Show HN: Sprout9 – a platform for students to find tutors

[Azaan]

I am aged 11 and founder of https://sprout9.net/ a platform for students to find great tutors.

Please forgive me if I get this wrong and post it incorrectly.

I would like fellow hackers to give me some constructive feedback on my MVP please. Ideas and suggestions as how I can improve my version 1.0 and how I can get the word out so I can help many students as possible.

Thanks alot! Azaan

[pedalpete]

Hi Azaan,

My initial reaction was that this is really well done. Excellent work. It's clear and concise. I was wondering where you were from when I noticed that the tutor search was in so many different languages.

This makes it easy for me to end up with a result with no data, if you don't have a tutor with the language I need and the skills.

What I'd recommend is that the search operate as a filter. First they select the class, then you show what levels you have teachers registered for, then you filter that data to tutors you have the language for. If you don't have a tutor for the language, you can then request the user to sign-up to be notified, and you can start to build up the marketplace and understand where the supply and demand side limits are.

Or, alternatively, just focus on a smaller geographic area or language, and then expand as you grow.

Really excellent work. Dare I say, better than much of the other Show HN posts. :)

Also, see if you can update the Show HN label to include a bit more about your project or put "I'm 11 years old and built this tutor search", you may bet more interest that way.

[Azaan]

Thanks friend for your feedback and encouraging words. You have been very helpful :)

[pedalpete]

No problem, if you want any further feedback, feel free to reach-out.

[Azaan]

Thanks, friend. I Will come back to you for a second look and feedback soon.

[prismatix]

Nice work! Seriously impressive in general, not just because you're 11!

The only suggestions I have, aside from what others said here, are marketing/design related. The "for parents" section on the homepage has red check marks and this initially made me think this product does NOT offer those things. Red is usually reserved for bad/warning/errors and personally for any checklist I'd stick with the same color for all check marks. Additionally cutting down some of the text on the pages could be helpful. Marketing should be straight, simple, and to the point. For example instead of "Work flexible hours to suit your schedule" maybe replace it with "set your own schedule". If you want some help in this area, feel free to reach out and I can give some more suggestions.

[Azaan]

Thank you very much friend for your kind comments and suggestions. I may reach out to you for help :)

[soheil]

First off, great job on the design, I can't say I'd be able to do as good a job. You put me to shame after years of web development.

> I would like fellow hackers to give me some constructive feedback

I also like how you see yourself as a hacker. Hacking is probably the most important thing as a programmer to get good at. It's not following best practices or reading the manuals that everyone else is reading. It's about finding creative solutions to mundane problems, this is what programming is to me.

"Upcoming classes" section was empty for me when I joined as a tutor. So maybe if that section is empty have some placeholder or some sort of instruction to let the user know what's happening.

Asking for banking details is also something that probably be handed off to a provider like Stripe for security/compliance reasons. And also to make your users more comfortable sharing that information with you.

Otherwise, great job and I can only imagine what your skills will look like in 10 years.

[Azaan]

Thanks a lot friend for your helpful comments and suggestions.

"Upcoming classes" placeholder page is a great idea.

"banking details" this for the tutors only so can pay them in different countries that Stripe may not support yet.

Stripe is being used for taking payments from students.

[rlonn]

Seriously impressed that you produced this at 11. Like another commenter wrote I think we often underestimate kids but in this case I’m not saying it’s impressive that you built and launched something - I’m impressed with the polish here. You actually know what you’re doing, which is something many adult so-called professionals don’t!

To give you some business advice, I think you have a useful story to tell about being 11 and starting a business. You need exposure to get people on your platform. I’d try reaching out to people with a lot of visibility and the right contacts, tell them your story and ask for help. People working w education & people who just have a lot of followers.

Regardless of how it goes you’re right now getting invaluable experience of a kind that many people only start getting a decade later than you (at least) which means you’re setting yourself up for big success later on.

[Azaan]

Thanks friend for your kind words. I appreciate your advice.

[Jonnewman]

Wow that is Amazing Azaan! You are a very gifted kid.

It really looks great for a MVP.

I suggest you had the ability to book multiple classes with a tutor and grow the tutors for more subjects

[Azaan]

Your suggestions are very helpful, thanks!

[juliancox]

Hi Azaan, Congratulations on launching. It's a great looking site. Good luck with it.

