June 8th, 2009 by Dave
Yours truly got some local Seattle tv-air time today in a fun “iPhone vs. Blackberry” showdown, co-starring with one of our good friends Todd “Startup Advisor” Sawicki. As you’d expect, the iPhone won handily 
Todd Sawicki and Dave Schappell duel their phones
Do you have technology questions that you’d like answered? If so, find a local technology teacher!
June 2nd, 2009 by Dave
SMX is in Seattle this week, bringing in web celebs like New York’s Allen Stern, of Center Networks — he stopped by TeachStreet World Headquarters today and shot a quick video (here’s the TeachStreet blog post on Center Networks) — normally, I’m uncomfortable watching these, but I really enjoyed this one — I’m looking forward to drinks at Paddy Coyne’s in a few hours, to learn more about Allen’s projects!
We’d be remiss if we didn’t ask Allen what he’s learning… his answer, “German Classes in New York”
May 31st, 2009 by Dave
TeachStreet wins Seattle WTIA Fast Pitch Forum 2009
Suffice it to say that last week was a really good one for the TeachStreet team — not only did we announce our TeachStreet expansion to Chicago and our recent funding (on top of our New York City Teacher and Classes expansion a few weeks ago!), but we also participated in the WTIA Fast Pitch Forum in Seattle with 22 other great Seattle startups — and, attendees voted us TeachStreet of the 3 ‘Best in Show’ Seattle startup companies!
Humbling to be sure, because there were some awesome companies (Redfin, Swype, Socrata, RealityGap, and more — really, I feel guilty leaving them all out!)
Here was some follow-on news coverage from the event:
AdReady, Swype, TeachStreet Win WTIA Awards by Greg Huang (xConomy)
Startups and Silver Linings: Insights from a WTIA Forum Panelist by Patrick Ennis (xConomy)
TeachStreet named one of 3 Best in Show at 2009 Fast Pitch Forum in Seattle
May 29th, 2009 by Dave
Wow — when it rains, it pours! We had a bunch of press coverage in the last 2 days, surrounding our Chicago teacher and classes launch, not to mention our $1.2 million TeachStreet funding announcement! Rather than post a bunch of blog entries, I thought I’d consolidate many of them here. Thanks to all of the folks who covered our announcements — every little bit helps!
TeachStreet Raises $1.2 Million In Second Round; Premium Services On The Way by Joseph Tartakoff (PaidContent)
TeachStreet Gets Funding, Expands Cities by Greg Sterling (Screenwerk)
TeachStreet Adds $1.2 Million by PEHub
Bouncing back from a layoff, TeachStreet lands $1.2 million by John Cook (TechFlash)
TeachStreet raises $1.2 Million, expands its reach to six cities by Sardar Mohkim Khan (StartupMeme)
May 27th, 2009 by Dave
SEATTLE, WA — May 27, 2009 – TeachStreet (http://www.teachstreet.com), the first website dedicated to helping local teachers and students connect with one another at the neighborhood level, was proud to be selected as a presenter for today’s 2009 Fast Pitch Forum and Technology Showcase, hosted by the Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA) (http://www.washingtontechnology.org). At the event, TeachStreet announced that it expanded to Chicago, its sixth market, bringing combined site selection to more than 140,000 classes and teachers (including thousands of Chicago teachers and classes!). In addition, they announced an additional $1.2 million round of financing from existing investors and management team.
“Washington is home to some of the fastest growing and most innovative technology companies in the world, but until now we have not had a start-up technology showcase event to match those in the Silicon Valley or New York,” said Ken Myer, president and CEO of the WTIA. “This year, with the new format and new name, our Fast Pitch Forum and Technology Showcase will serve as the premier event for local rising stars.”
“We’re not only thrilled to announce our recent expansion to the Chicago area at today’s Fast Pitch Forum and Technology Showcase, but also expect to add teachers and classes in my hometown of Philadelphia, in coming weeks,” said Dave Schappell, founder and CEO of TeachStreet. “The additional funding will provide us the resources to add to our customer solutions, and continue our market penetration.”
