How app creator Timothy Yu made studying a virtual snap
Snapask founder and entrepreneur in the education technology sphere set out to provide online tutoring for students across in Asia – and came up with the answer
This story was originally published in XXIV magazine 2018
A passion for teaching and tutoring made Timothy Yu a successful entrepreneur in the education tech sphere. The founder of Snapask, Yu initially looked at a career in finance, having completed his degree in risk management, but soon discovered that helping students understand their subject matter was more rewarding.
Snapask, which Yu founded in 2015, is an education app that uses mobile cloud technology to provide virtual tutoring for students across in Asia, including Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan.
I realised that instead of me going from door to door, why couldn’t they come to my tutorial centre to do it?
The idea is to connect a live tutor to a student via a mobile app. Such is the level of competitiveness among these tutors that, much like other service apps, once the request for an explanation on a subject or topic is posted – primarily by snapping a picture of the question – students can receive answers within seconds. Yu interviews each and every tutor available on the app.
“In the beginning, we were so proud that our tutors could get back to the students in five minutes,” Yu recalls. “But now, as we constantly improve, iteration by iteration, last year it was 17 seconds. Now it is five seconds.”
Mathematics is one of the hottest subjects on Snapask. “In mathematics, chemistry and physics there are a lot of equations, graphs and illustrations you have to do,” Yu says. “These cannot be done verbally. They cannot be just typed out. That is why messaging is not the most preferable solution. People always start with a picture.”