Ukrainian woman created a service used by thousands of schools in the USA: a success story - ForumDaily
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Ukrainian woman created a service that is used by thousands of schools in the USA: a success story

In 2015, a Kharkiv resident Vlada Lotkina, who at that time had been living in the USA for almost 10 years, launched the ClassTag service. Now more than 25 American schools use it, and the project attracts millions of dollars in investment. Correspondents Air force talked to the founder of ClassTag about how, at 22, she got into one of the most prestigious business schools in the world and why she decided to leave a successful corporate career in the United States for her own startup, in which at first few people believed.

Photo: video frame YouTube / Dima Bondar

What is ClassTag

ClassTag is an online platform for schools designed to make it easier for teachers and parents to communicate.

Here they can solve organizational issues, plan parent-teacher meetings, excursions for schoolchildren, agree on fundraising and share other information for training.

Teachers can communicate directly with students' parents, and parents can receive notifications about important events at school.

The service is currently used by more than 25 American schools, its audience is about 000 families.

ClassTag is completely free: the project earns on advertising that is placed inside the platform. As of autumn 2020, the service has already attracted more than $ 8 million in investments.

And this is how it all started.

From Kharkov to the USA at 22

Vlada Lotkina was born and raised in Kharkov; in the early 2000s she studied finance at the University. Karazin and at the same time worked in the company of her father, a local entrepreneur.

“Back in my school years, I studied at a wonderful lyceum with an economic specialization, where we had a very good teacher, he talked interestingly about fundamental economics. Perhaps it was thanks to him that after school I decided to follow the “economic path” in the future.

“Already from my second year I started working with my father. He gave me a lot of freedom: I went to negotiations, did management accounting, a bunch of different things - it was very interesting, so at an early age I gained considerable experience in business, which was useful later.”

After graduating from the university, says Vlada Lotkina, she began to think about where to go next, and decided to continue her studies, though not in Ukraine anymore.

“I then heard that there are such educational programs as MBA (Master of Business Administration). At that time, to be honest, I didn’t even quite understand what it was, but it seemed to me that this was the right step to gain new knowledge in the area where I wanted to develop. And I started preparing for admission.”

Moreover, Vlada recalls, either out of ignorance, or because of excessive self-confidence, she decided that if she did go somewhere, then only to top business schools.

“I simply opened a world ranking of business schools and applied to the top three. I received an answer from Wharton.”

(The Wharton School of Business is one of the most prestigious business schools in America and the world. Its alumni include Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk and billionaire Warren Buffett. - Ed.)

Tuition at Wharton was paid, but the school agreed to repay Lotkina about 30% of its cost.

“Large schools like Wharton have enormous resources and can afford to financially help the students they want to take. Of course, they don’t take everyone - money alone is not enough, there was a lot of competition.”

Parents, says Vlada, may not have been easy to let their daughter go to another country at 22, but they did not hold her back.

“I was very lucky with my parents: they always supported me, they wanted to give me the opportunity to stand on my own two feet, not depend on anyone, to follow my ambitions and dreams. For this I am very grateful to them.”

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Ukrainians grow up earlier

Lotkina spent two years at Wharton. She recalls that the training was not easy, besides, she was one of the youngest students.

“I remember my first impressions of the audience I saw there - I was absolutely shocked by the level of the students there. Everyone is incredibly smart, with excellent English, confident, with unreal resumes. It took me about a month just to get used to this environment.”

“I was only 22, and the average age of those I studied with was about 28. It helped me a lot that I already had enough work experience at such an early age and had been through a lot.”

Therefore, Vlada admits, the tangible age difference with other students did not become a serious problem for her.

“When I came to the USA, I realized: Ukrainians mature earlier than Americans, perhaps because of the difficulties that we have to overcome at an early age. At 22, I visited different places and managed to do a lot, while most of these students at the same age had not yet seen much of life. Therefore, on a personal level, I felt on an equal footing with them.”

But, despite this, young age still played a role: if it was not of particular importance for training, then when looking for a job in the United States it was definitely not an advantage, the Ukrainian complains.

“When it came to recruiting, it wasn’t easy. The other students were already about 30, they had first-class resumes, work in well-known American companies, while I had unknown companies from Kharkov.”

Photo: instagram.com/classtagme

Career in the USA

The widespread belief that studying at top American universities and business schools opens all doors in the United States for their graduates is not groundless, agrees Lotkina. But in practice, things are not always so simple.