TeachStreet offers teachers and schools of all sizes a one-stop solution to list and promote their classes, events and articles (including San Francisco-area piano and guitar classes) – promotional exposure is not limited to TeachStreet, but extends to popular online services such as Craigslist, Facebook, MySpace, and more. All TeachStreet services are currently free, but Schappell hints that premium services are imminent, “In our January 2009 Survey, teachers told us that they love the promotional services we’ve built to support their businesses, but that they wanted more tools like payments. We know that we’ve driven more than 150,000 interested leads their way, so we’re excited to soon provide them premium performance-based tools to more effectively grow and manage their businesses.”
The event will feature presentations from 23 of Washington state’s most interesting and promising companies. Attendees will hear presentations from our region’s leading entrepreneurs and watch as the next generation of Northwest start-ups gets direct input from leading VCs and angel investors about market strategy, business plans and products. Tim Draper, founder and managing director of Silicon Valley’s leading VC firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson, will keynote the event. More information about the Fast Pitch Forum and Technology Showcase is available on the WTIA’s Web site: http://www.washingtontechnology.org.
About the Washington Technology Industry Association
The Washington Technology Industry Association, founded in 1984, is the largest statewide association of technology companies, IT departments and individual technology professionals in North America. With more than 1,000 member companies representing more than 100,000 employees in Washington State, the association is a catalyst for sharing expertise, fostering collaboration, delivering key business services and advancing the value and global impact of technology companies doing business in Washington. The association’s global partners are Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, Microsoft, Regence BlueShield, Sun Microsystems, Vertafore and Wells Fargo Insurance Services. The association’s funding partners are AH&T Insurance, F5 Networks, Moss Adams and RealNetworks. For more information, go to www.washingtontechnology.org.
About TeachStreet
Founded in June 2007, TeachStreet is dedicated to helping students find great local teachers, and empowering teachers with robust online tools to manage their teaching businesses. Featuring more than 140,000 classes and instructors in Seattle, Portland, the Bay Area, Denver, New York (New York Spanish and Yoga classes), and Chicago, the free site provides the information that students need to make informed decisions about their learning experiences, including student reviews, teacher recommendations, pricing information, location, teacher training, and more. TeachStreet is headquartered in Seattle, WA and backed by Madrona Venture Group. For more information, visit www.TeachStreet.com.
Press Contact:
Dave Schappell, TeachStreet, 206-330-9257, dave@teachstreet.com
May 22nd, 2009 by Natala
Hello Chicago!
Late last night we launched TeachStreet Chicago — our first mid-west city. Residents of the Windy CIty can now access almost 10,000 instructors, classes and events in their local area. Offerings range from Furry Dogmother’s dog training classes in Homewood, IL to Lasky Martial Arts & Yoga in Chicago, IL.
We are super excited to welcome thousands of new awesome Teachers to the TeachStreet family.
April 14th, 2009 by sam
SEATTLE, WA – April 13, 2009 – TeachStreet (http://www.teachstreet.com), the website that has connected thousands of local students with local instructors in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and Denver, has just expanded to New York.
New York residents can now learn how to do just about anything they want in Manhattan, or anywhere the transit system will take them. They’re now just one click away from discovering more than 17,000 local coaches, experts, classes, and instructors on TeachStreet. Whether one wants to learn Spanish, ashtanga yoga, French cooking, or acoustic guitar, TeachStreet offers classes, instructors, and articles across more than 500 subject areas.
Aspring yogis and guitarists alike can search for classes across hundreds of categories and select results according to geographic location, real student reviews, instructor availability, cost, and more. As New York resident Aaron Wald said, “I have quickly become a raving fan of TeachStreet. The breadth and depth of their offerings are amazing. In a matter of minutes I was able to connect with both a dog trainer and a golf coach!”
TeachStreet also provides a simple yet powerful way for teachers and instructors to market their businesses online. Thousands of teachers, including dozens of New York yoga instructors have already begun using TeachStreet as a way to grow their businesses. They’ve set up profiles and are now getting more students by ranking on Google, posting HTML styled ads on Craigslist, and being featured throughout TeachStreet. With the launch of their fifth US market, TeachStreet has become the premiere destination for New York residents to find local experts.
