@lenndizzle We looked at a lot of different learning models, and we think classes are great. We focused on 1-on-1 learning because, particularly for adults, it is the most effective way for people to get know-how that they'll actually be able to apply to their lives. Anytime a teacher creates content for more than one person, it has to become more generic and less interactive. That knowledge can be great, but often times learners still have questions, get stuck doing it themselves, or want to hone in on specific areas. That's where 1-on-1 is super easy and satisfying. In fact, many people who use Savvy for 1-on-1 learning started by looking at a content or class, and realized they needed something more tailored to them.

Thanks so much, @mengto! We aimed to make the times/prices very clear so it would be easy for someone to book a session — just a couple clicks vs emailing back and forth.

Thanks, @lindsayxlin! We're planning to add a search bar, but are in the process of doing a little research and some tests around the best way to match learners with the right teachers first. Specifically, we're looking at ways a teacher's profile can become smarter, more searchable, and more reflective of the goals they've helped learners achieve. We're actually in the midst of hustling to get these features up!

@thinktankhero Love it Hamish! We're also putting a strong emphasis on what we are calling co-learning with LaunchableLabs.com. Would love to hear how you started this!

We're glad you love Savvy, @agreenwaldhq! We started thinking about this a little over a year ago. My cofounder, @techno, was looking for a Japanese teacher and couldn't find one. We started researching what it would be like to create a 1-on-1 learning platform by talking to companies, learners, and teachers. We kept meeting people who were amazing experts, who had maybe taught people 1-on-1 as a favor, but could never find a way to do more than that. And then we thought, maybe the real business here is to create more teachers in the world. There are so many people who have knowledge and know-how that they could share — and that other people would benefit from — but who can't get or don't want traditional teaching gigs. Or teachers who just want to reach more people across the world. So we quit our jobs and did the startup hustle and put together an amazing team and started building.

@thinktankhero great concept I know couple contacts building similar platform. It is a huge space. So you charge both teacher and student or keep the % cut of fees ? No iPad or phone apps is it ? Or on phone too it can work using browser ? Connecting this with Zankura technology might be a great idea. Also integrating it with @karlmehta @edcast platform for education.

Thanks @aaspire for the kind words! Currently we're in beta, so we're not charging anything. Soon we will take a small percentage (15%) of the amount the teacher charges. We're a web app utilizing webRTC, so our profile and booking system works across all modern mobile and desktop browsers. Our live video chat works on everything except iOS, though we find that learners want to have their sessions at a desktop computer. And we're open to working with other education platforms — we find that many learners who start with content-based education want to build off of it with more personalized, 1-on-1 coaching.

hi @thinktankhero out of curiosity do you use custom video player for streaming (open source) or 3rd party .

@chiwaili All a teacher needs to do is mark the times they're available right in their google calendar and Savvy will automatically update their profile. And, when you get booked, we automatically update your calendar with the session info (as well as sending you an email and reminders).

Thanks, @porlando!

@faisalalkhalidi This is a great question. While there are uses for Savvy in the classroom, one of the things we're most excited about is making more types of learning available to students, so classrooms can focus on what they do best. Right now, for most kids, classrooms are the only place they're asked to learn. While classes are good at a lot of things (group learning, sharing general knowledge that lots of people should have) they're also asked to do things where they don't best serve students — like help kids pursue a really specific interest, practice technique (i.e. for musical instruments or language), or just get help when they're stuck on something that other students aren't. What if in the future every kid had classroom time, plus a couple hours of 1-on-1 time with teachers who could be anywhere in the world?