“This is both true and untrue. As with many things in life, everyone is lucky differently: some people receive 10 job offers at once, while others receive none.”

“In my case, certain difficulties arose. I had a long-standing dream: back in Kharkov, sitting at my desk at the university, I read about the Boston Consulting Group - one of the world's leading companies specializing in management consulting. They are known for innovating their way of doing business, and I really wanted to work there.”

“But even after Wharton, I understood that it was almost impossible to get into the American BCG office. At my age, it was difficult for me to compete with other candidates and their shiny resumes.”

But the dream still came true, although not immediately. Lotkina first had to go to practice at the Moscow office of the Boston Consulting Group. There she proved herself well and received an offer to move to London or New York - she chose the second option.

“It was incredibly interesting work. You do analysis, research, make recommendations, and come up with solutions to various business problems. An endless number of industries: I had projects about high-speed trading, online commerce, yogurt cafes, pipe production. That is, you are faced with different directions, and every few months you have some kind of new industry - you must be able to figure it out very quickly and become an expert in this field literally in a matter of days.”

However, despite the interest, such work (with constant travel, meetings and, often, sleepless nights) took a lot of energy, Vlada recalls.

At that time, she got married, was preparing for the birth of her daughter, so she began to look for a job that would allow her to better combine her professional activities and personal life.

So Vlada Lotkina got into a technology company, where she worked for the next eight years and went from a consultant to a team leader of 40 people.

You may be interested in: top New York news, stories of our immigrants and helpful tips about life in the Big Apple - read it all on ForumDaily New York.

“I received 100 refusals from potential investors”

Lotkina thought about starting her own business in the USA back in 2010, when she left the Boston Consulting Group. But then neither the type of visa nor its then financial capabilities allowed to do this.

“I decided that I would work for several years to create a foundation - to deal with both visa and financial issues: to accumulate some capital in order to be able to start my own business.”

She pondered for a long time about ideas for a future business, but the one that she eventually brought to life was born when her daughter went to kindergarten.

“It was then that I first encountered the peculiarities of local communication between educators and parents. As it turns out, this is a very problematic topic in the USA. Everything is built on an endless pile of pieces of paper, notes, questionnaires, emails, chat messages. Everything is very haphazard and inconvenient.”

“That’s when I realized that if you’re going to build a business, it’s about solving a problem that you personally face.”

This is how ClassTag was born - a service that allows you to concentrate all communication between parents and teachers on one platform, while making it as simple and convenient as possible.

It all started in 2015, when Lotkina was still working as an employee. She told Jason Olim, the father of her daughter's classmate, about the idea, and he joined the project.

For a long time, it was not possible to find investment in ClassTag, so the first three years it was created by a small team of six people, and all costs were covered at their own expense.

“It was very difficult to find first investments. About 100 potential investors told me “no” - all because the field of education, especially school education, is considered very dubious from a business point of view: everyone knows that schools have a strong bureaucracy and no money. It’s a mix that no business wants to deal with.”

The first investments were attracted only in 2018, when the project, contrary to the expectations of skeptics, began to show profitability. Only then did she decide to quit her job to devote herself entirely to ClassTag.

“Then it was much easier. The main thing is to get the first check: after that everyone starts taking you seriously.”

Now ClassTag is experiencing rapid growth: the team already employs about 60 people, and the project itself has attracted more than $ 8 in investments.

“Most of those who eventually invested in our product are exactly the same people who initially told me no,” said the Ukrainian.

Photo: instagram.com/classtagme

The plan was different

At 22, the ClassTag founder admits, she had no idea that her life would turn out this way. Moreover, she didn’t even intend to move to the USA forever.

“When I left Ukraine, I didn’t imagine that I wouldn’t come back. The plan was different: I thought I’d go, study, get several years of experience working abroad and come back. I wanted to live and work in the USA to learn how to do it, and then apply this knowledge at home, in Ukraine.”

“But gradually circumstances began to develop differently: career, daughter, own business. And “at home” is now about New York.”

“Although in fact I really love Ukraine, I worry about it, I follow all the events. I try to go there at least twice a year - I have my parents there, whom I love very much, and many real friends who have stayed since childhood.”

“In addition, the ClassTag development team works in Kyiv - the connection with Ukraine is not only personal, but also professional. So who knows: maybe I'll come back. Never say never".

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