Big changes coming at TeachStreet
“Since day one, we’ve provided our customers with the best tools and services we could, and offered most of them for free. In order to build on the TeachStreet products and services, produce increasing revenue (so that our business will continue to expand), and attract even more students for our teachers, we’re making the following changes in the coming weeks” - News from our Founder, Dave Schappell
Tonight we announced a major shift for the TeachStreet platform. Beginning in a few weeks, teachers will have to pay listing fees, or a monthly subscription, in order to promote their classes on the site (an action that is currently free).
This wasn’t an easy decision to make. We always thought we’d be able to sustain free listings via transaction fees and other revenue streams, but after months of observing usage patterns and conducting teacher surveys, we determined that an up-front advertising fee was best both for our users and for the business.
It’s definitely a little scary taking away something that people have had for so long, and we know we will lose a ton of classes, but we’re excited for what we think is a great deal for everyone involved, and which will allow us to continue to accelerate on our path to becoming the best resource for connecting teachers and schools with students.
Dave goes into greater detail about the changes on the TeachStreet Blog, but we’re trying to be as transparent as we can with these changes, so please comment/reblog and share your thoughts, whether good or bad. We’ve already gotten a bunch of great feedback from our teachers tonight, and with such an abundance of smart entrepreneurs and industry folks on tumblr, I’m looking forward to what you have to say.
