And yet, having spent these last few months at the edge of my limits and looked back on a hellish exam-prep period, there's one thing I've become certain of: the wall to studying abroad is high not because of any gap in ability. It's simply an information war, and nothing more than a wall of cost.
Look at Japan's study-abroad prep market today. You buy stacks of 3,000-yen vocabulary books, sit mock exams that cost tens of thousands of yen each, over and over, and the moment you enroll at a prep school, hundreds of thousands of yen vanish. Lift the lid, and only those who hold the information post scores efficiently, while those who don't keep paying exorbitant tuition. We, the Gradigo team, want to bring this era — this "pay-to-win game" — to an end.
Under 100,000 yen a year. Demolishing the barrier to studying abroad
I myself, with my family's understanding, ended up pouring nearly 2 million yen into test prep and application prep up to this point. But in today's weak-yen climate, not everyone can do the same. Talented young people are shutting the door on "studying abroad" all by themselves, for the sole reason that they don't have the money. I want to break through that reality.
The app name "Gradigo" comes from "Grad I go."
Graduate + I go — a declaration of intent: "I am going to graduate school."
Even for those who, blocked by financial or information barriers, never imagined graduate school as an option — we want to open that door. Gradigo was born from the wish to help everyone go to grad school and expand the breadth of choices in their lives.
This app was built by pooling the expertise of our engineers, achieving an overwhelming speed and low cost that's only possible with a small team. Precisely because we've stripped away the enormous fixed costs of big prep schools, we can offer prep that used to cost hundreds of thousands of yen at a target price of under 50,000 yen a year.
Test prep is merely a "waypoint" in life
There's something most essential I want to tell you. The essence of study-abroad prep is not posting a score. It's honing the "weapon of your own expertise" — the thing that lets you overwhelm rivals from around the world and captivate everyone around you.
Making scores on TOEFL/IELTS or GRE/GMAT is no more than the "gate pass" that gets you onto that arena. The time you spend stuck in front of the gate for years should, for the most precious decades of your life — your 10s, 20s, and 30s — be spent on something far more valuable.
Let me be honest: you do not need to squander the precious time of your life on these exams. Finish them even one second faster, and use that time as soon as possible for "essential learning" and for "building a career that changes the world." That is the greatest prayer I've poured into this app.
Finally: a request to all of you
We are trying to build a world where Japanese people can choose "studying abroad" as a matter of course.
More improvements are coming (a Quants mode is on the way soon!). If our concept resonates with you, we'd be grateful if you used this app to the fullest.
The "common sense" that says "Japanese people have low test scores" — let's overturn it right here, today, with the power of technology.
You're already ready to captivate the world.
