Founder of the Russian startup Linguatrip: about transferring business to the USA and participation in the 500 Startups program

In the process of selecting a foreign language school abroad and housing for the duration of her studies, Marina Moghilko faced problems that she simply did not have the time and money to solve. So there was an idea for a new project. Linguatrip is designed as a booking.com for language schools and Airbnb for local host families and student residences.

In her 25 years, Marina is on the list of 16 female entrepreneurs who are changing the global world of technology, and Linguatrip has recently been selected for the international accelerator 500 Startups.

"Megamind" cites the most interesting quotes from her interview with Slon.
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About the idea of ​​creating a project

In 2010, I searched the Internet for a platform where I could book a course in a language school without intermediaries, and I did not find it. I then needed to pull up German in a couple of weeks, but there was not so much money. I applied to several agencies, but I realized that through them I would go much more expensive than if I found the appropriate option myself. The idea of ​​Booking.com for language schools was pretty obvious. Before us in Russia there was not a single site where everything could be booked online. And we have everything automatically and directly.

On the launch and development of the project in Russia

We have always developed with our own money: from the first day, one might say, we went into profit and sent it all to the business. From the check of the first client we made a website, from the check of the second - we completed it, from the check of the third - we started saving money for the office. Everything is unwound. But then we realized that without external financing it would be very difficult to develop outside of Russia. So we began to join the venture community in St. Petersburg.

First, we launched an offline agency. They invested at the start, probably no more than $ 300 (for company registration). By 2014, we reached a turnover of $ 1.5 million and in the autumn of 2014, we realized that we had to switch completely to online. Worldwide there is no global Booking.com for language programs, there are only local players in European countries. We decided to become one, and in early 2015 we released a new service, which was called Linguatrip.

How the project got to 500 Startups

And then John Ramey, a well-known entrepreneur who made several successful American startups in the field of online advertising and was on the Forbes young entrepreneurs list, came to Peter. I managed to talk with him literally 20 minutes, he really liked our idea, but he had time to spare.

The next day we met again. Then I phoned with another mentor, Purnima Vijayashanker, who now oversees our project. I called on Friday evening, knowing that the registration has already been completed. But Purnima just said: yes, everything is fine, let's tell us what revenue you have, we'll see. After this five-minute interview in a few more days, she approved our project with Kristina Tsai, another program director.

On the principle of the project

On our site, two hundred accredited schools, a host family base and student residences have already published information about themselves. The user drives in a language that he wants to learn, a country for a trip, a timeline - and, having compared offers, can book a suitable course with a few clicks. You can compare options for prices, intensity of training, age of students in school and so on.

We stayed true to our original idea: to give students an opportunity to save well, so we don’t take any fees from buyers of language schools. When booking through us, compared to an offline agency, a person saves 15-20 thousand rubles (usually this is a collection of agencies for the selection of a program). Often we get special offers from schools that cannot be obtained from them directly, and then save another 15–20% of the course price.

About monetization

We take a commission from the providers of language courses, and from those who provide accommodation. Commission 15-40%, with all we agree differently. Over the past six months, in terms of turnover, we are growing by 50% monthly, without investing in advertising at all.
Now we have an average check of $ 1.5 thousand (for the course and accommodation for 2-3 weeks), apparently, people are ready to part with this money as with investments in training.

On the transfer of business in the United States

Almost the whole team moved to Mountain View, California, only one girl stayed in St. Petersburg. We received $ 100 thousand from 500 Startups for a share in the business. For me it was more like moving to the next street. It was surprisingly easy to register a company. We didn’t even have to go to the bank to open a current account, we did everything by phone.

The one-story American village of Mountain View is more expensive than the Cote d'Azur. One-bedroom apartment costs us almost $ 2.5 thousand without a communal flat. Apart from the basic living expenses, you need to register a company in the United States. No one recommends doing it on their own - then it's more expensive to correct mistakes. We gave $ 2.5 thousand for registration in Delaware. Just to move our startup of three people in the Valley before the tranche must have at least $ 20 thousand.

About the requirements for the speed of development of projects in 500 Startups

They start demanding more as the day of the final pitches approaches investors. But it all depends on the mentor who works with a startup. We, for example, are simply told: the main thing is what they will look at so that the revenue graph goes up. We set ourselves a goal to reach an annual turnover of $ 1 million by the end of 2015.

Many startups that come to the accelerator think that all their problems will be solved here. But this will not happen, nobody handles the projects here. In 500 Startups they pack a business in a cool way, they are preparing a startup to attract investments.

The benefits of accelerators

Especially accelerators are needed if you bring a startup to new markets. When we sat in St. Petersburg, in principle, we imagined how to scale, but still could not decide on this. A ticket to 500 Startups, of course, was a shot of a starting pistol. Mentors here help us with expertise on new markets. And the fact that so many things — seemingly small ones — are easier to do from here than from the Russian office is a huge plus. In addition, of course, an American company is perceived better than a Russian startup - simply because you work from the center of the technological world, and not from a Russian city. In general, participation in the accelerator is a good kick in the ass, which forces us not to cut the product for three years, but to be more collected, make decisions and run faster.