MathDash

What do they actually do

MathDash is a web platform for students training for math contests. It combines short, timed arena matches with a textbook‑style library of interactive lessons and practice problems drawn from past contests. Students get a dashboard with a numeric rating, time tracking, topic suggestions, subject‑level ratings, and can join leaderboards and post‑contest rooms; the team also runs an active Discord community mathdash.com • MIT Solve profile. Arena matches are designed to be quick (about two minutes) and run frequently, with instant play and daily contests Y Combinator profile.

The site lists 12 course volumes, 400+ topics, 10,000+ practice problems, ~100,000 hints, and 100+ interactive lessons. A self‑paced plan is shown at $100/month with a 7‑day free trial mathdash.com. The founders report pilot usage of roughly 500 daily active users, 1,500 weekly active users, about 40% one‑month retention, and ~20% week‑over‑week organic growth, with active contests and problem‑solving in the community MIT Solve profile.

Who are their target customer(s)

• Middle and high school students prepping for AMC/MATHCOUNTS/AIME/USAMO: They need frequent timed practice with contest‑style problems and targeted feedback, and struggle to get clear step‑by‑step help when stuck mathdash.com • MIT Solve profile.
• Parents paying for tutoring or online programs: They want measurable progress and accountability and worry about spending on content that doesn’t show improvement or provide clear tracking by skill area mathdash.com.
• Math coaches, contest organizers, and math‑circle leaders: They need low‑overhead tools to run synchronous contests, access reliable problem pools, and compare student performance across sessions without manual setup MIT Solve profile.
• After‑school programs and schools: They are short on teacher time and need lessons, auto‑graded practice, and replayable contest formats that work without heavy instructor involvement mathdash.com.
• Competitive hobbyists and community members: They want fast, social matches and active leaderboards, and get frustrated when platforms lack frequent short contests and places to discuss solutions with peers mathdash.com • MIT Solve profile.

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: Invite the most active Discord and pilot users to become founding customers with extended trials in exchange for structured feedback and testimonials, turning existing engagement and retention signals into case studies MIT Solve profile • mathdash.com.
• First 50: Run co‑branded, synchronous contests with math circles and university clubs, provide free coach onboarding for groups, and convert contest signups plus coach endorsements into paid trials while growing the community funnel MIT Solve profile.
• First 100: Offer 4–6 week outcome‑focused pilots tied to AMC/MATHCOUNTS prep for parents, after‑school programs, and schools, deliver progress reports and simple group purchasing, and layer in referral incentives to convert cohorts alongside the self‑paced plan mathdash.com • MIT Solve profile.

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

Core contest‑math users can be proxied by the 300,000+ students who take the AMC annually; the broader K–12 pool is ~49.6M U.S. students, and parents already spend billions on online tutoring (~$4.33B U.S.; ~$6.0B global K–12) MAA Impact Report 2024 • NCES • Grand View Research • IMARC Group.

Bottom-up calculation:

Near‑term, if MathDash converts 0.5%–5% of ~300,000 AMC participants at the listed $100/month price, that implies roughly $1.8M–$18M in annual subscription revenue potential from the contest niche MAA Impact Report 2024 • MathDash pricing.

Assumptions:

• Price remains $100/month per paying user.
• Conversion rates of 0.5%–5% are achievable within the contest‑math audience.
• AMC participation (~300k/year) is a reasonable proxy for the immediate targetable niche.

Who are some of their notable competitors

• Art of Problem Solving (AoPS): Largest contest‑math community with free adaptive practice (Alcumus), paid classes, and books focused on AMC/MATHCOUNTS/AIME; overlaps on deep problem banks and community. MathDash differentiates with very short timed arenas, an ELO‑style rating, and built‑in AI help for instant contest play MathDash.
• Brilliant: Premium interactive lessons and problem sets across math and science, including contest‑math content. More curriculum/path‑driven; less focused on synchronous short multiplayer contests and rating/leaderboards emphasized by MathDash MathDash.
• Khan Academy: Free, broad curriculum with mastery tracking and teacher/parent dashboards used widely in schools. Competes on structured practice and reporting; MathDash focuses on contest‑style timed practice, leaderboards, and contest problem pools MathDash.
• Prodigy Math Game: Gamified, curriculum‑aligned platform for younger students (K–8) with adaptive questions and optional memberships. MathDash instead targets middle/high school contest prep with short timed arenas and step‑by‑step contest solutions MathDash.
• MATHCOUNTS Trainer / OPLET: Official tools for MATHCOUNTS with large banks of past problems, practice modes, and leaderboards for middle‑school prep. MathDash packages contest problems into frequent live arenas with integrated ratings, lesson recommendations, and AI hints to lower coaching overhead MathDash.