Business plan: LessonBrief 0.1.0 beta
Status: Beta · demand unproven. First name only. Not a report card. Nothing is uploaded. Every number below is a hypothesis unless marked MEASURED. See ECONOMICS.md for the model and RESEARCH.md for the evidence. Kill tests are in §7 — run them before spending anything.
1. Buyer
Independent US tutors (or a 1–2 person studio) who run 5–30 paid sessions a week and need a fast, consistent parent update without opening a school SIS or a full tutoring CRM. The buyer currently pastes notes into Docs, Notion, or text messages — unstructured, easy to leak medical/IEP detail by accident, and uneven from week to week.
2. Offer
Done-for-you post-session parent briefs, one tutor at a time:
- Every session becomes a parent brief, a homework checklist, and a parent reply card (three short lines home → tutor).
- Privacy floor: first name only; rejects SSN patterns and medical/IEP fields.
- No account, no upload; works offline in a browser.
Price hypothesis (UNPROVEN): $49 one-time setup per tutor (walkthrough + branded copy), $15/month optional brief assist. Test with three free pilots first — see START-HERE.md step 5.
3. Comparison
| Alternative | What it costs the tutor | What LessonBrief does differently |
|---|---|---|
| Google Docs / Notion templates | Free, unstructured | Structured outputs + privacy floor |
| TutorCruncher / TeachWorks | Paid CRM + account | Browser-local brief only; no billing stack |
| School SIS parent portals | N/A to independents | Available to independents; not a school record |
| Etsy / TpT session-note packs | One-time printable blanks | Filled brief + checklist + reply card from one form |
Swipe the table sideways to see every column →
The wedge is not "another template" — it is the after: a parent-ready brief and reply loop with an explicit privacy floor, no account required.
4. Fulfillment
Per tutor (operator = the kit buyer):
- Setup (45–75 min first time): copy
OPEN-ME-LessonBrief.htmlfor the tutor, clear the sample, walk through one fictional then one real session (BRAND.md for labels; AI-OPERATOR.md §1 for the field list). - Build: run the brief; check privacy issues first; never paste surnames, school IDs, or medical detail.
- Deliver: hand over
lesson-brief.txt,homework-checklist.txt, andparent-reply-card.txt(or the printed equivalents). - Weekly rhythm (the $15/mo experiment): if the tutor wants assist, the operator builds briefs from rough notes and returns the three files — see AI-OPERATOR.md §4.
Tooling cost: $0/month (static HTML, free tiers only). The cost is the operator's labor — value at $50/h for planning.
5. Unit economics (hypothesis)
From ECONOMICS.md, 10-tutor sketch: month-1 revenue $640 (10 × $49 + 10 × $15) against ~15 h labor (~$750 at $50/h) — slightly underwater on labor value. The ongoing $15/mo does not carry itself unless assist stays short. Read it plainly: setup-led hypothesis. If pilots won't pay $49, lower the price or re-scope before claiming anything.
6. Acquisition
FIRST-TEN-CUSTOMERS.md: tutoring Facebook groups and Discords, local homeschool co-ops, tutor referral circles, TpT/Etsy session-note buyers. First three tutors are free pilots; their payment is honest feedback and one referral each.
7. Kill tests
Stop or re-scope if any of these fail:
- Visitors only load the sample and never build a second brief.
- Tutors refuse the first-name-only floor and demand full student records.
- Three free pilots finish and none would pay $49 for setup (or none build briefs unprompted for a full week).
Do not redefine "they liked the idea" as a pass.