Joyz provides a cloud-based platform that helps educational institutions teach English better. It does this through not only offering exercises in grammar, but also in pronunciation using NLP to give visual feedback to speakers. The platform has over 670,000 users, and the company has raised 7 million USD to date.
Improve English education in Japan
When Joyz’s founder moved from Japan to the UK at the age of 16, he was shocked at how incomprehensible his English was to locals. A product of the Japanese education system, he’d studied English grammar at school, but hadn’t had guidance on pronunciation, resulting in a thick Japanese accent. Wanting to change how English is taught in Japan, he started Joyz.
One key challenge that Japan faces is that many English teachers don’t speak English well themselves. Joyz helps overcome this bootstrapping problem through technology. Teachers can go through the exercises alongside the students. That they have poor pronunciation doesn’t matter, and if anything showing the students that they’re willing to make mistakes helps encourage the students to try.
Many of Joyz’s customers are public schools, and so it helps students of all means, not just those who can afford the luxury of supplementary English lessons. By joining Joyz, you’ll be able to help fundamentally shift how English is taught in Japan.
Do great work without long hours
Joyz has a soft spoken and gentle culture. This isn’t a startup with a high pressure culture. Many of our members have small children, and we respect their needs. This is a place for you if you want to do great work, but not have to put in grueling hours.
See first-hand how your work improves lives
You’ll have the option of observing students using the product first-hand by visiting classes. Seeing them using a product you’re working on not only is rewarding, but will also help you understand how the user-experience can be improved.
Technical CEO
The founder and CEO of Joyz has experience working as a software engineer. While he was originally involved in the coding of the product, he’s now focused on the business side. Though he doesn’t do any day-to-day coding, he’ll still chime in on architecture decisions. He knows first-hand the value of high quality code, and so software development best practices are baked into the organization.
International development team
Currently the development team has four members, and communicates in English. They have members both living in Japan, and internationally.