專訪Jeff Novich: 來自紐約的創業家 – VocabSushi英文詞彙學習網站

在觀察歐陸網路發展的同時, 我還是沒有忘記我的最愛: 線上語言學習的相關應用. 再次感謝VocabSushi的Jeff Novich花了他寶貴的時間和我來回通信 (他在紐約, 我在慕尼黑), 完成了這次的訪問.

Jeff Novich是來自紐約的網路創業家, 2009年建立了英文單詞學習網站VocabSushi, 讓想學習, 增進本身英文詞彙量的朋友可以利用閱讀線上新聞的方式來練習 (SAT, GRE等等) . Jeff讀Computer Science出身的, 又擁有紐約哥倫比亞大學的新聞傳播碩士學位, 所以他除了分享在紐約創業的經驗外, 我也問了他一些對於媒體以及創業家和媒體之間的觀點.

以下是訪談內容, 底下是英文原文.  另外一個關於學英語的部落格Oriibu橄欖誌, 也有對VocabSushi的產品稍作介紹.

Ewan: 在其他的訪問中你提到網站會命名為VocabSushi有兩個原因. 第一你喜歡吃壽司. 另外你結合了產品標語 “Bitesize learning”. 你可以描述一下其中的關鍵字“Bitesize”在此真正的意思為何?

Jeff: “Bitesize”這個詞彙的意思是「某些東西的特徵是小型或是簡短的, 讓大家能夠輕易上手、掌握」.我想要讓大家用這種方式學習詞彙. 我們都知道詞彙學習最有效的方式是透過大量閱讀, 不管是書籍, 雜誌, 報紙及文章等等. 可是我們不是一直都有時間靠閱讀吸收詞彙. VocabSushi替你從文章的句子中收集你想學習的辭彙. 因此你在閱讀報章雜誌時, 就不用再一直查詢有趣的新詞彙, 影響閱讀的流暢度. VocabSushi幫你整理出文中的句子, 讓你能輕易地掌握, 給你一種「可口」的體驗.

Ewan: 線上學習是一個龐大的市場. 市面上的競爭者數量眾多, 無論是來是美國本土或是全球各地. 哪一個是VocabSushi最特殊的功能, 能和其他的競爭產品作區隔?

Jeff: 線上學習的市場的確是相當可觀. 我自己也觀察到了市面上一些由網路新創公司以及知名品牌所提供的很有趣的服務. 但是在詞彙學習這一塊, 目前還沒有像VocabSushi一樣替學習者整理新聞句子, 然後將文章內容和問題測驗以及遊戲整合在一起的服務. 比如說仿間就有許多考試準備的書籍, 但是裡面的句子有限, 而且不會更新, 所以內容上很容易過時. VocabSushi引用了600多份新聞來源, 擷取了50多萬個文句, 而且每天更新至少3000個新句子. 你可以一直接觸新鮮有趣的文章, 這也是主要讓VocabSushi保持其對使用者有吸引力的因素.

Ewan: 從創業至今, 有遇到哪些困難嗎?

Jeff: 在執行科技領域的創業遇到最大的問題是, 你很可能在消費者的需求上會

考慮過頭. 結果是你會花很多時間和金錢在思考以及開發你自己覺得會是很驚艷且必要的服務功能. 當網站建構完成, 使用者也用了其功能後, 有趣的事在意料中發生了, 你之前深思熟慮覺得絕對有必要的功能卻根本沒有派上用場. VocabSushi就遇到類似的情形; 但是你可以從中體會、學習. 去年網站啟動後, 我緊接著採用使用者給我的反應和回饋, 然後投入新的開發構想, 這是一個很大的加分.

Ewan: 你有考慮過讓VocabSushi接受風險投資或是其他資金注入的方式嗎? 還是會靠自有的資金?

Jeff: VocabSushi目前是靠自己的資金來發展 (Ewan註: bootstrapping指的是一間公司完全不依賴外部資金讓自己成長發展). 我和其他的投資人聊過, 我也許會朝這個方向邁進. 可是最理想的還是先讓產品服務本身以自然的方式成長, 在這個領域上光靠本身的資金的確不容易, 但我喜歡接受挑戰.

