Take a minute out of your day to help an Irishman achieve a monumental goal…
Clontarf native, Brian Arnold, moved over to London five years ago to become a maths teacher and now he, along with fellow mathematician Colin Hegarty, are just one step away from pitching their business HegartyMaths to none other than business mogul Richard Branson.
However, they need your help – or more to the point, your vote.
It’s all for the Virgin Media Business Pitch to Rich, which saw over 1000 businesses entering the competition and there are now only 11 finalists left in the Start-up category, which includes HegartyMaths.
The winner of this category gets a £150,000 marketing campaign, plus mentoring and business advice from Virgin Media Business for the first 12 months.
The lads’ vision is to become the number one website for maths teaching to students aged 8-17 in homes and schools across the world, not just the UK.
Speaking to JOE about Pitch to Rich, Brian said: “About four years ago I started making YouTube videos to teach maths to my students and soon after I co-founded HegartyMaths with my friend and former teaching mentor, Colin Hegarty whose father is from Mayo and whose mother is from Clare.
“Even as full time teachers we have now over 4 million video views and with the support of a charity called Shine, we are creating a brand new website to teach kids maths for free anytime and anywhere.
“We entered the Virgin Media Business Pitch to Rich competition and out of over 1000 different entrants we are into the final eleven. One more step and we can pitch live to Richard Branson himself.
Loving inspirational maths teacher @hegartymaths effort to make it doable for all, you have my vote! #PitchtoRich http://t.co/V3tQVtw0Hg
— Rachel Riley MBE 💙 (@RachelRileyRR) April 19, 2015
“Our dream is to level the playing field in maths education as so many families cannot afford private tutors and don’t have the same opportunities as more well off people.
“Our current website has been hugely successful and our content will always be free to students. We have developed a platform that delivers the best explanations from teachers who are masters of their craft.
“In order for us to get our product to as many students as possible we are hoping to win this competition.
“The money would be used to form partnerships with those who are already in schools so we can get our site to as many students as possible and to make sure that every household knows what HegartyMaths is and what we offer.”
Seeing as it's on topic if you want to improve your maths skills check out @Nat_Numeracy & @hegartymaths they're doing great things!
— Rachel Riley MBE 💙 (@RachelRileyRR) June 5, 2015
Here at JOE, we wanted to know can the maths be applied to students using either the maths curriculum in the South and North of Ireland.
Brian told JOE: “It doesn’t matter where you go – maths is maths. The content is incredibly similar. It’s been that way for thousands of years and it’ll be that way long after we’re gone.
“Our site would be a massive benefit to students in Republic of Ireland too and we have plans to integrate past exam video solutions for the Irish curriculum in the New Year.”
To vote for the lads make sure to head over to the Pitch to Rich website where you can view the semi-finalists near the bottom of the page. Remember, voting closes on June 22.
For more from HegartyMaths check out their website, YouTube page, Twitter and Facebook.
Are you an Irish Start-up? Got a budding business or business idea? Why not check out the AIB Start Up Academy…
Pictured above from left to right: Dan Keeble, Lead Programmer – Colin Hegarty, Founder – Brian Arnold, Co-founder.