@accomplice oh man this has been one of my favorite parts of getting Savvy up and running. When we started, we recruited community-approved teachers in a few categories (singing, guitar, makeup & style), but quickly saw that we got interest from both high-quality teachers and learners in multiple categories — we've got 12 on the homepage, many around career and work skills. One thing I love is seeing people use Savvy to teach and learn things that traditional education systems don't address, but that are vitally important to people. Like: + A ballerina who advises other dancers on how to manage their careers during difficult life or health moments: www.savvy.is/kathrynmorgan + Vocal coaches who help people transitioning from Male to Female also transition their voice: www.savvy.is/browse/voice-transi... + How to tell a story well from a Moth GrandSlam winner: www.savvy.is/megferrill

@lauralynnz We're glad you like the name! We like educational content providers like Udemy or Youtube and think they can be really useful. But, since they are creating static content meant to be seen by millions of people, the information they provide is often generic. 1-on-1 learning is great when you have specific questions and need to be able to do something yourself. For example, my cofounder is an immigrant with kids in Germany starting a company in California. When it was time for him to think about his finances, there were plenty financial planning videos and courses out there, but none that could help him figure out his specific situation. By giving him access to 1-on-1 teachers, he can talk about his specific questions and get answers he can actually apply to his life. As an extra bonus, he could also find a teacher who's been in his situation (i.e. starting a company while thinking about kids' college funds).

Thanks, @neilsandhu!

Thanks for the question, @alanmnichol. I think the main difference is that Savvy is a platform that makes every part of booking and having a 1-on-1 session easy. We tried to make it simple for a learner to book an actual time with a teacher and join a session in a few clicks, and for teachers to simply manage their schedule and get paid automatically. Preply seems to be more of a listing service that requires learners and teachers to send messages, share contact info, communicate to set up their logistics about when/where they'll meet, etc. Using that method, we found people will spend up to 20 minutes emailing to set up a 30 minute session. Also, Preply is mostly focused on language learning (which, by the way, is great for 1-on-1 learning), whereas Savvy teachers are across a variety of subject areas. Lastly, we also built Savvy so that teachers could use their Savvy page as their own personal storefront, and promote it wherever they want. That was important to us — while we make sure all teachers can be found and promoted via the Savvy website, it's also great if a teacher wants to use us as their own stand-alone website.

@maxmackey You don't need to download anything to use Savvy. Everything happens right in your browser, including video chat. We wanted to make it amazingly easy for anyone, particularly non-techie learners, to find the right teacher and join a session just by clicking a link.

@batdelfuego @thinktankhero that's a great question! If I were teaching some of my mac productivity hacks i'd have to have screen sharing

I'm glad you asked, @batdelfuego and @planet5D (and thanks for sharing)! Yesterday we just launched the beta version of screenshare for Chrome! It's built into every video chat. We saw a lot of folks wanting to teach and learn computer-based skills (like SQL, salesforce, and other apps), so our amazing engineering team hustled to get this feature built, tested, and up.

Hi @sambegic, thanks for the comment! Beyond just quality vs. quantity, our next big effort is working on matching the right teachers to the right learners. Price is definitely part of this, but we're also interested in who our users will learn best from. So, we're looking into things like matching learning and teaching styles, and enhancing teacher profiles with the goals they've successfully helped others achieve. Some of our initial categories (like singing, guitar, and make-up) have teachers at all price points. We actually didn't anticipate the amount of interest in learning and teaching marketing, so we're working with teachers figure out how to best promote them, which could include initial discounts and some B2B pilots. You're definitely right that this next stage is all about growth, marketing, and getting the word out! We learned a lot from talking to the folks at Helpouts and some other businesses. From those conversations we learned that we really need to create a product that's focused on creating connection and great learning moments, and on growth efforts that tap into the topics and communities that people are passionate about.

Thanks @baileybusch! It turns out splitscreen video is harder to make than you think, but we thought it would make the experience clear to folks. Glad it worked!

Hi @trgorczynski. In a nutshell, every teacher sets their own price. The learner pays that price, and Savvy takes a small cut of 15%. (And we're actually not taking any commission for teachers who sign up while we're still in our beta.) Most of the teachers we have are already teaching and have a good sense of what to charge, but we're also planning on developing tools to help newer teachers figure out the right price.