👋 Welcome back! Hope you’ve been well…

From my desk: Just finished up my last exam yesterday and I’m relieved to be done with semester one of college. For me, classes resume in late January, so I’m excited to focus my energy back on Varsity Ventures (stay tuned).

But let's keep things moving, It's freezing out here…

This company is helping YOU take notes in lectures, or should I say, taking notes for you in lectures. Allow me to present to you…

 🎬 Behind the scenes

• Founders Rudy and Sarthak both first-year students

• Launched in October of 2023, looking to raise a seed round

• They have over 1,500+ users with dozens paying for a subscription

• Rudy: Previously a VC intern, creator of a b2b marketing tool used by 30 YC companies, and co-founder of WorkBee 50k+ in revenue) with Sarthak as a freshman in high school.

• Sarthak: 4x founder starting in high school with his biggest project, Gradify, reaching 27,000+ active users and 900,000+ monthly sessions during his junior year.

🌍 College Students Problem

Trust me when I say this, college students have a lot of problems. But one of the pressing ones is taking notes in an organized and aesthetically pleasing way, all while maintaining efficiency.

Also, everyone has different best practices when it comes to learning and absorbing information. If you prefer more listening than scribbling down notes before your professor erases the board, you’re in luck.

And, if you ‘accidentally’ miss that 8am class which seemed like a good idea at registration, there's no need to panic. Instead of sifting through a two-hour recording or trying to decode your friend's notes that look more like hieroglyphics than calculus, Turbolearn has your back.

🤖 Studying Smarter, Not Harder

Turbolearn’s AI-Powered software allows you to record or upload full lectures, class work, YouTube videos or any other websites and receive detailed notes with visuals, flashcards, and quizzes.

Students can access this program for free or select from two different upgrade options starting at $4/mo up to $8/mo with extended services for each option.

📈 Catalysts for TurboLearn

Getting into why this company has a competitive advantage when it comes to competitors…

1. Both founders are impressively experienced for their age, and have technical backgrounds with the ability to scale and sell which is proven by their previous start-ups. 

2. Since they’re in school and marketing to their peers, there is probably a natural sense of relatability with users. Plus, being on campus gives them the opportunity to interact and gain insights from their target market on a daily basis.

3. Turbolearn provides real value to students by tackling a genuine issue, one that I would imagine a good portion of students would dish out a few bucks a month for.

🚧 The Road Ahead

Looking at the competitors and target market reveals a somewhat competitive landscape with a few other players directly competing against them for market share. This includes..

• Mindgrasp (Instant notes, summaries, flashcards, quizzes)

• Tanna.AI (Instant transcription and summary of audio/video)

• NoteGoat (AI tool for superior in-person/virtual session notes)

Given that the student consumer market is pretty elastic (i.e. we are broke), the growth of their product relies on pricing relative to competitors, paired with the features at each price level 

📈 Path Moving Forward

For now, Turbolearn is focusing on advancing product development and growth while leveraging its existing user base to gather user feedback.

Rudy and Sarthak also stand out from the competition by being in college and having some publicity. So, students may feel like their product is more of a collaborative vibe than sales vibe when marketing this to their peers.

💡College Entrepreneur Insight

📸 Milestone Montage

• Forbes (2023)

• Bold Journey (2023)

• Start-up Comp. Finalists (2023)

• SHOUTOUT DFW (2022)

• TEDx Plano Senior HS Speaker (2022)

• America's Top Young Entrepreneur (2021)

📫 Glad you stopped by, we hope you enjoyed it!

 👀 Join us next week to see a student-led startup out of Australia…

Boosting ATAR scores is the name of their game...

Wait, ATAR what? Tune in next week to catch the scoop

–Owen