On the about page (and maybe others) there are multiple ’ and – characters eg: child’s. It looks like these should be apostrophes and dashes. The often happens if you copy and paste from a word doc which uses the curly (high ascii) versions of apostrophes and mdashes. You can use &quote; and — to replace these.

[Azaan]

Thanks for pointing this out friend.

[dumindaxsb]

Hi Azaan,

This is brilliantly done. You have a bright future ahead.

A few suggestions:

1. You could add anonymous(but verified) tutor ratings. This will enable children to find better tutors while tutors are encouraged to perform better to increase their ratings.

2. I think it's more user-friendly if you open internal pages within the same tab (e.g. the open section opened a new tab).

3. Also, I could think of many revenue models. Example: Commission on tuition fees (better to do once you're established), Premium accounts for tutors to host learning materials, On-Demand tuition classes, private sessions, etc.

Again, really well done. I wish you all the best!

Cheers!

[Azaan]

Thanks friend, you have made some great suggestions.

I am really amazed and thankful for the helpful advice and response of fellow hackers.

[dang]

Welcome to HN, Azaan! (I'm a moderator here.) I hope you'll continue to be part of this community over time and I hope you'll find it useful for learning and sharing.

[Azaan]

Hi Dang! It's nice to meet you! So far, the HN community have mostly been very nice and helpful. I'm sure that HN will be a great resource for learning especially from more experienced hackers!

[julienchastang]

I was wondering when we were going to see something like this as this is an obvious next step in the pandemic era. Out of curiosity, who is the competition in this space? Also what is done to ensure that tutors are qualified and are there any plans to have them go through background checks?

[Azaan]

Hello friend, I am glad you like my idea of an online platform for students to find tutors.

I am not sure who the competition is exactly although I am sure there are plenty of companies offering tuition. I benefited immensely from remote affordable tutors during the Covid-19 pandemic lock down and realised there are many highly educated teachers out there who can teach online at around 1/3 of the local price. Hence the idea was born.

Screening and evaluating tutors, I have found an experienced teacher to help me interview and vet the tutors to make sure they are child-friendly, qualified and competent.

[Azaan]

I was interviewed by BBC London.

Here is the short version of the interview: https://soundcloud.com/azaan-maqbool/azaan-bbc-interview?si=...

[KGNKNGQ]

Just say that you're 11 a lot, that's your best selling point (;

[Azaan]

Thanks friend. Not many people take a 11 year old seriously.

[flemhans]

I remember thinking the same when I was 11, and promised myself to always take children seriously as an adult.

I've only grown more irresponsible and rowdy as I aged ;)

On a related note, I think many children are ready to drive cars much earlier than the current age limit.

[colecut]

The statistics imply that younger kids driving is probably not a good idea.

https://aaafoundation.org/rates-motor-vehicle-crashes-injuri...

[Azaan]

I am not ready to drive cars :D I cant even reach the pedals yet!

[mgl]

This looks really nice! What is the tech stack behind?

[cloudking]

Wow Azaan, this looks awesome congrats on launching. Can you tell us more about how you built it on the backend?

[k_]

Looks nice, congratulations :)

Just a heads up: you have encoding issues in your "How it works" page

[Azaan]

Thanks for pointing out the encoding issue friend

[alteracia]

Looks promising, good job. Looks simple

[Azaan]

Thanks for being very supportive and helpful friends.

[cocoonkid]

I love this! Very very well done.

[testmasterflex]

Keep it up Azaan. The UI is crisp!

[Azaan]

Thanks!

[gus_massa]

I suggest to change the title here to "Show HN: Sprout9 - a platform for students to find tutors"

(I removed "great", because it's too optimistic for the dry stile here.)

[Azaan]

How do I do that Gus?

[dang]

We've fixed it now.

[Azaan]

or do I have to to start a new one?

[gus_massa]

You can change the title only for a while. I don't remember if that's only one or two hours after submitting. Now it's too late.

> or do I have to to start a new one?

No, don't worry. It's better to use a descriptive title, but it's not a big deal. The mods may change it later.

[Azaan]

Thanks :)

[huhtenberg]

I find it exceedingly improbable that this was in fact done by an 11-year old as it's being claimed to be ("how I can improve _my_ version 1.0", etc.).

