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Problem
We've all been
frustrated by trying
to learn a new language
We go in with the best of intentions, but inevitably it becomes too time-consuming or tedious…so we quit.
Learning a language is time-consuming: 10 minutes per day doesn't sound like much until it is.
Learning a language is chore-like: there are plenty of other important things in our lives that demand effort.
Learning a language is overly repetitive: the trap of rote memorization and dead-end exercises is real.
Solution
Prismatext's blended-language books help you learn while you read
We blend the most useful foreign language words into familiar popular literature, so you can learn a language passively and naturally while reading your favorite books.
We give you back your time
An hour spent reading your favorite novel is now also an hour of foreign language learning.
Prismatext makes it effortless
Our readers constantly tell us they are surprised at how many words they know after finishing a book. 
You decide how to learn
Learn French reading romance, or Japanese with horror. Whatever you like, we've got you covered.
Product
Blended-language books for effortless learning
The blended-language method (known as Diglot Weave) was formalized over 50 years ago. It has a number of studies verifying its efficacy compared to traditional study methods.
Until now, blended-language books have been difficult to produce at scale. Prismatext streamlines this process:
- Blending a book by hand used to take 1000+ hours (imagine translating each word manually, for each language on offer).
- Prismatext blends books in under 2 hours for any number of languages, whether it's 1 language or 101 languages.
Once blended, books are distributed via the Prismatext app, which includes audio pronunciation & density variants for each book. Our vision for the future includes even more features!
Traction
Pilot program metrics
The pilot’s success is notable given two huge limitations:
1) High-friction experience: We didn't have an app! Books were emailed to customers and had to be side-loaded to external devices. (Yikes!)
2) Limited bookshelf: for the majority of the pilot program we had only 30-40 titles. (For comparison, Amazon carries over 30 million titles, and Scribd has over 1 million.)
—
Until recently, Prismatext's revenue was limited to books available in the public domain. Our customers wanted modern titles, so now we are quickly signing agreements with publishers to bring contemporary literature to our growing bookshelf.
- Q2 2022:
First 4 publishers signed - Q3 2022:
20+ publishers in pipeline, including 2 of the Big 5
Customers
Our customers love learning with Prismatext
"Only partway into this book and I totally love this idea! This is MY way to learn! Genius!"
—Janina B.
"I wasn't sure about learning with this method, until I went to review words from my book. I found that I knew not just their translations, but their context!"
—Meara B.
"It's a wonderful companion. I read it slowly at first, learning the words and adding notes to each. The repetition is so on point that I was able to reread it without looking anything up."
—Christopher H.
"I am really enjoying my new book. Look at me reading Italian almost without even having to try. It’s amazing how much fun this is!"
—Linda S.
Business model
No marginal cost of production
The Past: Prismatext was a straightforward e-commerce bookshelf. Customers would then side-load e-book files onto their own devices (a big user pain point).
The Future: We'll be rolling out a recurring revenue subscription service on top of our just-launched & feature-rich mobile app.
Unit Economics
Our unit margins are simple, and come in two flavors:
- Public Domain Titles: Zero acquisition costs. 100% profit once blended.
- Licensed Titles: We license the rights to many modern titles and keep ~70% of the sale.
We have no marginal cost of production: once a book is blended, our work is done. With a lean operation, and an intelligent engine that gets faster as it learns, Prismatext has explosive growth potential.
Market
There are over 2 billion language learners worldwide
We see our core market as language learners who are both online and are also avid readers.
Institutional Market: Our platform is already being trialed in schools and we will continue to expand into this market when our offering is of sufficient size.
Competition
An industry on the move
Several recent large liquidity events make the language learning space an exciting one:
We're different
Prismatext has a unique niche in this market. Our blended-language method allows for effortless language learning without asking users to create a new habit. (In other words, our readers don't have to "feed the owl." 🦉❌)
Additionally, no one else leverages popular modern titles like we do. While all the other apps fight over new ways to do flash cards, we're adding books that people already want to read.
Vision
We’re building the world's first ‘effortless’ language learning platform
Our two-year vision:
Long-term vision:
A diversified platform for individual and institutional language learning tools, built on our blended e-books subscription revenue.
Use of Funds // Targets
- Hiring engineers to help with product development
- Expand and iterate on our user acquisition channels
Funding is sufficient for 18+ months of runway including engineering hires & marketing efforts
Investors
Bootstrapped to date
After a great pilot program and over 4,000 customers, Prismatext is raising its first ever round on Republic!
All of our progress so far has been with a very (very) small team and no outside funding — imagine what we could do with your support!
Founders
Zak has spent the last decade working remotely from all corners of the world. In that time, he has been one of Amazon’s go-to book designers/typesetters, has led product design at various startups and has helped develop software for a number of companies and projects. Zak also has five years of formal teaching experience at the collegiate level and below.
Phil has over 8 years of experience leading the sales and marketing efforts in tech and travel startups, as well as managing an e-commerce business in the health and wellness space. As a lover of learning and educating, he spent over 5 years teaching - mostly in test prep - including running his own tutoring business.
The two have:
- 10+ years in education
- 15+ years in startups & e-commerce