About TeachStreet
Founded in June 2007, TeachStreet is dedicated to helping students find great local teachers, and empowering teachers with robust online tools to manage their teaching businesses. Featuring more than 100,000 classes and instructors in Seattle, Portland, the Bay Area, Denver, and New York, the free site provides the information that students need to make informed decisions about their learning experiences, including student reviews, teacher recommendations, pricing information, location, teacher training, and more. TeachStreet is headquartered in Seattle, WA and backed by Madrona Venture Group. For more information, visit www.TeachStreet.com.
Contact:
Sam Niccolls | TeachStreet
Cell: (303) 249-3900
Email: sam@teachstreet.com
April 14th, 2009 by Natala
We made a few enhancements to TeachStreet tonight that I wanted to share with you. Our goal with this release was to “Go Social” – by building new ways for our community to connect. We hope you enjoy the new features. If you find a bug, have feedback or need help, send us a shout at help@teachstreet.com
NEW Features:
Widgets – Add a TeachStreet widget to your website or blog and help your readers learn something new. We developed five widget types – so that at least one will be perfect for you:
Installing a widget is easy – just copy & paste the HTML code into your website or blog template.
Facebook Connect – you can now login to TeachStreet with your Facebook credentials. If you are a current user, first login to TeachStreet and then link your TeachStreet account with Facebook. New users can choose to login with Facebook right away.
We’ve also made some improvements to current features of the site:
Photos: Our newest engineer, Phil, has been working overtime to build a feature that many of you will love: photo cropping! You can now edit your primary profile image or class image. Just go to the photos tab and select your primary photo! We’ve also added the ability to pick from other pictures you’ve uploaded when selecting photos for classes.
Search: Our engineers went algorithmic on us and revamped our search infrastructure. This means it will be faster! They have also made improvements to our location search, related subjects and the recommendations for how to improve your search query. We also made modifications to our Featured Teacher placement so that more awesome teachers will show up!
Reviews: We expanded our review form so that reviewers can provide more detail on their experience with a teacher or class. We definitely want your feedback on these changes!
Help content: We’ve made significant changes to our help section by adding “how to” guides for popular areas of the site. Check out the guides on everything from managing photos, to writing articles to how to rank in TeachStreet search results.
We hope you enjoy the changes to the site – if you have any questions or feedback, e-mail us at help@teachstreet.com – we’d love to hear from you!
March 25th, 2009 by sam
March 25th, 2009 — New York, NY — Business and finance news source “The Deal” recently sat down with TeachStreet’s Founder and CEO, Dave Schappell, who was in Manhattan for the “Hacking Education Conference” put on by Union Square Ventures. In Mary Kathleen Flynn’s interview of Schappell, they discussed the current state of education (both k-12 and lifelong), the impact the web will have on learning, and the increasing number of teachers who are growing and managing their businesses online.
From lifelong learning sites, such as TeachStreet, to video learning sites, such as EduFire, the web has seen an emergence of websites that are fundamentally changing the way people learn. And with the emergence of more online platforms from which teachers can grow their businesses, we’re sure to see increasing growth in online learning. As Schappell put it, “there are many in the industry seeking to transform the face of education.”
For a deeper look into the Hacking Education Conference see the video of Mary Flynn Boyle’s discussion with Fred Wilson, Brad Burnham and Albert Wenger.
March 11th, 2009 by sam
From Rodeo drive to Wall Street just about every car maker, retailer, restaurant owner, and taxi cab driver has been affected by the economy. But there’s one thing people can always do no matter how far the NASDAQ dips: learn.
Whether that means learning how to make jewelry or getting into downward dog, Americans have not lost their thirst for knowledge amidst the greatest economic downturn since the great depression.
Seattle Times Article (click here)
And just as lifelong learners are still learning, instructors are still teaching. In his recent article, Brier Dudley, of the Seattle Times, talks about how TeachStreet is providing a type of web 2.0 stimulus to local instructors who are looking to make a few bucks sharing their skills.
Also, in a related article on TechFlash, Tom Seery highlights TeachStreet as a web 2.0 site that is sure to thrive in the economic downturn.