Ewan: 你在其他地方提過, VocabSushi將擴充西班牙文的功能. 你有可能將網路事業延伸到亞洲地區嗎? 至少在亞洲, 教育產業, 特別是學習英文領域, 扮演著關鍵的角色?

Jeff: 絕對有可能. 我希望能將VocabSushi重新包裝, 然後明年推進亞洲市場. 我也正和來自香港, 泰國及韓國的相關人士談, 發掘當地市場的潛力. 現在全球各地的人都可以使用VocabSushi, 我們的使用族群也相當的國際化. 但是進入亞洲的英語學習市場需要一些策略性的計畫.

Ewan: 除了替VocabSushi開發iPhone應用程式是你的近期計畫之一. 現在社群的功能也是當今很熱門的話題. 你考慮過將社群的元素融入VocabSushi的應用中嗎?

Jeff: 將社群的元素加進VocabSushi也是一個重要的議題. 我們希望能開發Facebook的應用程式, 還有一些相關的遊戲, 讓使用者可以互動. 這些遊戲可以圍繞在一些比較特別的辭彙, 句子和文章. 未來這方面的發展潛力不小.

Ewan: 哪些因素能讓VocabSushi維持網站的黏度?

Jeff: 坦白一點來看: 大部分的人會覺得VocabSushi不是太有趣. 市面上許多的教育產品或是參考用書更因為無聊的練習及測驗印證了這個事實. 我覺得有3個主要的特點讓VocabSushi能抓住使用者: 壽司的主題, 客製化的體驗, 有趣的句子. 我一開始選擇了壽司和日本的主題概念, 用意是想以這個獨特的概念替使用者創造更多享受及吸引力. 第二, 我們排除一般冗長的詞彙表或是單詞卡功能. 當你成為註冊會員時, 你會收到個人化的單詞群組及測驗問題, 包括你的使用紀錄. 隨著使用頻率的增加, 網站也能更準確地觀察你的學習進度, 比如說你在學哪些詞彙, 哪些詞彙你還未真正掌握. 而這些文句都來自新的時事新聞, 每次登入你都可以發現有趣的東西.

Ewan: 你本身也擁有新聞傳播的學位. VocabSushi也獲得不少媒體的注意. 你可以提供其他的網路創業一些建議, 要如何接近媒體人, 讓他們報導你的產品嗎? (Ewan註: VocabSushi獲得TechCrunch Elevator Pitch的機會, 這裡大家可以學習一下)

Jeff: 我覺得很重要的一點是, 你必須先弄清楚自己想要接觸哪一類的媒體平台. 一些部落格像是TechCrunch, 他們很想報導新產品服務以及有趣的東西, 所以即便是沒有使用者或不是太頂尖的想法, 他們很願意進去你的網站一探究竟, 然後寫成文章報導. 另一種就是傳統的新聞媒體, 他們比較傾向從你的服務中挖出「真正」的故事. 光是告訴他們「我做了一個很酷的網站」還不夠, 你必須能讓他們知道你的產品服務有多酷, 而且已經吸引了多少萬的用戶, 是以多棒的方式在使用你的網站. 然後他們也會用他們的方式寫成故事. 這種方式的文章報導通常內容比較豐富扎實 (VocabSushi還在努力中) , 尤其是這樣的文章能展現產品服務的真正價值, 而不是只有產品功能的介紹. 我現在正和許多使用VocabSushi進階版的學術機構以及教師聯繫, 希望能從他們那獲得一些回響. 比如說, 某一間不是那麼一流的學校, 因為學生運用VocabSushi學習而改善英文詞彙考試的成績. 也許這樣便可能產生一篇受注目的新聞報導. 這是我目前正在努力的.

Ewan: 鑒於你本身擁有新聞傳播的背景, 我想請問你對線上新聞媒體未來發展的觀點為何? 他們如何能解決內容營收的問題呢?

