Ep. 96: The Future of Education is VR—with Tom Impallomeni

The Boost VC Podcast

We learn more through experience. And we experience more through VR. In fact, virtual reality solves for many of the limitations of in-person learning, allowing students to practice new skills through simulation. What if the future of education is VR?

Tom Impallomeni is the Cofounder and CEO of TribeXR, a startup that leverages VR to teach creative skills, with the ultimate goal of turning aspiring musicians into professionals and performers. Tom has an extensive background in building companies, and his resume includes tech startups like Virtually Live, SuperAwesome and Where Are You Now. Tom also serves as an advisor to the teams at Aflete, FireTech Camp and Pyramid.

Today, Tom joins us to explain why TribeXR decided to start with DJing and what makes learning that particular skill easier in VR than it is in real life. He describes his experiences as the founder of an early VR company, discussing what metrics his team uses to measure success and how they think about acquiring new customers. Listen in to understand what makes virtual reality the best medium for learning by doing and find out why the future of education is VR.

Topics Covered

What Tom’s team does at TribeXR

• Harness VR to teach skills (focus on creatives)
• Turn aspiring musicians into professionals

What makes learning to DJ in VR better than real life

• Limitations to learning in classroom
• Don’t need expensive equipment
  

Why Tom’s team decided to start with DJing

• Vision to build community grouped around passions
• Popular aspirational skill but inaccessible to most
  

The metrics TribeXR uses to measure success

• Net promoter score, how much people use it
• Accepted onto Oculus Quest Store

Tom’s experiences founding an early VR company

• Travel with 100 lbs. of equipment (before headsets)
• Share few sweaty headsets at conferences
  

How Tom thinks about the distribution of TribeXR

• Build relationship with Oculus team
• Encourage users to share performances on social

Why Facebook is critical to the VR market

• Acquisition of Oculus starting to pay off
• Funding development of VR content
  

Tom’s take on what problems VR is solving

• Fantastic for simulation (learning by doing)
• Best medium for full-body immersive games
  

Why Tom is particularly suited to founding startups

• Enjoy building things that have direct impact
• Build companies in areas of personal passion
• Persistence (give self as many shots as can)

Connect with Tom

TribeXR https://www.tribexr.com/

TribeXR on Discord https://discord.com/invite/qdhNs2U

Resources

SuperAwesome https://www.superawesome.com/

Oculus Quest https://www.oculus.com/quest/

Oculus Quest Store https://www.oculus.com/experiences/quest/

Oculus Rift https://www.oculus.com/rift/

Viveport https://www.viveport.com/infinity

Steam https://store.steampowered.com/steamvr

PlayStation VR https://www.playstation.com/en-us/explore/playstation-vr/buy-now/

CES Conferences https://www.ces.tech/Conference/CES-Conferences.aspx

VRLA https://twitter.com/vrlosangeles

Adventure Lab https://www.adventurelab.fun/

AAA Game Studios https://www.aaagamestudios.com/

Space Pirate Trainer https://www.spacepiratetrainer.com/

Beat Saber https://beatsaber.com/

Half-Life: Alyx https://www.half-life.com/en/alyx/

Connect with Boost VC

Boost VC Website https://www.boost.vc/

Boost VC on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/boostvc/

Boost VC on Twitter https://twitter.com/BoostVC

Boost VC on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/boost_vc/