By Cara Baruzzi, Register Business Editor
cbaruzzi@newhavenregister.com
James Park, co-founder of Gurufi, helped build a program that connects college-bound students to editors who can help critique college admissions essays. The startup has been supported by the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute. (Brad Horrigan/Register)
NEW HAVEN — Two city-based startup companies are taking new technological approaches to two long-standing educational rituals: tutoring and college admission essay writing.
Tutor Trove and Gurufi, both formed with the support of the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute, are using the Internet to connect students in need of help to those who can provide the information they need.
Tutor Trove is a software company that connects tutors and students, regardless of where tutor and student are located geographically. The firm's "virtual whiteboard" allows two people to view and write on the same "whiteboard" from different computers, while also using an on-screen written chat box to discuss and answer questions.
The concept was derived by Eli Luberoff, a Yale graduate who is founder and president of Tutor Trove. A long-time tutor specializing in science and math, Luberoff was often annoyed at the inability to work with students who were located elsewhere.
"It's always been a frustration for me that there's this geographic barrier," he said. "I decided there should be a software for teaching math and science, and other subjects."
With Tutor Trove, a tutor in New York City, for example, can work with a student in California, drawing charts and working on equations on a whiteboard that is visible to both people in real time.
Tutor Trove, which is online at TutorTrove.com, requires only an Internet connection; students do not need any downloads.
The company moved into the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute incubator space, on the second floor of 282 York St. in February. "That's when we really started working hard," to grow the company, said Luberoff, who began working on the concept in 2007.
So far, the company is marketing its software to tutoring centers and companies, said Greg Korb, director of business development.
"The whiteboard allows tutoring firms online to reach clients they never would be able to reach before," said Korb, a Yale graduate.
As the company grows, Tutor Trove plans to market the software to other users, such as school systems and universities.
A second component of the software, other than the whiteboard, allows managers and owners of tutoring centers to track tutoring sessions and students in a database. The database system also helps performs billing and scheduling tasks.
Trey Billings, co-founder and chief operating officer of Tutor Trove is using the software at Freudigman & Billings, the Wesport tutoring and educational services company co-founded in 2005.
"We thought it was a great idea and wanted to support it," said Billings, a former New Haven Public Schools worker. He met Luberoff several years ago when Luberoff was a tutor at Freudigman & Billings.
Clients at Freudigman & Billings have been very impressed by Tutor Trove's whiteboard technology, he said. And the managerial database component of the software has also helped his educational firm, which logs more than 1,000 tutoring sessions a month, he said.
"It just really streamlined our business process," he said.
Response to Tutor Trove software overall has been positive, Luberoff said.
"Pretty universally, people are just really excited about it," he said. "This software's amazing and we want everyone to use it."
The Yale Entrepreneurial Institute has been instrumental in helping the company grow, he said. In addition to its three leaders, Tutor Trove employs three programmers.
"We are definitely seeing an uptick in the number of software based companies started by students," said. Shana N. Schneider, deputy director at the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute. "One of the reasons for that is the low cost of entry for launching this type of business."
Another business emerging from the institute, Gurufi, also has an online and educational focus. The company helps pair college-bound students with editors who can assist with college admissions essays.
"There's already a market out there (for such services) but we thought the way we deliver it would be a little better," said James Park, a co-founder of the company and a 2009 Yale graduate.
Park founded the company with Brian Fobi, Stephane Budel and Daniel Vekhter. Fobi is a PhD candidate at Yale; the other co-founders are Yale graduates.
Unlike other services that match editors with students, Park said Gurufi enhances the experience for the editors. "That's where we've made the most improvement," he said.
Editors often find it hard to distinguish themselves from the pack at so-called "essay mills," he said, but Gurufi ranks editors based on various factors, including customer reviews and the volume of essays they edit.
Those who work to attain higher rankings are more visible to prospective clients. "They sort of put themselves out in center," Park said.
To use Gurufi, students or their parents visit Gurufi.com and browse the editors' profiles, which are ranked. Prices charged for services are at the discretion of individual editors, and payment is processed online.
At the outset, the company is concentrating on recruiting editors who have graduated from the top 20 colleges and universities in the country.
While there is a focus on top-notch editors, "we take a very strong stand that the editor can't ghostwrite," Park said.
Editors and students send versions of the essay back and forth until the student is pleased with the editing.
"The purpose is to develop our niche, focus on it, make sure everyone who visits it is extremely happy, and grow it," Park said. "We're still in the baby stages."
As Tutor Trove does, Gurufi's Internet-based platform allows it to connect editors and students across wide geographic barriers. The company has developed a particularly strong following among students in East Asia, Park said.
Like Tutor Trove's leaders, Park said Gurufi has been bolstered by the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute.
Schneider said technology-based companies have become a trend.
"Most college students today have grown up using some sort of technology as part of their education process, so I think it's likely we'll be seeing more startups like Tutor Trove and Gurufi coming from our students as they continue to develop innovative ways to improve their own learning process and wanting to share that with others," she said.
Contact Cara Baruzzi at cbaruzzi@newhavenregister.com.
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