Jeff: 這樣的話題在我收到的校友郵件中被熱烈地討論. 一方面, 有很多很棒的部落格專注在各個特殊領域像是教育、科技、能源、環境等等, 這些部落格的出現讓主要的新聞媒體的必要性降低. 比如說紐約時報科技版的編輯群必須拜讀TechCrunch來獲得最新關於網路創業及科技趨勢的訊息. 我本身也讀很多的科技部落格, 然後會發現主要的新聞媒體關於科技領域的文章都是我之前已經看過的. 可是另一方面來看, 你也必須仰賴具有探究精神的記者們, 針對現狀, 針對政府提出問題, 調查財經數據, 訪問CEO, 並實地登門造訪、尋求資源. 這一方面就比較少部落客在做了. 實際上, 比起以前, 現在越來越少新聞報導是所謂「真正的」故事. 大部分都是「街仿常識」了 (street knowledge), 比如說某一個國家遭受龍捲風襲擊或是發生了暴動. 我們所能讀到真正被深入挖掘並能呈現某種重要程度的新聞故事已經不多了. 不是因為發掘不到這類型的新聞故事, 這類型的故事可能比從前還要再多更多. 今天記者的數量比5年前我從新聞傳播學院畢業時少了一半. 這真的太嚇人了! 現在的新聞媒體的大問題是, 大家都想順應部落格的模式, 追求「快且及時」的新聞, 還有唾手可得的財源 (也就是除了能夠獲得大量的注意外, 還注重龐大的短線獲利及廣告收益), 而相對被犧牲掉的, 就是那些利潤較低, 但是重要性高卻高出很的新聞內容, 這些新聞內容有時需要3至6個月來研究調查, 而且是仰賴經驗豐富的記者群來發掘. 悲哀的是, 現在的新聞發展是以利益 (前者) 為導向, 後者 (也就是探究新聞的精神) 也越來越萎縮了.

Ewan: 紐約市必有本身獨特的創業環境. 哪些是你覺得在紐約創業的優勢以及最吸引你的地方?

Jeff: 我來自紐約市郊, 在曼哈頓住了6年. 我很喜歡這裡, 而且很難想像住到其他的地方 (可能舊金山除外). 對於毫無經驗的新創公司來說, 紐約市提供了龐大的資源. 比如說, 創業團隊間的「相互交流合作」就是一個滿熱門的趨勢, 有一些很棒的地方可以便宜地出租給你做辦公室, 並能和其他科技領域的團隊一起為鄰. 這我還沒有經驗, 可是滿想做的. 在那種地方有一大票的人才及團隊, 對拓展人際關係有幫助, 可以很容易遇到志同道合的人. 如果你要找頂尖的軟體工程師或開發員, 在紐約有一堆. 我也參加為創業圈舉辦的定期聚會NY Tech Meetup, 這個聚會有1萬3千的成員, 而且每個月有800人參加的創業聚會. 我在那裡可以遇到其他紐約市的新創團隊, 彼此交換創業的經歷, 聚會是一個很棒的方式. 我想利用這樣的優勢來接近這些人才, 並且安排和當地創業家的會面. 紐約市也擁有很出色投資人社群, 包括創投和天使投資人.

Ewan: 如果你沒有創立VocabSushi, 你現在在做什麼?

Jeff: 我還是會從事其他方面的創業. 我現在也同時參與幾個新創項目. 比如我們在開發一個讓紐約客共搭計程車的iPhone應用程式, 一個線上SAT課程, 還有一個讓醫生和病患可以互相溝通的軟體. 我還滿忙的!

Ewan: 如果我下次去紐約, 你可以給我介紹幾家好吃的壽司店嗎? (Ewan註: 我對紐約不熟, 這裡完全聽Jeff的)

Jeff: 幾年前在上東區Upper East Side有一家很棒吃到飽的壽司店, 可是現在關了 (可能是我把他們吃倒的). 在東村East Village 有一家叫Cherin, 價格低一點, 而且可以攜帶自己的酒類. 在上西區Upper West Side的Tenzen是我最喜歡的壽司店, 他們提供的雙人特別餐很棒. 也有人推薦Sushi Samba和Blue Ribbon, 可是這兩家的價格滿高的. 在中城midtown有一家滿貴的叫Sushi Yasuda, 我試過, 他們有很棒的新鮮壽司讓你選.

