Rate my start-up (be honest!)
Hey everyone!
I recently joined an ed-tech start-up called PathFinder. We aim to structure online learning so people know where to start and finish while learning a new skill.
We have curated videos and online courses for anyone to upskill on UI/UX and other relevant topics - http://thepathfinderproject.co.uk
As you go along the path you can even create projects alongside the community to make yourself more recruitable or enjoy learning something new!
Our idea is to make online learning more accessible and less chaotic. So you save time on finding new courses or part IIs of courses.
Please do check it out and let me know what you think of this idea and our website. If you'd like to try some of our existing roadmaps don't forget to sign-up for free and access them.
I would love to get more input!
How it is different from 1000+ more ed tech/ training companies?
This was exactly my first thought when viewing their landing page. The post looked interesting, but seeing the landing page just made me think: "oh, this is just another platform for online courses?"
Instead of making the content ourselves, we point you to free content that already exists and that way try and direct the best content to the individual as well as personalise their learning pathway to fit what they know and their end goals! But if this still doesn't really solve your q feel free to let us know!
Also if this still isn't clear or wasn't from the website, let us know so we can improve our copy / messaging!
I do have the same question
I really like the existing solutions like Coursera. Also, I'm going after the certification brand. If it's not a top university... I hardly take a course.
But glad you found something you want to solve!
Thats super interesting! Would you say that a single coursera course is enough to teach you what you need to know? If so thats great, more to try and validate assumptions on our side! Also what are you mainly going after the certification for?
You chose a very promising niche. Now you have to be different.
Looks great, but could be tough to compete against Udemy and even YouTube channels with tutorials.
We'd be trying to position ourselves at a higher level so that we're pointing users to udemy or youtube etc. depending on whats the best content for the individual user. It would be more of a learning system rather than a course platform in that sense. Would you still see it as competition? Feel free to let us know how we could improve our messaging!
Congratulations that you joint the startup. I think you need to find a unique value proposition that stands out from current competitors such as Coursera and Udemy.
I agree with this, I think in the current landscape there's a lot of saturation in this space already especially with people with good amount of followers coming out with their own online courses. It's imperative for you to find a good value proposition and a distinctive point forward.
Definitely see where you guys are coming from and I definitely agree! That's why we're trying to position ourselves at a higher level and point people to the right content. Like you said, there's so many people making content and online courses that its becoming a bit of a commodity so instead we're trying to help by personalising it. If you're a user X coming from Y background and you want to learn Z your the content you would experience from user A coming from background B to learn Z would be different. Is there a way we could make this clearer / do you still think theres more we could do in terms of distinguishing ourselves?
The Hero is condensed and not easily readable. Try to get a UI/UX expert to review it even though I'm not one, it was an easy catch.
As a User I want to see the value right away, how do I become 10x blabla?
I clicked on the Free learning path (yes I want a learning path) but it was not clickable, use Free Heap analytics so you can collect the empty clicks (clicks on text with no Href) so you can enhance your content accordingly.
Join it's free forever..... I'd like to have something before sharing my email and name etc..
I'm lazy you need to encourage me to give you something before asking..
Sorry for being tough with you, I was just passing by and wanted to help.
Hey minos, could you lemme know what your screen size is so I can see if we can improve the responsiveness so the hero is more easily readable?
Great point on initially having something free, we can make some of the initial links unlocked so you can get a glimpse!
Also, what did you click on that didn't take you anywhere? Thanks for pointing us to free heap analytics, wasn't aware of it!
Congrats for the initiative!! I actually know one thing or two about edtechs (I’ve lead an edtech unicorn expansion some years ago), here’s some thoughts after seeing your work:
Hope it helps! Cheers!
Hey Carlos! Thank you for the suggestions, will definitely keep it top of mind! I definitely agree with you that community is key but its also something that is quite difficult to build. I was wondering from your experience if you had any suggestions on how to approach it well and potentially any pitfalls to avoid?
I believe the key insight in community building is to talk to the students. Be available for them. The pitfall I see time and time again in the edtech space is people and companies not putting their students first, at the center of everything they do. That's easier said than done. To really live this value, one must really be available for them, reach out, listen to them, and connect to them. All the rest comes second.
Looks nice!
I think I understand the website. I like the idea. It's similar to Lynda (now Linkedin Learning). It has many courses and can be confusing and overwhelming. But they have "Path" that will help students stay in a particular lane for their studies. It's really helpful.
I would recommend a few things.
Maybe explain or illustrate more, why your curated "Path" is different and better.
Consider adding rewards or gamification to encourage students to take your courses and keep coming back to your website.
You can offer after-sales services such as mentorship, job counseling, and resume/portfolio building. If you can establish an internship program or partnership, it could be a big advantage.
Overall, good job! keep up the good work!
Love these ideas! Thank you RaisaNS :)
A quick feedback purely from the perspective of how you present and explain your idea. I like the idea, but it was difficult for me to capture key differentiating points from other existing platforms like Coursera and why I should choose yours.
Great point, we will definitely try improve the messaging. Would you say this was from the landing page or the indiehackers post?
Looks like a great initiative.
We are trying to achieve something similar here at https://leapp.ai ,but by automating the learning plan creation.
Our motivation stems from an understanding of the challenges individuals face when embarking on their learning journeys. We recognize that the vast array of courses available can be overwhelming and confusing, leaving many unsure of where to begin and what path to follow. We are trying to simplify this process and provide a solution that helps learners to take control of their educational pursuits.
Check out https://leapp.ai
Love this, looks awesome! Would love to have a chat about it all
the biggest challenge I can see from the tech online course related business is emphasising how the course is going to help the learners to get the result (i.e. getting employed / or more opportunities to the job market/ start their own business). If the deliverables are attractive and convincing, i think it would help to stand out from so many online resources out there.
Good point yes! Will make sure we make our value prop from explicit on the site
This makes sense to me because my girlfriend started coding about a year and a half ago.
The problem for her recently was to figure out in which direction to go next, even when I suggest to her, it can be tricky to figure out based on her knowledge what to learn next. And it's like a jungle out there, so much content but little directions.
I would change a landing a little bit because it doesn't pitch to me at first and you should try to hook users by prompting them for a path and showing them, and then asking them for an email. That even pushed me a bunch of times to buy some products, when it showed me what I'm gaining from it. But I think that's what others suggested.
What in particular would pitch to you more? Would love to better understand how we can improve the landing page!
Love the concept. I did a smaller version of this in the past (curated hundreds of foundational educational YouTube videos into learning playlists).
Three questions you may want to answer on your landing page to convert the right people:
What type of learner is this for (group vs self-paced learner, pedagogy approach, etc.)? Example, community is called out on the home page, but how the group interactions are facilitated is unclear.
What is the social proof that this worked for others?
Why should the learner pay you? I'm assuming part of the value prop is convenience (don't waste time rummaging through all of the options). Still, that isn't clear on why this versus alternatives.
The messaging of free forever (we monetize through employer commissions) wasn't clear to me, but I may have missed it. If others where not confused by that point, it was probably just me. Good luck!
It seems one has to sign up to see the links to the educational resources, maybe start without signup until you have traction, or show half without signup and the test after signup?
Maybe I misunderstood, but it looks as if you are a curated link directory for educational courses.
Maybe explain a bit better what sets you apart from competitors, and what you add (ranking, your own reviews, Aggregated reviews..)
Great point! Will make the first couple of links free :)