Why Drillby Is Bootstrapped: Building a Tutor-First Platform Without Investor Pressure
Why is Drillby Bootstrapped?
Behind the intentional choice not to take investor funding while Drillby is being built.
Proof of Concept
Because Drillby is still in relatively early stages, it is important that it is built with tutors in mind. Drillby is for tutors, and tutors’ ideas and feedback are easily integrated at this point.
Because Drillby’s functionality for tutors is at its core, David decided to create Drillby by working with input from wide-ranging interviews with tutors and consistent feedback from his Early Access tutors.
With feedback and iteration based on the experiences of working tutors using the Drillby platform, the question was whether Drillby could find itself a strong position in the tutoring platform marketplace. If the concept works, a larger, more substantial Drillby is a go.
Given that nearly 100 tutors have so far been involved in the project–interviewed, requested further information, and signed up for Early Access–the signal is looking very good for a project that’s just getting off the ground.
Investors Seek Returns
The original decision not to pursue investor funding is simple: VCs are, of course, looking for returns. Because their money–contractually–buys influence in the company, investors’ decisions would also play a role in shaping Drillby. This risks distorting the true picture of what tutors want.
If an investor is looking to get returns as quickly as possible, this could easily conflict with giving tutors the primary input into Drillby’s development. David prefers to take time and understand the needs of tutors, as well as the downstream effects of platform additions, over time.
Many of these things may take time to yield results or develop cumulative effects, and rushing the platform to try to make money will detract from wider benefits that might be seen through a more patient approach.
Importantly, this means adding features in a sensible, thought-through way. With tutors contributing through Early Access and, ultimately, monthly subscription plans, the platform can grow in a deliberate way.
This eliminates all risk of getting sidetracked by quick cash grabs or letting inessential, distracting features wag the dog because they might produce a marginal amount more cash flow.
Furthermore, by running lean, even if someone insists on a refund of their Early Access fee, this doesn’t pose any sort of existential risk to the larger Drillby project.
The Advantages of Bootstrapping
The decision to bootstrap has worked out well.
This has provided time to connect with numerous tutors and learn first-hand what real problems working online tutors face as they seek jobs and conduct their business remotely. This means that the problems Drillby is built to address are live issues that tutors face day-to-day.
One of the best things about bootstrapping has been that David, the person doing the engineering, is able to communicate directly with the tutors and thereby eliminate any potential for miscommunication or mismatched priorities.
Furthermore, tutors involved in Early Access are encouraged to make suggestions and as Drillby’s minimum viable product rolls out, these ideas are considered and adapted to the Drillby system as time and resources allow.
Choosing the Order of Features
The logic of Drillby’s rollout is quite straightforward.
First it is to get accounts and a classroom set up. This is to create a minimum viable product to get tutors using the platform for their classes quickly. The real messages about what is necessary will come once the rubber hits the road; that is, when tutors are using the platform and seeing how the platform can be adjusted to maximize its potential.
This comes from David’s own fear of overengineering. As a detail-oriented developer, it would be easy to get stuck in eternal planning and never rolling out the product for fear that it isn’t perfect.
Rather, by making sacrifices in areas such as the User Interface (which will eventually improve), David is actively working on the 20% of engineering that will drive 80% of the results, focusing on the vital over the nice-to-haves.
Drillby’s Minimum Viable Product
The MVP for Drillby is to reach the point where tutors can use Drillby as a replacement for tutoring on Zoom.* Having the online classroom functional, from video calls to whiteboard to document sharing, is the first real step.
That is, Drillby will provide a video conferencing solution that is as reliable as Zoom. This is as opposed to other tutoring platforms that might require students to use proprietary video services that stall or cut out mid-lesson, and ultimately require tutors to keep a live Zoom subscription as backup.
For tutors in Early Access, the one-time $29 fee is equivalent to approximately 1.5 months of Zoom paid monthly, and just under two months if paid annually. This means that tutors working with monthly Zoom subscriptions will very soon find themselves saving money by using Drillby.
By the time $19/month Drillby subscriptions kick in (early 2027), Drillby will have enough features live, from cloud storage to online course provision for tutors to AI lesson tracking to the tutor marketplace, that its value versus Zoom’s (which only provides video and post-call AI summary) will be clear.
Initially, the $19/month tier will provide the same access to Drillby features as Early Access. As data comes in from real-time usage, a $39/month tier will provide added storage and platform access.
*Zoom is of course the industry standard, so I’m using it as a general term here. The same applies to Teams or other video conferencing software, all of which require a subscription to use for even a one-hour lesson.
Drillby’s Value Proposition for Tutors
Why a fixed monthly plan? The goal is that tutors will ultimately be able to see the value of a relatively small monthly subscription to the Drillby platform as opposed to, for example, Drillby taking a cut of each class held.
This even applies to fairly low-volume tutors: after just a handful of hours, Drillby’s monthly fee becomes cheaper than even a relatively low (say 10%) cut of a given class.
However, it is understood that this might prove to be a psychological barrier for some tutors: paying a subscription becomes a sunk cost, making tutors feel responsible to teach more just to make the subscription “worthwhile.”
It is useful to keep the numbers in mind, understanding that even at $40/hr, the fee (vs. a 10% commission) will be earned back in approximately seven hours, at $50/hr the fee will be earned back in approximately six hours, and at $80/hr, the fee will be paid back in under four hours.
Still, some tutors might want to try Drillby before committing to a subscription. That's why Drillby offers a free plan covering up to 5 hours of tutoring per month — no credit card required. For tutors who need more, the first paid tier starts at just $19/month, unlocking the full Drillby experience.
Conclusion
Drillby prides itself on being a tutor-first platform.
In effect, tutors and their needs are given priority. Even if this means that the system takes slightly longer to build, it is done with care and the ultimate wellbeing of the tutoring community in mind.
Money can make things go a little bit faster, but there are always strings attached. It is too common that companies take funding only to have their core mission diverted by the immediate demands of investors.
By bootstrapping, Drillby avoids this problem. By bootstrapping, Drillby is developing a platform that meets the needs of tutors by engaging tutors to help ideate and test. How Drillby develops will be determined in large part by suggestions, feedback, and testing from working tutors.
Tutors like you.
If you want to be a part of making Drillby the best online tutoring platform available, learn more about Early Access here:
