Business Description

We are developing Laoshi.io — the necessary tools for Mandarin Chinese learners and tutors. Mandarin Chinese had the fastest CAGR since 2020, and we want to lead that expanding market. It looks like we are close to PMF, and it’s just the beginning.

Over 4,000 colleges across the globe have added Chinese language courses to their curriculums and estimated that 25 million people were currently learning Chinese as a second language and that over 200 million people outside China had learned Chinese.

The team has many years of expertise in creating a product for the study of the Mandarin Chinese language, a successful entrepreneurial experience.
Recognized expertise and reputation in the product design community.
Strong expertise and resources in mobile development and two-sided market.
All necessary competencies are presented, and expertise is confirmed by reputation and successful experience in past projects

Strengths
● Strong product with a platform model
● Solve pain for both sides users (learners and tutors)
● The value and quality of the product are confirmed
● The approach and quality of the solution stand out from other competitors

Problem

According to our surveys, about 90% of Mandarin Chinese learners consider learning vocabulary to be the most time-consuming and difficult task.

— Chinese words are much harder to learn than European languages
— Traditional methods of learning Mandarin Chinese are time-consuming
— There are many apps for Mandarin Chinese edutainment, but only a few for serious learners
— Mandarin Chinese tutors don’t have any solution for teaching

Solves the problem:
Student:
no high-quality profile solution for learning Chinese. Use a combination of different apps.
Teachers:
no good tool for preparing materials, a well-formed base of vocabulary lists. constant lack of students, hard to find effective channels of students attraction

Solution

The one-stop tool to learn and teach Mandarin Chinese.

— Mini-courses for beginners
— Learn words and write characters right on the app
— Understand and practice grammar
— Help tutors prepare and manage students’ homework

The application has a good rating and reviews in the App Store and Google Play. Users note the high quality of the product design of the application in comparison with others. They highlight the presence of functions and capabilities that could not be found in other applications, well-composed vocabulary lists, and the ability to create your own.
● the #2 Product of the Day on Product Hunt http://producthunt.com/products/laoshi
● winner of a Red Dot product design award https://www.red-dot.org/project/laoshi-app-55187
● Formed vocabulary lists from most Chinese textbooks
The application has already found customers, and solves their pains, stands out from competitors, and has strong advantages.

Business Model

B2C mobile subscription model with pricing: $7.99/$49.99/$149.99 (month/year/lifetime)

Our product is a two-sided market example. The first is the student’s side, and through testing, the app has proven to work significantly.
We have a pre-release of a second side (tutors), which shows that we are on the right path.

The chosen platform Business model gives a wide range of opportunities for product monetization. There will always be a chance to test new models and prices to find the best option. Right now, there are already many monetization tools that can be applied to achieve the required metrics.

Market Projection

— Estimated that 25 million people were currently learning Chinese as a second language and that over 200 million people outside China had learned Chinese
— 70 countries around the world have incorporated Chinese into their national education system
— Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global, and others have already invested $176 million in LingoAce, a platform providing online live classes for Mandarin Chinese language learners from ages 4 to 15

sources:
https://www.languagemagazine.com/2021/01/06/chinese-progresses-as-a-world-language/
http://www.chinanews.com/gn/2020/12-22/9368158.shtml
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_total_number_of_speakers

Competition

Competitors like Duolingo and Busuu go for “digital-only” self-studies, ignoring 85% of the market who study Mandarin Chinese using “a traditional approach”.
People have to use several apps to learn Mandarin Chinese vocabulary. This is a difficult task when you want to learn hundreds of words per week.
We are making an all-in-one solution. We want our users to spend time learning a language, not preparing materials.

Our main competitor is paper flashcards and old-school habits.

https://lahlahbanana.wordpress.com/2021/11/06/chinese-character-flash-cards-and-leitner-box/
https://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Flash-Cards-Kit-Ebook-ebook/dp/B00KO9K5LG

Traction & Customers

Zero budget marketing
11K MAU (iOS + Android)
406 paying users
A conversion rate of installs to paid users — 3,6%, Churn — 30%

In July we onboarded:
1052 students,
118 tutors,
and 4617 newbies

Investors

We have raised $570k
FFF (mainly entrepreneurs and angels) + Joint Journey https://jj.capital as a lead investor

Terms

This is an offering of Common Stock, under registration exemption 4(a)(6), in Laoshi Inc. Laoshi is offering a SAFE with a $5M valuation cap. Securities will convert to common stock.

Risks

See Offering Statement; A crowdfunding investment involves risk. You should not invest any funds in this offering unless you can afford to lose your entire investment.
In making an investment decision, investors must rely on their examination of the issuer and the terms of the offering, including the merits and risks involved. These securities have not been recommended or approved by any federal or state securities commission or regulatory authority. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission does not pass upon the merits of any securities offered or the terms of the offering, nor does it pass upon the accuracy or completeness of any offering document or literature.
These securities are offered under an exemption from registration; however, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has not made an independent determination that these securities are exempt from registration.
Neither PicMii Crowdfunding nor any of its directors, officers, employees, representatives, affiliates, or agents shall have any liability whatsoever arising from any error or incompleteness of fact or opinion in, or lack of care in the preparation or publication of, the materials and communication herein or the terms or valuation of any securities offering.
The information contained herein includes forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or future financial performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, which are, in some cases, beyond the company’s control and which could, and likely will materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements. Any forward-looking statement reflects the current views with respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties, and assumptions relating to operations, results of operations, growth strategy, and liquidity. No obligation exists to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.