Mark Begert
by Joe · 46 things on Twos
- CEO and Co-Founder of Fabulingua with his wife, Leslie
- Played football at Harvard (go crimson)
- Started a wireless technology company in Shanghai (Linkstone)
- Fabulingua
- Fabulingua helps accelerate second language learning through a unique blend of technology, storytelling, and gamification.
- Fabulingua is devoted to providing a revolutionary way for kids to learn a second language.
- Leslie was raised in Barcelona
- Wealth Actually Podcast w/ Frazer Rice
- Fabulingua chops up the veggies real small and makes them easier to digest
- Kids do not need to be readers to use Fabulingua
- Confidence with the language made the indoctrination much easier for his kids to learn faster
- A bigger market will be teaching English to Spanish speakers
- Wants to expand to China as well
- Started at the end of 2017
- Started with customer development research
- Sat with 40 different families
- Who is the customer?
- What is their pain point?
- What are they looking for?
- What is the opportunity?
- Raised a pre-seed angel round of just under $1M ($750k)
- Hired a team of developers, marketers, and designers
- Subscription based
- Targeting families
- Mark runs the business and the administration while leslie works on the product and the vision
- They use marketers for brand design and marketing
- They use texting to keep their schedules aligned
- Why not share lists?
- They've been testing the product all along
- They have honed in on how to make it intuitive
- Seed 5-6 marketing channels and look for the low cost customer acquisition and then 'turn on the gas'
- Not yet available on the web
- Leslie was diagnosed with cancer two years ago and does a lot of meditating
- Family is sporty
- Likes to go to Barton Springs and swim
- Potential questions to ask Mark
- What advice do you have to give to a first time entrepreneur about persistence, using your time wisely, and being confident that what you're doing is right?
- What are your best suggestions for reaching out to investors, accelerators, or customers first?
- Did you find your experience in finance beneficial to your funding outreach?
- Did you find working with companies that test your product worth the investment?
- How important is establishing our revenue generation model?
- Is there anything we can learn from Fabulingua as it pertains to making the app the most intuitive it can be since it's primary users are children?
- How did you identify your 5-6 marketing channels to test product market fit?
- What was useful when raising money?
- Initial Meeting with Mark Begert