High school to college to high school...startup that is

by Luke Liu
March 2, 2012

Almost a year ago, I wind second place in the Northwestern University Venture Competition and then won the Kellogg Cup business plan competition as the firs undergraduate to do so. But that was when I just had an idea for a reverse ticket exchange business.

But a host of issues plagued that idea that I couldn't get past, so I pivoted toward something that I had been wanting to do for a long time: AP exam prep for high school students.

I remember that back in high school, I was a consummate little overachiever and took 11 AP exams. I even took an AP exam at another high school and studied on my own because my school didn't offer that class. Ironic, because right now I am only in one class at Northwestern because I dropped my other classes this quarter to focus on my startup. I guess my nerdiness has regressed somewhat...but not much.

The startup that emerged from my interest in improving AP exam prep is called Learnerator.

Anyone who has ever used a review book for an AP exam knows that that they are limited in what they can do. If you're a high school student, you're already lugging around a lot of books and notes so no one wants to carry around a review book as well. Plus, they are a hassle to use! To take a practice exam, you have to number a separate sheet of paper, write down your answers, and go through and score yourself and flip around to all the answers. There's so much data that could be analyzed, but it all gets lost with review books.

What sets Learnerator apart is how it tracks data from everything that a user does and how they perform on exams to offer customized feedback. Also, it provides access to the platform itself even if you don't pay and offers free review summaries. Everything on the site is a fermium model, so you can actually see the layout of the review program and get a feel for everything without having to pay first.

Most importantly, all of the content is being developed in-house so we can avoid having to license from publishers and charging a high price. This has been by far the most challenging undertaking. It's involved reaching out to countless high school AP teachers to establish a network of content creators and having to relearn the curriculum of AP subjects all over again while doing very tedious quality control and editing.

But in the end, I think it pays off: We can charge only $13 for each AP subject which is in line with most review books and makes the service very accessible for students.

Currently, the site is very bare bones and basic but many more features are coming soon. It's definitely been a very busy time since I'm also a senior at Northwestern but it's been a very exciting time.

Learnerator launched February 19th and so far it's been getting some great feedback.

If you want to check out the site, the URL is:

I would also appreciate followers on twitter and Facebook:

Please shoot me an email at [email protected] if you have any feedback or suggestions. I am also looking to add a CTO as a co-founder so i can focus more on content creation so let me know if you'd like to be a part of this startup.

 

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