Meet Felix Ohswald, CEO and Co-Founder at One-To-One Tutoring Brand: GoStudent

GoStudent is a platform for online teaching and is the future of tutoring. Via our platform, we provide 1:1 video-based tuition. Aimed at primary, secondary and college-aged students, we offer courses in core subjects, including English, Maths and Science, as well as providing specialist tuition for those studying the likes of Latin, Law or Accounting.

During each lesson, students and tutors interact live in a virtual classroom, which features integrated functions such as a whiteboard and the option to share a screen and edit documents together. Because our goal is to facilitate long-lasting academic growth, we made the decision early on to offer a minimum paid membership period of six months.

We want to help shape each child’s future by pairing them with a tutor that suits their specific needs, and that will help them to grow. Consistent, long-term support is key to achieving this.

Currently, GoStudent is operational in 15 countries, including the UK and Ireland, France, Spain, Germany, Austria and Italy.
 
 
GoStudent | LinkedIn
 

How did you come up with the idea for the company?

 
I’ve always been passionate about education – and I especially love mathematics. My grandfather was the most inspiring teacher and, from a young age, he nurtured my curiosity about numbers. He wouldn’t just explain things to me, he would frame his teachings in a real-life context – making them feel tangible and exciting.

It was in 2015 that I realised the true need for far more teachers like my grandfather. My younger brother, Moritz, began referring his classmates to me for help with their maths homework. I was happy to help, and word spread. I was quickly surprised by just how many students were reaching out to me. It seemed as though they all lacked support and had lost enthusiasm for the subject. I knew that this was an enormous issue, and I wanted to find a way to resolve this problem.

I contacted my friend and GoStudent’s co-founder and COO, Gregor Müller, and together we discussed creating a dedicated homework support app, where users could be connected with motivated and inspiring tutors and would receive high-quality support. GoStudent was subsequently founded in 2016, with the app launching that summer.
What started as a homework chat app evolved into a 1:1 tutoring platform, where students could receive tailored support via video.

In taking tutoring online and pairing students with the very best teacher for them, regardless of geographical location, we believe that we are helping to truly unlock their potential.
 

 

How has the company evolved during the pandemic?

 
At the start of the pandemic, in March 2020, we were a team of 40, working with less than 1,000 tutors and now we are over 500 employees working with 5,500 brilliant tutors – and these numbers keep increasing. Whilst the EdTech industry was definitely growing before Covid, the pandemic has certainly acted as an accelerator for both awareness around, and trust of, online solutions.

Parents have realised that, when selecting support for their child, in-person is not the key ingredient – what is essential is regular contact with passionate and committed teachers and a highly personalised approach – and this can be found online.
 

What can we hope to see from GoStudent in the future?

 
Our goal is to become the no.1 global school. Looking at the immediate future, we are currently in the process of expanding to markets including Russia, Canada and Mexico, and we plan to have a presence in more than 20 countries by the end of 2021. We also aim to grow our team to over 1,000 employees, and hope to work with more than 10,000 quality teachers before the year is through.

Longer-term, we hope to be able to take our learnings around what makes a strong tutor-student partnership and apply them to future pairings – making us even more useful to our users. We want to help students across the globe to grow academically, foster their passions and succeed.