A young man by the name of William Zhou saw a problem that needed to be addressed in his high school, and took matters into his own hands to solve it. The more time he spent in school, he realized just how difficult being a teacher must be. He began to understand how much teachers struggled with an overwhelming workload of creating lesson plans, grading assessments, and keeping track of attendance. Not to mention dealing with angry parents constantly.
This is when he created www.chalk.com which is an online plan-board to significantly help teachers around the country organize and structure their lesson plans. Now, the website has partnered with Ontario Teach Foundation to provide teachers with ready made lesson plan materials. As of this year, Chalk.com is used on over 20,000 schools and has over 100,000 teachers using the website frequently.
One thing I think William did that was crucial to his success was his partnerships with already well know and respected organizations. This is necessary for new companies to do in order to receive the positive public relations that will make a company thrive.
Pretty interesting especially since the partnerships he gained allowed his business to succeed. Im sure his business will continue to grow, as this helps teachers in many ways.
How interesting is it that Zhou solved a problem that teachers had, not that students had. It just goes to show that someone can develop a product that they don’t, at first, know a whole lot about.