Comments on Founders no 2
From blogs.ubc.ca/etec522Sept2013
Week 4: Entrepreneurial Bootcamp
tclee1 2:54 pm on September 29, 2013
Paul Gollash, Founder &CEO at Voxy
Company
Voxy Corporation was founded at the beginning of 2010 by Paul Gollash. Since then the company has achieved great heights, transforming from a small start-up into a company that currently offers its service to more than 2.5 million users, while also getting voted as the best tech company to work for in 2012 and rated the No. 1 education iTunes app in 23 countries.
Voxy is an educational based company that focuses upon its online interactive language learning programs which features its intriguing curriculum in a very real life context. A major target audience of the company sets upon teaching English as a second language to people of Portuguese and Spanish descent although it expands its target later. Their success comes predominately from the company’s ability to cater to students in the new technological world. The use and integration of internet and mobile technology along with a very clear and well defined educational curriculums based on solid researches in second language learning and cognitive science, and live tutoring sessions have made it much easier for students to personalize the learning experience and for the teachers to accurately classify the student’s level of competency. For instance, functions include proficiency tests of every level to see the improvement of the student so that teachers can promptly adjust the curriculum accordingly. This was the underlying reason behind the ascent and success of Voxy, one of the first movers for language education in the technological world that is also worth the attention.
Biography
Paul Gollash who graduated from the University of Chicago-Booth school of business, Dartmouth College has fourteen years of business experience as an entrepreneur and an investor. He is indeed a man of many talents even before establishing Voxy. The path began in Madrid and Chile where he launched a new retail business for GM Europe and began an import/export business respectively. These experiences really made him learn the most essential skill of any entrepreneur or sales. His exposure to these different countries also prompted him to develop a lifelong passion for “travel and language education.”
It was his management consultant experience at Booz Allen that despite the long hours and difficult work, allowed him the ability to do heavy data-analysis. Finally, he became a venture investor for Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, which was also the team that created Virgin Mobile. It was really from this experience where Gollash learned two important lessons: “attack big markets” and “dedicating yourself to something you are truly passionate.” This ultimately led him to establish the venture-funded education technology company called Voxy.
Reflection
As a teacher of second language and a person who has also been in the business market, I know that one of the hardest things to do in educational learning is keeping the competency of the teachers and ensuring the quality of the curriculum consistently. This is the part that requires the most delicate care as it is what will establish the kind of learning environment the students will be learning in and benefit from. This kind of management is very hard to do and that’s why I am very impressed with what Voxy has done, especially seeing that it has already obtained 2.5 million learners worldwide.
Personally, before I took the MET Program, I was a firm believer that only in the F2F learning environment could students learn the most. Now, I am more inclined to believe that an online environment also functions and works effectively and efficiently for second language learning students. Otherwise, how could have it been able to use 3 years to expand to such a big market. I have witnessed that in certain Asian countries inefficiency is all that can be said about second language learning. Despite spending endless hours learning English during school and even after class in learning centers, very little can be done to advance their English proficiency. Most are only good at grammar and vocabulary through forced memorization and drills and are unable to apply anything in real life due to the lack of authentic and personalized pedagogy and the lack of qualified native speaking teachers. That’s a perfect example of the wrong resources was being utilized. Thus, what Voxy has done is truly a major breakthrough especially among foreign formal school systems. Interesting context-based learning that uses real world settings, frequent opportunities of exposure to the language through internet or mobile tools, and clear classifications of assessment levels of the students really allow the professional educators to provide the most effective way of teaching. Certainly this will provide a strong supporting platform for people who want to learn even if they don’t have direct access to the learning environment as long as they have the internet. If there is ever the chance to contribute my knowledge of the Asian market, I would be thrilled to share my understanding and knowledge of it.
References:
1) support@voxy.com. NY. Retrieved from http://voxy.com/
2) Teachthought. (2013). 30 Of The Top Education Startups Of 2012. Retrieved from http://www.teachthought.com/technology/30-of-the-top-education-startups-of-2012/
3) Linkedin corporation. (2013). Paul Gollash’s Overview. Retrieved from http://www.linkedin.com/in/pgollash
**********
Comment by Janette
jiorns 11:45 am on October 3, 2013
As a qualified ESL teacher of adult learners, I was interested to read about Paul Gollash and Voxy Corporation. There are many positives about the technology-mediated language learning product of Voxy. Not only is the offer of self-paced online learning, but also private, personalised (online) tutoring.
The key to Voxy’s success in my view is its focus on contextualising its curriculum to Central and South American markets. One of the challenges for English language teaching and learning is having content that is contextualised to the culture of the learner. I experienced this when teaching in China and Oman. International curriculum (British or North American publications) didn’t always work.
So, Voxy has achieved competitive advantage by “knowing its market” and “developing curriculum for the market”.
Voxy’s website refers to technology-mediated learning. Its website shows photos of learners in classroom settings. So it makes me query whether the 2.6 million users are individual buyers (consumers), or a mix of individual consumers and student cohorts in educational institutions (consumers and organizational buyers)?
I read in an Ambient Insights market analysis report of educational technology for language learning that English language teachers are in short supply relative to global demand, and that this is one of the drivers for digital language learning platforms. Voxy is well timed to benefit from any shortage of instructors in the local market, and already uses online tutors to provide a tutoring service.
I recall that when I investigated employment in Central and South America, the salary for teaching was low by comparison with other markets. It was a factor in my decision not to work in that region. Should institutions in that part of the world be finding it hard to attract qualified ESL teachers (not suggesting they don’t; it’s just hypothetical based on my experience), then Voxy would be well placed to provide the alternative.
I do wonder about the type of accreditation that a learner receives from Voxy. TESOL testing is a service it offers, but there are other tests recognised in English language learning such as IELTS and TOEIC. There may be limitiations in the “usefulness” of the language level attained through Voxy, if it doesn’t meet the requirements for, say, acceptance into a university outside the region.
