Mi’s goal was to deliver not the cheapest way to study, but rather the most efficient way to learn for the time and money invested. She knew Chinese parents would pay if they saw their children actually learning, rather than wasting time with poor teachers or programs. Most parents have a single offspring because of the country’s one-child policy, they value education and they want their child to be able to work beyond China.
Mi brought in Lane Litz, who had worked in three countries on how children learn second languages, to lead development of a standardized curriculum so the company would have control over what was taught. The team worked on easy-to-use software that would allow students in China to learn from native English speakers a half world away with real-time audio and video links.