Kevin Zhang

There are roughly 17M US high school students across public and private schools. If the top 6% of US high school students were tutors, we would have 1M more tutors.

Imagine what that would do for our US K12 education system and our society.

There are 1M high school teachers currently in the US. We would have an additional tutor per teacher.

So how do we incentivize students?

Make tutoring a valued credential for colleges

Let's make tutoring a valued and worthwhile credential to pursue. Perhaps certified student tutors gain automatic admissions to a set of schools and the top 1% of tutors have the same status as highly recruited athletes.

Corporations offer meaningful store currency and opportunities

Nike, Lululemon, Allbirds, and whatever brands teens are excited about can supply tutors with credits, digital currency, and/or job opportunities in exchange for tutoring. We can find a way to make the economics work for corporations given the potential for high lifetime value from the brand loyalty.

Build and invest in a legit national student competition

When I was in high school, the competitions that everyone knew about were math and science olympiads and company sponsored science competitions (e.g., Siemens Competition). Winning or placing high in these competitions led to meaningful cash prizes, national recognition, a strong chance of admission to an elite university, and time with the President.

What if we had the same energy poured into a national teaching competition? The criteria would be a combination of quantitative factors (e.g., hours tutored and number of students) and more qualitative factors (e.g., degree of innovation, impact on accessibility).

1M more tutors...let's go!

I used to think that it is always better to solve problems on my own.

But this changed in 2017 when I had my first bad performance review as a consultant at Bain & Company. My bosses told me that I had inadequate attention to detail with my excel analyses. In the moment, it felt like my world was crashing down. Was I going to get fired? Was this a fundamental character flaw? Crazy thoughts were running through my head.

Prior to the bad review, I had worked tirelessly on my own to get better. After the bad review, I decided to aggressively ask for help.

Asking for help should be a habit.

Too often, young professionals, especially Asian-Americans, don't ask for help early or often enough. Getting help after my bad review enabled me to not only overcome the performance issue, but also become a teacher for others who were struggling with the same thing.

I now make asking for help, coaching, and mentorship a habit. Here's how I do it.

#1. Schedule regular check-in times with my supervisors.

I have recurring chats with my bosses every week or two. Sometimes we have lots to talk about, sometimes we have much less. I don't care. The space for coaching is a forcing function for me to grow, learn, and ask for help.

#2. Track notes from coaching conversations.

I have had a couple of word / Notion documents with notes from my coaching conversations over the last few years. I lose track of lots of my files, but not these ones. So many personal nuggets from coaches over the years.

#3. Pay it forward and always ask for upward feedback.

It's no secret that the best way to learn is to teach. I am passionate about coaching and mentoring and have so much to grow in this craft. And don't worry, I'll be sure to ask for help :).

I love Magic the Gathering.

For those who don't know, Magic the Gathering, launched in 1993, is a legendary trading card game. It consists of casting spells in an attempt to knock your opponent's life total to 0. The game involves all kinds of fantasy elements like elves, dragons, and wizards. Gameplay is highly strategic.

This game had a transformative impact on my education

I distinctly remember sprinting to a table as soon as the lunch bell rang so I could get a good seat to play Magic. Nothing was more fun than casting spells at my friends and fighting with our rare cards.

Countless reps in strategic thinking at an early age

As I played more, my strategies to win became more and more complex. It forced me to think through playing styles: did I want to be an aggressive striker or win via a slow burn? It forced me to think about valuation: just because a spell had a lot of powerful abilities didn't mean it was a good card for my deck, I had to factor in cost as well.

The competition sharpened my math and my vocabulary

Getting my opponent down to zero life points meant I had to be perfect in my arithmetic and understand all the price definitions of each card word. I could not afford to make any mathematical or reading errors.

Gaming is education's secret weapon.

I have heard of so many stories where trading card games like Pokemon or Magic the Gathering helped kids learn English, figure out math, or even overcome a reading disability.

Games are going to help millions of kids learn and thrive in the future.

Last Thursday, my home had a plumbing issue. The next day, a plumber named Jack came over.

I work as a venture capitalist for a firm called GSV Ventures. I never expected to learn so much from Jack, who I later learned is in his 70s (!!), about how to do my day job better.

Don't discount someone just because they don't look the part or don't match your "communication style"

When I first saw Jack pull up with his big truck and hobble out, I was nervous. He was slow moving and hard to communicate with. I was not confident in his abilities.

Sometimes VCs pass on a company just because the presentation looks bad or the entrepreneur's communication style doesn't fit with ours. This can lead to all kinds of bias and poor decision making.

You have to look at problems from multiple angles

I brought Jack to the site of the issue and he started to troubleshoot. Was it a septic tank issue? A sewage issue? Both? Jack experimented and tested from multiple angles. And after about 15 minutes, he found the blockage!

It's so easy to miss companies that will one day transform the world. In the future, I'd better analyze markets as meticulously as Jack looked at my plumbing system.

Tenaciously use whatever you have

To clear out the blockage, Jack needed a snake, but only had a hose. He was not fazed. He poked, prodded, and sprayed water until he could clear out the blockage.

VC often won't have all the answers with supporting founders. But that doesn't mean we can't be tenacious with what we have, poking, prodding, and firing water at any obstacles that stand in the way of founders.

Sometimes you just need to go head first into the sh*t 

While Jack was working in the septic tank, the fumes were deadly. Thank goodness for my Covid mask. My jaw dropped in amazement when I saw Jack get on his knees and lean into the septic tank full of poop. Definition of courage.

The best VCs aren't afraid to get into sh*t with their founders.

Consistency pays off

Our water was flowing again and I was elated. I told Jack how impressed I was. He told me he's been doing this for 54 years.

At 70, Jack is climbing down hills, digging holes, identifying blockages, and taking care of other people's sh*t. I think he would've been a pretty damn good VC if he wanted to.

Plumbers have something to teach all of us, especially if you're a VC.

If you're an edtech entrepreneur building for skilled trades, please feel free to DM me. Let's help our man Jack get a break.

10 years ago, I believed homeschooling was terrible for kids.

I thought homeschooling was just kids being trapped at home under strict parental guidance with no friends. It sounded constrictive and awful.

But as I've met dozens of homeschoolers, connected with EdTech entrepreneurs, and observed the pace of education innovation, I realized that I was wrong.

Homeschooling is very dynamic.

There are a plethora of engaging methods of teaching for homeschoolers, both old and new.

Homeschoolers don't just stay at home. The flexibility of being outside the traditional K12 system unlocks opportunities like learning in community colleges, trying new curriculums, and having more experiential learning opportunities. Imagine going to an art museum days after a lesson on Rome or using Roblox to develop coding skills.

Platforms like Valenture are also bringing quality online high school education for an affordable price. Startups like KaiPod Learning are making it easier to assemble learning pods so kids have community. And these companies are just getting started. They will continue to increase quality and lower cost.

Homeschooling is on the rise and it will stay this way.

Covid was a key accelerant for homeschooling. The percentage of kids homeschooled doubled in California, tripled in Florida, and 10x'd in New York.

And this will continue because....

Our US K-12 system is failing students. 25% of high school seniors are proficient in math and this hasn't changed for 15 years.

Challenges with homeschool will be addressed. Homeschool isn't perfect and has trade-offs. We will fix things and reduce friction as more kids get homeschooled.

Homeschool will continue to improve. Passionate edtech entrepreneurs and the digitalization of education will continue to increase and improve options.

Don't sleep on homeschooling. It's going to be an important part of our future in educating our kids.

If you are an edtech entrepreneur innovating for homeschoolers, feel free to DM me.