Building a business is always personal. The most successful start-ups tend to be built on purpose and almost always mirror the ideals of its founders. When Andrew Geant and Michael Weishuhn dreamed of building a marketplace for tutors – Wyzant – they started with the premise that although tutoring was here to stay, great tutors were especially difficult to find. Further, they understood that modern society has influenced parents to act with greater caution when inviting strangers around their kids. So they did what most successful entrepreneurs do, LISTEN. They certainly had the proverbial big idea, but their early success was anchored by their decision to stay local. They quickly built a prototype and in 2005, they started experimenting with home base – the Washington DC area. It was a two-man show for almost three years, with Mike handling everything web and programming related and Andrew juggling everything else. What they didn’t know, they learned along the way and their greatest lessons emerged from the feedback they received from customers. Today, they have over 60,000 tutors, 42 employees and are one of the most respected educational portals on the web. What’s most impressive to me, is their decision to stay private and not accept any outside capital. In my conversation with Andrew, he shares their business building philosophy…