Ewan: You have mentioned in some interviews that the product is named VocabSushi for 2 reasons. First is because you love sushi. The second reason is combined with the keyword “bitesize”. Could you explain what exactly does the vocabulary “bitesize” mean, especially in the context of VocabSushi?

Jeff: The word “Bitesize” means “being or made small or brief especially so as to be easily manageable”.  That’s exactly what I set out to do for vocabulary.  We all know the best way to learn vocab is by reading… a lot.  Books, magazines, newspapers, essays, whatever.  But we don’t always have the time.  VocabSushi delivers just the sentences that contain the vocab words you’re trying to learn.  So you no longer have to stumble upon interesting vocab in the news or books you’re reading.  VocabSushi prepares the sentences for you in a way that is “easily manageable” and delicious!

Ewan: The market for eLearning is huge. And there are undoubtedly a great amount of competitors in the U.S. and from the whole world. What is the most significant feature, which differentiates VocabSushi from other eLearning platforms?

Jeff: The market for eLearning is indeed very large and I’ve tracked quite a few really interesting companies – both startups and established brands – in the space.   When you’re talking about learning English vocabulary, though, there simply is no other product on the market that pulls sentences from the news and generates questions and games with that content.  There may be a ton of test prep books, for example, but the sentence examples and questions are static and limited and get stale quickly.  VocabSushi has more than 500,000 sentences from 600 newspapers and it pulls about 3,000 new sentences every day.  So every time you use VocabSushi, you’ll encounter new and interesting articles, and that’s primarily what keeps the site so engaging.

Ewan: What are the biggest stumbling blocks since starting your own business?

Jeff: The biggest issue with starting a tech business is that you tend to overthink features that your customer wants.  What ends up happening is you spend a lot of time and money thinking of and building all these features that you think will be so amazing and necessary.  When it’s finally built and users are putting the site through its paces, something really interesting inevitably happens.  A whole bunch of those brilliant features you thought were absolutely necessary for version 1.0 aren’t used at all.  That sort of happened with VocabSushi, but you live and learn.  After the launch last year, I immediately started to incorporate user feedback into all new development ideas and that has been a big plus.

Ewan: Has it sprung to you that VocabSushi would receive venture funds or other kinds of investment? Or will it stay self-funded?

Jeff: VocabSushi was self-funded and bootstrapped.  I’ve spoken with some investors and that’s definitely one direction I might go, but ideally the service will grow organically first.  It’s certainly not easy to finance this kind of stuff yourself, but I like challenges.

Ewan: You have said that VocabSushi plans to expand to Spanish version. Do you foresee the possibility launching business in Asia, where education, especially English learning plays a major role?

Jeff: Absolutely.  I hope to get VocabSushi rebranded for the Asia market in the next year.  I’m actually speaking with people in Hong Kong, Thailand, and Korea to explore the potential of those markets.  Of course, VocabSushi is already available worldwide and our user base is global, but entering the English learning market in Asian countries will require some strategic planning.

Ewan: Besides iPhone Application, which you said for VocabSushi will be launched soon. Social networking has also been a hot topic today. Have you thought of integrating social elements into VocabSushi?

Jeff: Making VocabSushi more social is definitely on the agenda.  We are hoping to build a Facebook app as well as expand the games section to allow users to play each other.  We want to introduce gaming components as well as social components to get users engaged around specific vocabulary words, sentences and articles.  I think there is a huge potential for where this can go.

Ewan: What are the key factors for you to make VocabSushi a sticky application?

Jeff: Let’s face it: most people don’t think vocab is too interesting.  Most of the educational products and test prep books out there corroborate this fact with boring exercises and quizzes.  I think VocabSushi has three main features that keep users coming back: the sushi theme, the customized experience, and the interesting sentences.  We set out to make the site visually engaging with a unique theme, and the sushi/Japanese motif I think adds a lot to the enjoyment of the site.  Second, we did away with long generic lists of vocab and flash cards.  When you sign on to the site, you get a personalized set of words and questions and the site tracks everything you do.  The more you use it, the more the site adapts to your skill level – which words are you really learning, which words are you struggling with.  Finally, the sentences are from current news stories, so you’re bound to find interesting stuff every time you log on.

