

Why we're going back to NYC to build Tutorspree - akharris
http://www.aaronkharris.com/post/4597607168/alley-vs-valley-or-why-were-coming-home

======
twakefield
I also think it will help that NYC has a very competitive private education
environment. Many parents will do almost anything to get their kids on track
to the Ivy Leagues, which obviously includes tutoring. Also, the fact that you
are from there so your networks are more established there makes it a good
choice. Best of luck!

------
btilly
_We look at what we need in order to develop the next stage of Tutorspree -
high density of students, focus on education, willingness to experiment with
new technology and methods, design talent, engineering talent, etc. and we put
that on the scale. For us, those factors all point to NYC as our optimal first
market to conquer._

Funny, I look at those factors and think, "Boston".

~~~
juiceandjuice
I look at all those and think bay area or Boston. NYC has Columbia, NYU,
CCNY/CUNY and some spill over from SUNY's versus Berkeley, Stanford, SFSU,
CCSF, SJSU, UCSC, and a bunch of other smaller colleges.

Also, I can't imagine the living cost in NYC is really that much than
SF/Silicon Valley. I mean, I pay $950/mo for a nice room in a decent house in
SF, and even in Menlo Park I payed $750.

[http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/19/real_estate/housing_affordab...](http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/19/real_estate/housing_affordability_improves/index.htm?postversion=2009031607)

~~~
mtalantikite
It really is that much more expensive here.

With stats like the ones in the article posted, you're incorporating a really
geographically diverse area for NYC. Do the SF ones include Oakland? Here
they're talking about way out in East New York, or East Flatbush BK, or the
South Bronx. So sure, CNN says you can buy a house for $455k, but in any
neighborhood you'd feel safe living in it's more like $600k for a smallish 1
or 2 bedroom co-op, and that's in the neighborhoods going through
gentrification.

Rent is generally around $1500/month for a 1 bedroom in bed-stuy or up in east
greenpoint. You can easily pay double for Manhattan.

Then there is the cost of everything else in the city. It really gets
expensive quick!

~~~
juiceandjuice
Cheapest you get a 1BR apartment is maybe $1000-$1200 in Oakland or closer to
the valley you can get some deals in East Palo Alto, but you'll probably be
held up at gun point some time in your life (Two friends in North Oakland have
been held up at gunpoint) In general though, $1700 for a decent 1BR except in
SF, where it's probably closer to $2k.

Cheapest homes in East Palo Alto for sale will run $350k. Everywhere else is
at least $500k for anything. The government locality pay difference for the GS
pay scale in SF is 35% vs. 28% in New York/Newark.

I'm sure the city of SF is very comparable to NYC, although you can find some
cheaper areas here, but you'll be living further away and commuting, same
thing probably goes for NYC (and New Jersey for that matter)

~~~
mtalantikite
Yeah, it seems like SF is very comparable to Brooklyn in prices.

------
meterplech
Great post, glad you are coming back to NYC! Wanted to make a comment about
your website. I think you overstate cost as a deciding factor for parents.
Right now, visiting your website and searching for a tutor the cost and
picture are the most highlighted factors about each tutor. From my experience
tutoring for 5+ years, most people who seek a tutor for their kid (especially
in test prep) care far more about the tutor's capabilities than price.

I've been meaning to write a blog post about this, but when I started my
tutoring business I was very worried about what I charged. Nervously, I would
bring it up at the beginning of early conversations with prospective parents.
Later, I realized that parents really use those calls to establish competency.
If they believe you are really competent they will pay double or triple the
"average" price for your help. People consider tutoring, and especially test
prep as investments, and like anyone else they care more about their ROI than
their exact cost.

I think the focus for the search on Tutorspree should be on emphasizing
competency. Especially for test prep. So, in the big box where price is now,
it could show their applicable SAT/LSAT/GMAT score, and perhaps the number of
students they have tutored before. Then it could have a one-liner like
"Graduating cum laude with degrees in Mathematics and Economics" or whatever.
This is addressing what the parents want (especially in ultra affluent and
educationally attuned uptown Manhattan).

Even more importantly, it makes the tutors feel like they are competing on
quality, not on price. This will encourage better tutors to come to your site.
Top LSAT companies will pay a tutor $100+/hour and charge $250+/hour. In order
for a great tutor to use your site they must feel like they have a chance to
get paid at least equivalently. And, I think in the end the most likely way
Tutorspree succeeds is by matching parents/students with incredible students.

</completely_unsolicited_advice>

Good luck again! I will be NYC based soon, and have worked as a tutor for many
years. If you guys would like to bounce ideas off someone with that
background, my email is in my profile.

------
ryanb
If you know of any exceptional engineers or designers, please let them know
that we're hiring: jobs (at) tutorspree.com.

------
lachyg
Hey Aaron, loved the article, although my comment is unrelated. If you press
cmd+ on your computer, it makes the font the perfect size. Might be good to
increase it by 2-3px? Makes it a lot easier to read.

~~~
twakefield
+1 I was going to post the same thing. I thought maybe it might just be my old
age.

~~~
lachyg
I'm 16, so I don't think so :-)

~~~
akharris
solid advice. just fiddled the css over to make it easier to read. now i can
stop squinting as well.

~~~
reneherse
Also, for your post title to display properly, it looks like you need to make
your h1 {line-height: 1.2em;}

cheers!

------
dr_
Seems like Tutorspree could really start in any city. One could use the same
argument about AirBnB (a high density of available apartments), but it's still
worked out well for them. However, if NYC is your personal preference, that's
great. I'm in the area, and although I don't know what the tech scene is going
to look like 5-10 years from now in the city, I'd love to see it grow and have
NYC viewed as something other than the Capital of Finance (or Financial
Wizardy).

~~~
akharris
Agree that it could start in any city, but the question is more around what
gives you the highest chance of success. AirBnB did focus heavily on
particular places (NYC, in fact). Makes sense as they'd want to understand the
dynamics of how they would grow, what would work, etc. on a knowable playing
field before repeating that success in place after place.

At least, that's how we think about it.

