Assessing online education in a post-COVID world
Caribu Co-founder and CEO, Maxene Tuchman joined Yahoo Finance Live to break down how online and remote education will change in a post-Coivd world.
Video transcript
ADAM SHAPIRO: Seana, we're going to turn our attention right now to a small business that's making some big headlines, Caribu Video Calling. Maxeme Tuchman is Caribu co-founder and CEO. She joins us now to talk about how this kind of video calling takes grandparents, even parents and kids, to the next level. So welcome to the stream. Tell us what's different, especially for a grandparent and a grandchild interacting through your platform than, say, a Zoom or a Google Meet.
MAXEME TUCHMAN: Yeah, so last March, I think adults realized that there's a ton of different ways for them to have video calls and recreate the video-- the conference room experience, the back and forth between adults. But with children, a video call without content, without playing, is extremely boring. You get about three questions with a five-year-old before they run out the room. And they're like, how is school? Have you eaten anything? Are you still fighting with Jackie? And the kid's, like, out.
So what Caribu does is we have an in-app library, thousands of books in 10 different languages, games that you can play, term-based memory games, puzzles, coloring sheets you can literally draw together in a video call, which allows you to not just have face time, but to really have playtime.
SEANA SMITH: You know, I think that this is such a great idea. I have a young son. And I think that this is something he would absolutely love. He would get more face time with his grandparents and his aunts and uncles, who he doesn't get to see all the time. When you talk about going back to last March and people realizing that there's so many different ways to communicate with their loved ones, what has the pandemic done for your business?
MAXEME TUCHMAN: It was truly incredible. I mean, I think the first priority for families was to stay safe, but their number two priority was to stay sane. And so, on March 14, 2020, Caribu 10X-ed across all metrics in 24 hours because we really were the only option out there for young kids to have better, engaging, entertaining, and educational video calls with their family. We actually were named one of Apple's 15 best apps of 2020 because of how we helped families really stay connected in a much, much better way during the pandemic.
ADAM SHAPIRO: I've watched countless adults have difficulty sharing documents and different things, whether it be Zoom or Google Meets. There's greater opportunity with your device or platform than just kids, parents, and grandparents. And are you going to move in that direction?
MAXEME TUCHMAN: We're really focused on the market that we have right now. We really created a category. And we've got an incredible group of families, hundreds of thousands of families across the globe, literally in over 200 countries and territories, that are using Caribu. So we really want to focus on them. But yeah, I mean, the world is our oyster if you think about language learning and tutoring. And like you said, even adults trying to get documents kind of moderated in between in a real live video call. There's thankfully a lot of opportunity for where we're going.
SEANA SMITH: And you have such an interesting background, too. I was reading about it. You were appointed by President Obama to serve as a senior policy advisor and White House fellow at the Treasury Department. Prior to that, you worked for Teach for America. How did those experiences, do you think, helped shape you become a successful entrepreneur?
MAXEME TUCHMAN: I mean, as an entrepreneur, you are just, every day is a different business. You need a different skill set. You have to learn on the job. You have to kind of be an expert in all things. And my career has allowed me to really be a strong generalist. And I think as a founder, every day, no matter what problem gets thrown at me, I can either solve it myself. I can find the right person to help me solve it. Or I can kind of create something out of nothing, which I think a career like mine that's been in politics, in the public sector and the private sector, through a nonprofit, through all of the different ways that I've tried to build that skill set has allowed me, I think, to roll with the punches.
ADAM SHAPIRO: Maxime, or as your friends call you, Max Tuchman, is the CEO and co-founder of Caribu. Thank you for joining us here. And we wish you all the best at Caribu Video Calling.
