As you step into the Taipei office of the online education startup Hahow, the first thing that catches your eye is a wall adorned with four translucent circles. Each circle is labeled with a phrase: “Things You Love,” “Things You’re Good At,” “What the World Needs,” and “Things You Can Be Paid For.” At the intersection of these four circles is the word “iKigai,” a Japanese term meaning “a reason for being.” This concept suggests that if one can find passion, apply expertise, earn a living, and contribute to the world, they have discovered the true meaning of life.
On the day of the interview, Hahow’s founder and CEO, Arnold Chiang, pointed to these circles on the wall and said, “We hope that through learning, people can better understand themselves, become who they want to be, and ultimately find meaning in their lives”. “Helping people to find their own iKigai has been Hahow’s unwavering vision since its inception.”
In Asia, the term “good student” typically refers to those who excel academically, obey the rules, and meet parental expectations. As a graduate of National Taiwan University (NTU), Taiwan’s most prestigious university, Arnold Chiang was seen as a model student. However, he always had a restless spirit, one that wasn’t content with the status quo.
“In Taiwan, high school students are often pigeonholed the moment they choose between liberal arts and sciences. The top students in liberal arts go on to study law, and those in sciences pursue electrical engineering or medicine,” said Chiang. After entering NTU, he discovered that while NTU students were excellent at studying, many struggled to find their true interests. “The overly narrow focus of our education system and the lack of self-exploration leave many unable to find their passion in life, which is truly regrettable,” Chiang lamented.
To address the disconnect between Taiwan’s education system and students’ interests, Chiang created a skill exchange platform called “skill hopping” during his university years. The platform allowed students with unique talents to register and exchange skills with other users. “You could teach sign language, how to work and travel in Australia, or how to brew hand-drip coffee, but the one rule was no traditional subjects like Chinese, English, math, physics, or chemistry, and definitely no ‘how to get into NTU’ courses,” he explained. The goal was to empower individuals with special skills to share their knowledge through the platform.
The platform quickly gained popularity among students and soon spread from NTU to other universities like NCCU and NTNU. Fast forward to 2024, the skill hopping platform has evolved into Hahow, Taiwan’s largest online learning platform, and the world’s first platform to guarantee instructors’ income through a crowdfunding mechanism before their courses launch. In the past two years, Hahow has expanded beyond consumer-facing services, entering the corporate and academic sectors, creating new possibilities for its 1.1 million members and over 700 creators.
Navigating the Fierce Competition in the Online Education Market: How Does Hahow Stand Out?
Over the past two years, driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, remote learning and work, and the growing fear among Taiwanese people of falling behind if they don’t keep learning, Taiwan’s online learning industry has surged, with a market value estimated at NTD 50 billion. A wide variety of courses are now available, including recorded classes, live streams, podcasts, and workshops. Not only are more and more talented amateurs starting to build personal brands and launch online courses, but a large number of influencers are also offering classes across various platforms. Celebrity-led courses generating tens or even hundreds of millions of NTD in sales are not an uncommon sight.
While a larger market is undoubtedly good news for consumers and creators, the surge in courses has also led to uneven quality. In a fiercely competitive environment, “influencer courses” seem to have become the key to a course’s commercial success.
However, in this game of “generating traffic”, actual “learning” is getting lost. Is the purpose of offering online courses truly about “teaching,” or is it just another way for influencers to monetize, beyond endorsements and promotions? When consumers purchase online courses, are they genuinely learning something? Or are they just watching an impressive “performance”? This line is becoming increasingly blurred.
Caught in this intense competition, Chiang admits that he too once lost sight of the way forward.
“In Taiwan’s online learning industry, there is indeed some ‘oversaturation’ going on,” admits Arnold Chiang, the founder and CEO of Hahow. Observing competitors eagerly inviting popular influencers to launch courses, Chiang himself felt a bit lost for a time. “I even wondered if we should follow suit and start inviting influencers to create courses en masse,” he reflected. But after careful consideration, Chiang decided not to jump on the bandwagon. Instead, he returned to the fundamentals and re-examined the true meaning of education. He believes that the real value of online learning lies in internalizing the knowledge after completing a course and then applying it in one’s work and life.
For example, after completing a course on Hahow, students are given assignments, which teachers review and provide feedback on. Some courses even offer one-on-one consultations. This ensures that students are genuinely learning and not just spending money to watch a flashy presentation.
Learning is a Process of Seeing, Knowing, and Doing.
Arnold Chiang
This distinctive feature is also evident on Hahow’s website. When you visit the official Hahow site, you might notice fewer flashy courses, but the content is interesting, diverse, and solid.
