Lessons from the CoFounder of Tadpole Tutoring: A Reflection Written by Andrew Shenouda ‘21, Co-Founder of Tadpole Tutoring
T
he conscious mind
qualified tutors who have the skill
they evaluate their ultimate vision,
is dictated by the
and know-how to help out. Our orga-
check out their competition and, in
complex (and often
nization not only enables parents to
a rush of good-hearted enthusiasm,
fickle) relationship
have hundreds of tutors of varying
attempt to bring to life every feature,
between the limita-
strengths at their disposal but also
service, bell, and whistle in their first
tions of memory and
provides an opportunity for high
go—effectively holding functionality
the captivations of desire. This is to
school and college-aged students to
paramount at the expense of true
say that the human experience is
earn money. It’s cool stuff, and we
quality. This is what is embodied by
often grounded in subjectivity and,
have been fortunate enough to obtain
a minimum viable product. Consider
as a result, can be pandered to in a
a considerable degree of success
a situation in which someone tries to
manner intended to achieve a certain
(something, for the record, that did
create an iteration of a website that
desired effect. This principle, among
not come on our first try). Perhaps
offers online cooking lessons. They
other things, is what this article will
most interestingly, we make it easy
work to include a scheduling system
venture to explore in greater detail. Readers, in this maiden issue of Entrepreneur Illustrated, I ask you to humor me as I reflect upon some of my humble experiences from running an online tutoring service, Tadpole Tutoring. Here’s to a decent read.
Much of our good fortune can be attributed to our adherence to one main principle: our commitment to creating a minimum lovable product as opposed to a minimum viable
product.
First and foremost, I
to reserve spots for classes, a chat system to enable communication between students and teachers, a review system to upvote and downvote different offerings, a social networking system to allow people to get to know each other, a recommendation system to get others to join the site, and… well,
suppose it makes sense to give a brief
for tutors to payout funds they made
you get the gist. While a compelling
overview of our vision for Tadpole.
tutoring from their dashboard to
argument can be made for the neces-
Along with several other individu-
charities of their choice.
sity of each of these features, more
als, my team and I are working to
Much of our good fortune can
often than not they’ll be implement-
synthesize a service marketplace
be attributed to our adherence to one
ed at a substandard quality. An indi-
that connects students and tutors
main principle: our commitment to
vidual has a finite reserve of resourc-
from across the globe. Our goal is to
creating a minimum lovable prod-
es in the form of time and capital.
provide an intuitive, user-friendly
uct as opposed to a minimum viable
When you spread yourself too thin,
interface that allows individuals to
product. Oftentimes, when individ-
things such as reliability, usability,
set up online tutoring sessions with
uals endeavor to start up a business,
and design fall to the wayside.
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