Ewan: You also have a journalism degree and receive a lot of press attention for VocabSushi. What are your tips for Startups to approach journalists for an editorial or press release?

Jeff: I think it’s important to recognize the types of outlets you’re going after.  Some blogs, like TechCrunch, really want to announce new products and interesting stuff, even if there are no users or it’s not even a great idea.  They are much more willing to dive into your site and write a post about it.  On the other hand, more traditional outlets tend to want to see a real “story” in your site.  It’s not enough to say “here’s a cool product I just built,” you have to be able to say “this cool product is being used by x thousand people in some amazing ways, they will tell their stories too.”  Often those types of articles (which VocabSushi hasn’t gotten yet) are more substantial because they demonstrate just how valuable the product is, rather than list out its features.   I’m connecting with many of the schools and teachers using VocabSushi Pro in order to get some feedback.  Perhaps these stories – a struggling school that now is seeing improved vocab scores, for example – would make for a compelling article.  That’s what I’m working on now.

Ewan: With a journalism background, how do you see the future development of online news? How could they sort out the problems with the monetization for their contents?

Jeff: This is a huge topic in my alumni email lists.  On the one hand, you’ve got major news outlets becoming redundant in the face of all these amazing blogs that cover specific beats – education, tech, energy, environment.  For example, the editors of the NY Times Tech section read TechCrunch to stay up to date on tech startups and trends!  I read lots of tech blogs and never find major news outlets to have much extra information I didn’t already read.  On the other hand, however, you absolutely need investigative reporters and journalists questioning the status quo, questioning government and researching financial records, interviewing CEOs and also knocking on doors and calling sources.  These are the stories that few blogs cover, and in fact there are fewer and fewer “real” stories being written these days than ever before.  Most news is “street knowledge” – like that there was a hurricane or riots in some country.  But you don’t get many stories that dig deep and expose something big.  It’s not that there aren’t many of those stories – there are probably more than ever before! – it’s just that we have half as many working journalists than we did just 5 years ago, when I graduated journalism school.  That’s very very scary.  The big issue is how to reconcile the fast and easy money of “now” stories on the blogs (which can pull in lots of eyeballs and ads and have large short term gains) with the less lucrative but much more important investigative stories that require maybe 3 or 6 months of research and seasoned reporters.  Sadly, things are definitely moving towards the former and the latter is getting squeezed out.

Ewan: NYC surely has its specific startup scene. What are to you the most attractive points or advantages to start your own business there?

Jeff: I’m originally from just outside of NYC and I’ve lived in Manhattan for the past 6 years.  I love it here and can’t imagine being anywhere else (except maybe San Francisco).   New York City offers a startup a huge amount of resources for a fledgling company.  For example, “co-working” is a hot trend these days and there are some fantastic places where you can rent a workspace for cheap and work next to other tech people.  I haven’t done that yet, but I want to.  There are tons of people and groups and networking opportunities here, so it’s pretty easy to find like-minded people.  If you’re looking for a top notch programmer or web developer, NYC has loads.  I attend the NY Tech Meetup, a meetup.com group, that has 13,000 members and monthly 800-person events at NYU.  It’s an amazing way to meet other startups in the city and swap stories.  I’m trying to take advantage of the proximity to all this talent, and arrange meetings with founders of local startups.  NYC is also home to a fantastic community of VC firms and angel investors.

Ewan: If you would have not founded VocabSushi, what you would be doing now?

Jeff: I would have founded something else!  I’m actually involved in a few other startups as well, including an iPhone app to help New Yorkers share taxis, an online SAT course, and a patient-doctor communication tool.  I’m pretty busy!

Ewan: Next time when I go to New York, which Sushi restaurant would you recommend to me?

Jeff: A few years ago there was an amazing all you can eat sushi restaurant on the Upper East Side, but it closed down (maybe because I ate too much!).  For a less expensive meal (and bring your own alcohol), check out Cherin in the East Village.  On the Upper West Side, my favorite place is Tenzen, which has a “Tenzen special for two” which is amazing.  People have recommended Sushi Samba and Blue Ribbon, but they are quite expensive.  Finally, Sushi Yasuda in midtown, which I have tried, is pricey but has an incredible selection of fresh fish.