “teacher + first name” like Teacher Annie, Teacher Jane, etc. it becomes kind of endearing….so we wanted to create a platform where ANYONE can be a teacher… so you can be Teacher John at teachejrames.com, or Teacher Amy teacherjames.com

When we “spin” off languages, that might create “Teacherchen.com” for Chinese languages, TeacherRyu.com for Japanese.

2. James is the only name we thought of that isn’t spelled in any other way and really doesn’t have a nickname attached. It’s easy to remember and cannot be confused with any other spellings

[SocialTalkr]

How long has it been since Teacherjames has been launched?

[JD]

We started programming in late 2006, launched the current site in July 2007, and spent the last year revising our business models

We’re about to launch the new Beta design in 2008

[SocialTalkr]

Let’s talk about how you got started with this. How’d you come up with the concept and idea?

[JD]

I was producing movies in LA for a few years (3 feature films to my list of credits) and came to Taiwan in 2005 to produce a TV pilot. While in Taiwan, I met a lot of English teachers and started getting into that world.

Somewhere in there, I read the book “The World is Flat” by Thomas Freidman and that really influenced me as a producer and then businessman. The idea kept rolling in my mind about how to leverage new globalized technologies in Asia (where all business is heading).

Since I was hanging out with a lot teachers, the idea of creating an online EBay for English tutors just made a lot of sense. It’s so hard for students to find teachers (they are shy, lack of resources, time, etc.) So if you can put a searchable database online, you can really help out teachers and students to find each other. The social platform and ad widgets and networking stuff came later as we started developing true business models.

[SocialTalkr]

How did you go about turning the idea into a website? What was the next step?

[JD]

“The World is Flat” taught me about outsourcing to India. I read up on GOOGLE about website outsourcing (still not popular to the masses back in 2005) and then tried it out. We went through 5 Indian companies at first, but did accomplish our goal of creating the site (pretty much as you see now) by probably 1/20th of the cost it would take a US programmer.

(Socialtalkr: The World is Flat by Thomas L Friedman)

I had a partner who started with me. His name was funny enough, James Taylor. He’s my best friend from junior high, moved to Taiwan to teach English while I was here. Now, he’s a consultant for TJ.com…back in Texas and about to get married, but he is still on the TJ team.

Also, we brought on Andy Wilson, you can read his bio in the business plan. He graduated 1st in his class at Notre Dame in architecture. He’s been an architect in NY for the last 5 years. He’s an impressive guy :). Andy and i lived down the street from each other in 6th grade, and he moved away when he was a junior in Highschool, but we have kept in touch since. Then just this year in 2008…Andy came aboard to help with raising expansion funds. I wrote the BP and Andy is now actively selling it.

[SocialTalkr]

How did you fund the development cost? Do you mind disclosing how much it cost to outsource to India?

[JD]

I funded the development with my own money. I can say that the site you see today was done for less than $5,000US….and the new Beta site you see will be done for less than $15,000US, but that doesn’t include any of our salaries…only the outsourcing costs

[SocialTalkr]

Were u concerned at all with protecting your idea when you outsourced it?

[JD]:

Yes, there is still the risk of others taking this idea, but we are more concerned with always being ahead of the technology curve and having better features. Our users are our best asset, just like any social networking site.

[SocialTalkr]

So after u launched, were u actively looking for investors?

[JD]

Not yet, we didn’t know what we had. We were new to the field and new to online start-ups. It took a few months to really sort out realistic business models and strategies, then 4 months to draft the BP. Now we’re actively looking for investment. We’re seeking $500K US, and we’re targeting angel investors.

We have been officially accepted into the Irish Angels Network, which is the alumni VC network at Notre Dame. We have a deal champion and everything. Kinda like “cool kids club” i think :)

[SocialTalkr]

Have you accepted any deals yet?

[JD]

We haven’t raised all the funds. We have commitments for small portions of the 500K, but haven’t raised the full amount yet.

[SocialTalkr]

Alright so let’s say you got the funding. What’s the next step for Teacherjames?

[JD]

We are registered in US and we will be maintaining an office in the US. We have existing contacts in Austin and NY.

The next step would be expansion of our Corporate Solutions Department and then separately, expansion of our Online Marketing and Sales Department will be in Asia. Currently both James and Andy are both part-time. In our office in Taiwan, we have one full time admin, one Online Marketing Sales Manager fulltime, two interns. Our web designers are out of India and China, plus a Chicago design firm did the graphics for the beta site.

[SocialTalkr]

Alright, let’s talk about marketing. What have you guys been doing for Teacherjames?

[JD]

Mostly online ads for now. We’re going to be introducing new widgets next month that allows any teacher or site to put Teacherjames.com widgets on their site. For example, one of these widgets will let a viewer know whenever a new student registers on TJ.com. Another widget will let a viewer know anytime a student has put in a teacher request (like “converstaion teacher” Mondays, price range, etc.). Imagine that you can put this widget on your educational publishing website, it’s much more interaction. Next we’ll be unveiling a new Facebook application centered around Teacherjames.com to sync up Facebook users and TJ.com users…plus there’s a GAME in it! Haha

[SocialTalkr]

What are you timelines for these new releases? Is the beta site a complete rework?

[JD]

The widget program by end of August

The Facebook app probably mid-August

Beta site launch early August

It’s a complete rework, new features, functions, etc.

So…August is a big month of releases for us

[SocialTalkr]

Sounds like an exciting time :)What is the traffic for Teacherjames right now?

[JD]

We have about 5000+ monthly uniques, spending an average of 5 minutes on the site, around 5 pageviews. We think it’s going to really explode with the new features this month. Registered users, we have about 300 teachers now, and around 150 students.

[SocialTalkr]

Cool. Let’s talk about the business behind Teacherjames. How do you make money?

[JD]

At this point, its corporate packages, online ad revenues, and teaching fees

[SocialTalkr]

Does Teacherjames have its own e-currency (credit system)?

[JD]

We use Teacherjames Points, each Point cost $1 Us. That’s how students pay teacher is through the points. Students buy points with Credit card or paypal. Most of our teachers are part time. Right now our highest teacher makes over $1000US a month. Her rate is about $20US an hour. That should go up for teachers as they have more options to sell stuff (like the teacher’s store).

[SocialTalkr]

I’m going to go back to your experience with starting this up. What do you think were your biggest obstacles?

[JD]

1. Understanding what people want

2. Adapting to it

3. realizing what this statement means: “If it’s not perfect, then people won’t use it.”, and then figuring out how to bring that back to your core company, and then make it better

[SocialTalkr]

You were in the entertainment business before this right? How did it feel getting into the web business?

[JD]

Similar…since it’s project management at its core. Starting your own online company with limited funds is MUCH like shooting an indie movie on limited funds. You just have to figure out how to make it happen! Usually the keys are getting the smartest, hardest working people in place for the least amount of money possible. As a producer or a startup owner….you substitute money for inspiration. You gotta inspire people to help you….because you can’t pay them what they truly deserve.

[SocialTalkr]

:) well said. Great. I think that should be about it… do you have anything to add?

[JD]

hmm…just that if you could…please of course promote all of our new feature offerings this next month and also the beta site :) And thanks for doing this, I had a really good time :)

[SocialTalkr]

Anytime man!

[Links Summary]

Visit Teacherjames - http://www.teacherjames.com/

Teacherjames’ Business Profile - http://www.raisecapital.com/search_detail.php?post_id=4805

Teacherjames Exec Summary -

JD on IMDB (Film credits) - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0151677/

Teacherjames Facebook Group - http://www.new.facebook.com/s.php?q=teacherjames&init=q#/group.php?gid=9260583790