Member Article

North West Startup Season: Merseyside-based ArtTutor

Shortlisted in the Virgin ‘Pitch to Rich’ competition, Merseyside-based ArtTutor is an online learning platform giving users the chance to get in touch with their creative side.

Modelled in a similar way to Netflix, users pay a monthly subscription fee to access a bank of videos teaching them new arts and crafts skills.

The company, which was set up three years ago, hit the ground running following its success on YouTube.

ArtTutor now makes a small profit, which founder Phil Davies (pictured above) says is “nothing exorbitant but it’s better than losing money.”

The startup has been growing steadily for the last three years. With four full time employees plus Phil and his dad working in the company, ArtTutor is hoping to win Virgin’s ‘Pitch to Rich’ competition to bolster a much-needed marketing campaign.

Despite ArtTutor’s success in the competition so far, Phil said they very nearly didn’t enter at all, as he only realised they were eligible to enter at the last minute.

Phil spoke to Bdaily: “The easiest thing, for me personally, I’m a big believer in relationship marketing, it’s about establishing a relationship and building a rapport.

“For me I find it quite easy, we were able to get 4,500 votes from sending out one email, because we spend time building a relationship with people.

“I think a lot of people don’t have the patience for that.

“I am as determined and as passionate as anyone, I will find a way, I know exactly what we need to do and I’m really keen on the numbers, you have to be on top of your numbers, I know where I need to spend money but I don’t know where that money is going to come from at this moment in time if we don’t win the ‘Pitch to Rich’ competition.”

Phil is currently hesitant about future means of investment, and about whether he should seek outside investment. e hopes to reach some significant milestones in the next few years, aiming to take membership to the site up to 10,000 and turnover up to £5m, from £1m in 2015.

Phil has seen an increase in demand for his product as the popularity of arts and crafts has continued to rise, even in the short time that he has been in business.

Winning ‘Pitch to Rich’ would make a major difference to ArtTutor.

A budget for marketing and advertising would help the startup reach a much wider audience, while allowing the business to grow without the need for loans or outside investment.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sophia Taha .