Mercurius Saad graduated with a Mathematics degree in 2017, and now works on his business full time in London. Tutorbloc is a two-sided marketplace devoted to empowering parents & students with the tools to instantly book lessons with verified tutors based on subject preferences and weekly availability.
Mercurius Saad's story:
In 2016, I had finished my last tutoring session of the week and on my way home I had a light bulb moment. I started questioning all of the frustrations I had from not being paid on time, to drowning in admin, from having to use more than 5 tools to run my operations to answering emails from new parents/students who reached out from a recommendation they received. It was a chaotic time to say the least and this eventually led me to stop tutoring (just after graduation) as I was overwhelmed with how much time and energy the non-teaching elements of the job consumed.
I spoke to hundreds of parents and tutors as well as conducted market research to support my assumptions before designing any wireframes. As I journeyed down this path it became increasingly clear that there was demand for an end-to-end platform that was safe, fast and simple to use and so Tutorbloc was born with a mission to integrate learning into everyday life.
The three main problems we are solving are as follows: 1) Booking a personal tutor today relies on combing through multiple online directories and sending messages back-and-forth, this can take hours, sometimes days. 2) Safety is an important concern, yet identity checks & DBS certificates aren't mandatory. 3) High tutor commissions (30-50%) encourage offline payments which fragments the post-booking relationship.
I wouldn't be where I am today without the B-Enterprising team. From the very first time we crossed paths they have been incredibly supportive and understanding. They have thrown a number of different opportunities my way which helped improve my confidence and ultimately equipped me with the skills I needed to start my own business. I honestly couldn't be more grateful.
My biggest takeaway so far has been, create your own path instead of letting the world dictate how you should live your life - you're in control, never forget that. Today we have over 150 tutors signed up on our platform - we're always looking for people who have a passion for teaching to join our growing community so if you're interested please visit our website.