My best guess is that it was done in a heavy collaboration with a professional developer(s) with the kid being used as a figure head to create an unique PR and marketing angle.

If you look up the company registration data, it shows up as being established back in the 90s by someone with the same last name and listing their position as a "system analyst".

If you look through the Twitter stream, it does not read like something written by a child, even a very mature one. Ditto for the copy on the website, including the About page and what not.

Basically, this looks too good to be true as described. Realistically speaking.

[dang]

Come on you guys (where by "you guys" I mean not just commenters but upvoters). Beating up on an 11 year old because he may have gotten some help from his dad, or whoever, is cheap, mean, and low. This makes me ashamed of HN, and seeing it upvoted to the top of the thread is a reminder of one of the worst failure modes this place has.

The big-pizzazz "I'm $age and I did $thing" story has forever included the dimension of implicit parental help. It was true at science fairs when I was Azaan's age and it's been true as long as HN has been around. Who cares? It's no reason to take your resentment out on the kid.

What sort of a community are we trying to be here? Not this sort, that's for sure.

[1_player]

One Twitter message of theirs reads "WOW THIS IS SO EMPOWERING", and a quote from Steve Jobs about changing the world.

I am 34 years old and I have a hard time finding a use for that word as it is, I can't really imagine 11 years old me grasping the concept of "empowerment". I was already writing (some) C at that age, I felt like a cool kid because I managed to paint the screen red in Turbo C++, but not so much to have the maturity and foresight of opening a whole business, create an MVP, market it, and ask Paul Graham for advice.

But what do I know.

[Azaan]

Friend,

Aged 10, I passed my GCSE Mathematics exam with the highest possible grade, an A Star (Grade 9).

I am one of the youngest boys in the 33+ year history of the exam to have achieved this.

We are all born with different abilities and talent. I suck at sports but excel in Mathematics and Sciences etc

https://educational-life.org/ten-year-old-maths-whizz-gets-h...

[jackhalford]

this « article » and the whole website feels odd. It looks like a news website but the articles all look like paid marketing placements.

[Azaan]

Friend don't be so cynical.

[eps]

> Friend don't be cynical.

... and if one needs an explicit confirmation that it was someone older than 11-year old posting all this, here it is. Phrasing, voc and the tone - none of it correlates with what a kid would say, leave alone to an adult stranger.

[honkdaddy]

To what extent did your father's experience building a global trading platform influence the creation of this platform, Azaan?

[dang]

You're seriously breaking the site guidelines. Please read them and stick to the rules.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Note this one: "Have curious conversation; don't cross-examine." And above all, this one: "Be kind".

As for cross-examining an 11-year-old - what kind of community do you guys think this is supposed to be? Please re-read the guidelines repeatedly.

[honkdaddy]

You're right dang - apologies.

[honkdaddy]

>Luckily Azaan’s not the only technically minded member of his family. His father had already built a global trading platform, and so he was perfectly positioned to help his son with this next challenge.

Ah, there it is.

[cupofcoffee]

Haha yup. Wait until you check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWONeJKn6kc

ML course by a 15 year old!

[pupppet]

This should not have been voted down to oblivion. He's described himself as "founder" and everyone here is assuming he coded and designed the entire product.

[magicink81]

At least the kid is learning about marketing.

[oliwarner]

You should be more careful advertising your age.

Under 13s usually end up with their accounts forcibly deleted because of laws about collecting data [making it disproportionately inconvenient to facilitate young children].

[Azaan]

Thanks friend. I hope PGs YC HN wont do this. I like Paul Graham and he has given me some good advice on Twitter.

[dang]

You're safe here :) - if anything like this comes up (unlikely) I'll email you.

[Azaan]

Thanks, Dang :)

I feel safe now that I know someone good is around to protect against the nasty baddies (envious and jealous bullies).

[Jonnewman]

Check this 6 year coder!

"It's fair to say that most 6 year olds are probably more interested in playing with toys and computer games than taking a programming class, but not Kautilya Katariya. Now 7, Kautilya has been recognized as the world's youngest computer programmer after completing four professional certifications from IBM for Python and artificial intelligence."

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/a-6-year-old-became-the...

[eps]

Did you know that HN highlights all newly created accounts in green color? Can you guess why it does that?