Take, for example, the illustration course “Secrets to Creating Characters That Resonate” available on Hahow. The instructor, Crystal, is not a social media influencer but a professional character designer who has worked on numerous international animated films and is currently employed at Pixar Animation Studios. Each unit of this course includes detailed explanations, demonstrations, and practice exercises. Upon completing the course, every student is required to submit a final project, which the instructor personally reviews and provides feedback on, ensuring that students truly grasp the concepts taught.
“Most of the instructors on Hahow are creators who see teaching as their mission. What we care about most is the quality of the courses and the effectiveness of learning — whether students have genuinely learned something and whether it can truly bring about a change in their lives and careers,” says Chiang. This process of “seeing, knowing, and doing” is at the core of Hahow’s values and is what sets it apart from other online education platforms.
For students, genuinely learning something naturally leads them to recommend it to others. For instructors, this approach extends the course’s relevance, increasing the long-tail effect of course revenue, rather than relying on a one-time sale with no lasting impact.
Hahow for Business: Partnering with 250 Companies to Drive New Trends in Workplace Learning
In addition to offering online courses for individual consumers, Hahow has also ventured into the corporate and educational sectors in recent years, launching solutions like Hahow for Business and Hahow for Campus.
In recent years, the speed of knowledge and skill replacement has accelerated, especially with the advent of generative AI, making cross-disciplinary talent a necessity. Employees need to learn an increasingly diverse range of skills. However, in the past, employees could only search for additional knowledge online in a scattered way, and the lack of systematic teaching made it difficult to achieve good results. Company management also found it challenging to require employees to engage in self-directed learning after work, which stalled efforts to push for organizational change.
Because of this, many large companies have made a concerted effort to promote “learning organizations.” A “learning organization” is one where learning is seen as a core cultural value, helping employees update their knowledge to maintain the company’s capacity for innovation. Hahow is the first online course platform in Taiwan to catch this trend, offering tailored solutions for businesses.
Cathay Financial Holdings was one of the first major companies to adopt Hahow for Business. Breaking away from the conventions of traditional corporate training, Cathay provided its employees with access to over 300 Hahow courses. This approach allows employees to learn at their convenience without being restricted by time, place, or venue. They can choose courses that interest them, including workplace general knowledge, video editing, world economic history, digital marketing, and Python data analysis, not limited to their job-related content. After completing the designated courses, Cathay employees can even apply for a “learning leave” day, making learning outside of work both enjoyable and rewarding.
Following the success of Cathay’s adoption of Hahow for Business, many other companies have knocked on Hahow’s door. To date, Hahow for Business has been adopted by 250 companies, including Cathay Group, Shin Kong Life Insurance, Taiwan Mobile, Inventec, Advantech, LVMH, Truedan, McDonald’s, Sinyi Realty, and others. Among them, 180 are publicly listed companies, and nearly 250,000 employees across various industries nationwide use Hahow for Business for training, with a customer renewal rate of up to 90%.
Hahow Enters Schools and Public Sectors, Bridging the Urban-Rural Gap
This trend of self-directed learning has also spread from businesses to schools and public sectors. In 2022, Hahow introduced a range of diverse and cross-disciplinary online courses specifically for Taiwanese high school students. Arnold Chiang proudly notes, ‘’Now, from top schools in Taipei to remote schools in outlying islands, students are using Hahow For Campus content! Learning is no longer limited to textbooks. It can be reimagined in many ways.’’
For instance, Lanyu High School, an island school with relatively few educational resources, can gradually close the knowledge gap between urban and rural areas through digital content. Students in remote areas now have the opportunity to access knowledge they never encountered before. For teachers on the islands, online learning resources also serve as an essential channel for further education, providing a convenient, immediate, and travel-free learning path that benefits both teachers and students.
However, some businesses and institutions require not horizontal, diversified courses but vertical courses directly related to their functions. For this segment, Hahow has launched a dedicated Learning Management System (LMS) and deployed a professional team to create customized courses.
For example, Hahow partnered with the Hsinchu Motor Vehicles Office to co-promote vocational driver training, advancing the digitization of public sector learning. Chiang explains that the Hsinchu Motor Vehicles Office manages 20,000 truck drivers across Taiwan. In the past, they had to organize thousands of in-person training sessions every time there was a regular driver training requirement. After partnering with Hahow, the Hsinchu Motor Vehicles Office commissioned Hahow’s production team to create animated training content. This allows drivers to watch the training on their phones during off-hours, complete online learning, and pass the test afterward, saving drivers time and ensuring road safety.
As he enters the ninth year of his entrepreneurial journey, Arnold Chiang reflects that he has always enjoyed seeing others succeed and be happy. “Helping people discover their interests through learning and education—this is a topic that suits me!” Looking ahead, he hopes that Hahow will continue to innovate with technology and rich content, creating a new vision for education and guiding more people to discover themselves and achieve their dreams.
This article has been contributed to AsiaTechDaily.
