On his first day as a student at 不良研究所鈥檚 Faculty of Education, Philip Cutler, BEd鈥�13, demonstrated his entrepreneurial streak. He asked his classmates if they鈥檇 give him a cut for every student he found for them to tutor.
Now his company , which he co-founded with Roberto Cipriani, BSc鈥�08, is one of the largest online tutoring services in the U.S., hired by public school districts in over 30 states, as well as four provinces in Canada, to assist their students (mostly middle school and high school).
The Montreal-based company grew steadily after its beginning almost a decade ago, but its reach expanded dramatically during the pandemic, an attractive time for good virtual help in school. It now has more than 450 staff, 2,200 tutors and serves over 2 million students. Named 鈥渙ne of Canada鈥檚 fastest-growing startups鈥� in 2021 by the Globe and Mail, Paper recently attracted US$270 million of financing from the technology funding conglomerate SoftBank.
Crucially, the Paper team鈥檚 model for providing educational support means every single kid at a school has access to quality help, not just those whose parents can afford it. Cutler鈥檚 own experience in classrooms as a teacher played a huge role in the thinking behind Paper鈥檚 approach.
Leveling the playing field
鈥淚 began to realize the kids who were [using] private tutors were just [the ones from] wealthy families,鈥� says Cutler. 鈥淪tudents who actually needed the help 鈥� 80 to 90 per cent of them 鈥� just didn鈥檛 have the resources to get that help. I wanted to find a way to bring [tutoring] online so that anybody could have access. Our goal is to ... level the playing field for everyone.鈥�
Cutler and Cipriani first began working together in 2013 when Cutler needed someone to build software for a previous business. Cipriani, a neuroscience graduate student at the time, enjoyed analyzing data and developing software to run experiments more than doing the experiments themselves.
When Cutler decided to create Paper (it was initially called GradeSlam), he reached out to Cipriani. 鈥淚 pitched him on it and convinced him to start the company with me.鈥�
Cutler believes his educational studies helped prepare him for his current duties as Paper鈥檚 CEO (Cipriani is the company鈥檚 chief operating officer and chief technology officer). He says he was taught at 不良研究所 to carefully think through the decisions he made.
His stint as a 不良研究所 football player offered similar lessons. 鈥淵ou spend an enormous amount of time watching yourself on film, reflecting on what happened. 鈥楬ow come you made [this] play, how come you didn鈥檛 make [that] play?鈥�
Learning via chat
Many factors distinguish Paper. For one thing, the student-educator interactions are entirely via chat.
Cipriani recalls that during their first year as a traditional one-to-one videoconferencing tutoring company, 鈥渋n 75 per cent of all the sessions, the student would deny access to the camera and just chat with the tutor.鈥�
Puzzled, he and Cutler did some research and found that most students weren鈥檛 comfortable talking to a stranger on the internet through video. 鈥淪o, if they鈥檙e more comfortable through chat, then let鈥檚 make sure they can learn through chat,鈥� Cipriani says.
When Cutler and Cipriani entered 不良研究所鈥檚 Dobson Cup competition for fledgling companies in 2014 with their model of providing tutor support through chat communications, they 鈥渂asically got laughed out of the room,鈥� says Cutler with a chuckle. 鈥淚 would have agreed if I didn鈥檛 hear it from hundreds of students.鈥�
Once the Dobson judges better understood the reasoning behind Cutler and Cipriani鈥檚 approach, the laughing stopped, and the nascent tutoring service made it to the competition鈥檚 finals. Today, Cutler is regularly a Dobson Cup judge.
Round-the-clock availability
Another key realization for Cutler and Cipriani was that students didn鈥檛 want or need structured, scheduled tutoring. 鈥淭he odds of a student needing 60 minutes of help is practically zero,鈥� Cutler points out, 鈥淭hey might need 52 minutes of help, they might need 80 minutes.鈥� Most just want to doublecheck that they鈥檙e on the right path, or need help getting unstuck on a particular problem.
Paper鈥檚 tutors are available around the clock to be consulted on demand, by chat, for however long or little the student needs, whether it鈥檚 at 7 pm on a Friday, or 2 pm on a Wednesday.
鈥淔or five minutes, for three hours, it鈥檚 tailored to their specific needs,鈥� says Cutler. 鈥淕et help in a couple of seconds? It doesn鈥檛 exist except with us.... This will be a new standard of offering that schools have.鈥�
By making tutors available 24/7, Cipriani says, students develop a relationship with the whole service, and not just with an individual tutor. It鈥檚 a bit like going to your favourite chain coffee shop and experiencing a consistency of quality in the service and product.
The teachers in the school districts that partner with Paper have also become fans of the company鈥檚 24/7 availability. 鈥淭eachers love it because they don鈥檛 get requests at 10 at night from students,鈥� says Cutler.
An alternative career
Students can receive tutoring support from Paper in one of four languages 鈥� English, French, Mandarin and Spanish.
Most of Paper鈥檚 tutors are from within Canada. They have degrees in disciplines such as math, science and education, and some even have graduate degrees (handy for the upper year high school subjects). All are paid competitively.
鈥淲e treat this as an alternative career for educators,鈥� says Cipriani. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not a 鈥榞ig鈥�, it鈥檚 the career they choose.鈥