How this Hong Kong startup is helping students solve homework woes

Snapask takes key components of social media services and brings them into the world of academic tutoring, reports Tech in Asia

There are few people in this world under more stress than an East Asian high school student. From Singapore to Shanghai – and quite a few places in between – being fifteen means a life of sleep, study, repeat.

One Hong Kong startup has taken a unique approach to helping the region’s test-tortured teens – and it got its inspiration from social media.

Snapask takes some key components of social media services and brings them into the world of academic tutoring. The company’s app is like Facebook Messenger or Line – if all of your friends were experts, ready to help you with any homework problems you might face.

Designed primarily for homework help, Snapask allows users to snap a picture of any problem that’s giving them difficulty, and ask for help from someone with expertise in the proper field. A qualified tutor then responds with both the answer and an explanation – not just solving the problem, but helping the user understand how to solve similar problems in the future.

The idea for Snapask came when co-founder Timothy Yu launched a brick-and-mortar tutoring operation in Hong Kong. His company was met with huge challenges – business growth was slow, and Hong Kong’s astronomical rent prices were eating through his profits.

Like many an internet entrepreneur before him, it occurred to Timothy that his business could find a happier home online – so he joined with former Hong Kong University classmates Bradley Chiang and Phoebe Hung to bring his tutoring program into the digital age.

The company is currently getting 1,500 new registered users each day.

This is an excerpt from Tech in Asia. You can read the full article here.