Kyle
Lithuanian startup Vidiget is all about peer to peer learning. Whether you have a skill you want to learn or you have a skill you want to teach, Vidiget is the platform to help do that.
In this day and age it’s so hard for people to take courses after work. Now it’s easier to learn and teach things online where you can have 1:1 time with the teacher and at the same time you don’t have to leave the comfort o your own home. Whether you’re looking to learn how to crochet, make biodiesel fuel, the importance of Twitter, how to draw, how to play guitar or any other form of learning and teaching, Vidiget is the platform to do that.
In the U.S. we have California startup TeachMeo doing just about the same thing. It will be interesting, to say the least, to see what happens if Vidiget expands outside of Europe.
The idea for Vidiget came when Vidiget’s co-founder Vytis Duknauskas was teaching himself how to program. He wanted to teach himself all kinds of programming but found he could also benefit from legitimate courses. However, what he found was either too expensive or didn’t pass his litmus test for a course he could take and the learn something.
Check out our interview with Duknauskas below:
What is VidiGet?
VidiGet is a marketplace of knowledge. It is a unique platform built to enable anyone to learn and teach online. We believe that everyone has talents, therefore we want to enable Instructors to share it with the world for a profit. At VidiGet, our Instructors can upload the courses on any topic using many available formats: Video, Audio, Documents ( PDF, Word, Powerpoint) or use external course information from sites such as SlideShare, Docstoc or YouTube. On top of that, our platform lets them price their course and receive up to 70% of sales revenue. For our users, VidiGet is a place where they can get affordable/quality courses, which they can purchase and use to learn the needed skills. Up to this moment, learning Online has not been social and that is one of the reason why VidiGet is different. In order to make the learning process as usefull as possible for our users, we implemented Rankings, User reviews, and communication possibilities, where users can contact the course Instructors about the Tips or any other Questions about the course.
Who are the Founders and What are their bakcgrounds?
We have two founders: Vytis Duknauskas and Ausrys Jankevicius. Vytis is the one who came up with the idea and is currently our CEO. He has a Business and Management degree from London. Ausrys is our CTO and is the one who does all the programming and coding. Before becoming a co-founder at VidiGet, for many years he has worked in a second largest Communications company here in Lithuania – Bite Lietuva, who are partners with Vodafone. In terms of education, Ausrys has a degree in Physics
Where are you based?
VidiGet is based in Eastern Europe, Lithuania – Vilnius.
What‘s the startup scene/culture where you are based?
Here in Lithuania, Vilnius the Startup culture is only developing. However, it is improving quite fast and that is a brilliant sign. In previous years we have seen an increase in startup community here in Lithuania. There are more startups and accelerator programs, and what is even more encouraging – we have seen an increase in Angel/seed funds in the Baltic area. However, it will take some time until Startup culture becomes strong and established. We hope we can contribute to it ourselves by offering mentor courses and seminars with our online platform, so more and more young entrepreneurs can become founders of great Startups here in Lithuania.
How did you come up with the idea for VidiGet?
The idea came rather unexpectedly. A few months ago, I (Vytis) wanted to learn a bit of coding/programming (I did not have any programming/coding experience up to date). Since everything is internet driven nowadays, I started searching for some online courses which could help me get started. However, after spending a lot of time searching the net for suitable courses or seminars, I encountered a series of problems: While I did find some companies offering courses, they were either a) REALLY expensive b) did not have enought details about the course/Instructor/methodology etc. Or c) the courses were low quality and not made professionaly to be worth the time or the money. Then it actually hit me, that online learning might not be utilised to its potential. After more research in other areas, it became obvious that there is a problem in the market that needs to be solved. From our research I started brainstorming and after some time, the VidiGet idea was born.
What problem does VidiGet solve?
There are two problems that VidiGet solves:
Our platform solves the Instuctors problems. Before, in order for some greatly talanted Instructor to start teaching online it would require him/her to invest quite a bit of cash to make some sort of website, a company, start building a community and basically run this as a normal business. But we all know that it takes a lot of time, effort, money and even some knowledge of coding. All of these things are not easily achieved, and from our research we have found that a lot of Instructors were taken back from any such ideas because it was too difficult for them to start. Therefore, with VidiGet platform we are making this whole process WAY easier, more efficient and in fact, potentially, really profitable for them.
At the same time, VidiGet solves problems for users who want to learn online. Our platform lets them purchase quality/affordable courses from Instructors all other the world with just a few clicks. At the same time, we provide a lot of usefull tools to make the learning process more social, fun and usefull for our Users. They can use rankings, read other user‘s reviews, ask questions and communicate with their Instructors about the courses they are taking. All in all, we believe that finally online learning can become a concentrated, community effort, where everyone can provide something usefull for others.
What‘s your secret sauce?
Good question! I believe that our secret ingredient is our approach – the fact that we created this platform from our User/Instructor perspective. We came up with the idea of VidiGet when we saw the User problems ourselves. Hence we tried to look at it from their eyes and see the problems that are actually there for them. Same can be said about the Instructors – we have done a lot of reasearch in order to find what are the problems that Instructors have in this area, and tried to solve them as efficiently as possible.
What‘s one dilemma you‘ve encountered in startup process?
Well, probably just as any other startup, we have had way more dilemmas than one :) However, to mention the one which stands out, it would probably have to be the Launching process. We have had many discussions as to when we should launch, and it has always been the biggest dillema for our team. While we all want to get VidiGet out there as soon as possible, we also want to make sure that we launch as smoothly as we can. Obviously, in startups that rarely happens, however, we decided to launch in September, when we can all be sure that the product is fully functional and the process can take off with little or no hickups.
What’s one challenge you’ve overcome in the startup process?
Same as with Dilemmas, we have had quite a few in the process, however, the biggest one would have to be from me as a Business oriented co-founder. When I came up with VidiGet idea, I knew that I could not make it happen without a technical co-founder. I had no knowledge in that regard, and it became the biggest problem for me. It was really slowing me down. However, when i finally decided to not let my hands down, and started doing everything i can to take VidiGet of the ground, I was very fortunate to find Ausrys. I pitched the idea, he loved it, and a few meetings in, we have decided that we will be co-founders. So now, looking back I would have done this earlier and save a lot of time and nerves from my part. This challenge definately made me realise that in Startups the faster you move, the faster you can make the right decisions – the better.
What’s the first thing you would do for Vidiget with a one million dollar investment?
What an owesome question! The first thing would actually have to be split into 2 things which are equally important:
Add a few brilliant professionals to our team
Increase our Server capabilities to make VidiGet even more owesome for our users
What’s next for Vidiget?
A few things: We are launching in September, so we will continue to polish our platform. We already have a few crazy/great tools lined up to be added after the launch, aswell. At the same time, we will be working our socks-off to increase our influence in the web. Finally, we will be doing everything we can to raise some money to take it to the next level, as up to this moment, we have been in full Bootstraping mode.
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