International Students Build Platform to Connect Peers
Connecting with your fellow students in a campus with almost 30,000 students is no easy task. Hua Liao, a graduate student at Columbia University, created Talentjungle.us with three friends to change that.
The online platform features student-organized workshops and events across campus. They vary in topic from meditation and mixology to salsa dancing. Each class is two to three hours long. Unlike most events that seek to attract as many attendees as possible, Liao restricts the RSVP list of his to five to ensure everyone is an eager participant. “I like the seal carving workshop that I attended. The class is small so I learned a lot within two hours,” said Ruonan Song, a graduate student majoring in quantitative method in social science.
Since launching in February, Talentjungle.us has offered 14 workshops, 11 of which succeeded in drawing in students.
The idea occurred to Liao when he was trying to find someone to teach him how to swim. “At that moment, I wish there was a platform on which I could find a swimming workshop taught by a schoolmate,” he said.
Liao is not the first one to focus on skill sharing. Skillshare.com, a New York-based online learning website, has attracted about 850,000 learners altogether by offering 45,000 projects since its launch in November, 2010. Jaxus.com, one of the most popular websites for skill learning in China, has provided thousands of free online videos in nine categories including cooking and crafting.
“Different from Skillshare.com and Jaxus.com, we expect to see social interactions between hosts and learners,” said Qicong Chen, one of the co-founders of Talentjungle.us.
Akhilesh Lyer, a workshop provider on the site, said it was a win-win situation for him since he loves talking about photography and meeting people.
To attract users and enlarge its market, Talentjungle.us gives workshop hosts a bonus, depending on the amount that they charge the participants. In return, participants receive a $10 coupon from Talentjungle.us, which they can apply towards their next workshop.
Talentjungle.us has not been able to make a profit based on this model so far.
“Building a platform is money-consuming. Most young entrepreneurs lack the knowledge of operating an online system,” said Hong Deng, the assistant vice-president of New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc., the largest educational company in China.
The challenge for Liao is appealing to a wider range of demographics. “It is hard to sell our story to American people though,” said Liao, “as they sometimes are unable to get the philosophy of startups run by foreigners.”
Katherine DeChant, an editor for Talentjungle.us, said, “A language barrier can make things very difficult, but it shouldn’t matter whether the creator was born in America or born somewhere else as long as he can present himself well and offer a good service.”
Talentjungle.us was able to raise $150,000 in June from an unnamed Chinese investor. It has also been selected to join the incubator run by the Columbia Organization of Rising Entrepreneurs.
