--- title: "Chess or esports coach — Get paid for the VOD review before you open it · ApplyForm use case" description: "VOD reviews via Google Drive, paid via DM. Or not paid. How a chess or esports coach runs it on ApplyForm: Game / VOD review (€25 · 5 days) → Lesson with rank & goal intake (€60) → Students' Discord, weekly class (€15 / mo) → Opening repertoire / aim routine (free) → Weekly annotated game (€5 / mo)." url: https://applyform.app/use-cases/esports-coach --- Use case · Creative · Chess, esports and speedcubing coaches # The VOD arrives by Drive link. _€25, before you open it._ A student records forty minutes with OBS, drops a Drive link in your DMs and says they'll pay after. You watch, you find the three moments that lost the game, you write it up, and the payment is “this weekend, promise”. This is the same review with the money first, a five-day deadline and a refund if you miss it. Around it: the lesson with the rank and the goal collected before the call, a students' Discord that runs on one class a week, a free opening file or aim routine that builds the list, and one annotated game every Sunday. [Set this up with the agent](https://applyform.app/#hero-chat) See the whole stack Free to start. You keep 80%. Reviews you don't reach refund themselves at the deadline. _applyform.app/c/tomas-coaches/game-review · €25 · answer in 5 days_ Game or VOD link (Lichess, Chess.com, unlisted YouTube, Drive) https://lichess.org/Xk3pQ9vT Rating or rank, time control, side 1740 Lichess rapid · 15+10 · White What should I look at? I was +3 after move 30 and lost on move 41. This keeps happening in won rook endgames and I don't know what I'm doing wrong. **Pay and submit** Refunded automatically if there's no reply by Friday 20:00 €25 Rung one · Paid form ## The form they fill in instead of _the DM._ A link, the rating and time control, one question. Links only, never uploads: a Lichess URL, an unlisted YouTube VOD or a Drive link, so a forty-minute Valorant VOD costs you nothing to store. The €40 video tier is for the students who want to watch you scrub the timeline. Cap it at twenty a week with the spots counter and the form closes itself before your evenings do. [Start from a blank form](https://applyform.app/signup?template=custom) What you send back ## Three decision points and _one drill._ Three moves or three timestamps, what the engine says, what a human at their level should play instead, and one drill for the week. That is the review. Type it in the inbox or paste a Loom for the video tier. The inbox sorts by nearest deadline and nudges you at half-time; the buyer already paid, so there is no “this weekend, promise”. _Inbox · Game review · 1740 rapid · due in 2 days 3 h_ **Move 18** — Nothing wrong yet. But you spent 4 minutes here and 40 seconds on move 31. The clock is where this game was lost. **Move 31** — Rd1 trades rooks into a pawn-up ending you don't know how to win. Keep the rook: Rb7 ties his king to the pawn and you win the h-pawn for free. **Move 38** — King goes the wrong way. In rook endings the king goes to the passed pawn, not the checks. Engine: +2.9 → 0.0 in one move. **Drill** — Lichess practice, rook endgames, 20 minutes a day this week. Three positions from this game attached as a study. **Reply sent** Buyer notified · €20 to your balance · 22 Sep Answered The whole stack ## Five products, switched on _in this order._ The review first, because it is what students already ask for and what you already do unpaid. Then the lesson, then the class as a subscription, then the two things that fill both. 1. 1 Day one · Forms & Requests ### Game / VOD review _€25 · 5 days_ Link, rating or rank, time control, one question. Written €25 or video €40, both within five days or refunded. Links only; cap the weekly volume so tournament weeks never turn into refunds. 2. 2 Day one · Bookings ### Lesson with rank & goal intake _€60 · 60 min_ Intake before the call: current rating or rank, role or agent, platform, what they want in three months. Google Meet with a shared Lichess study or your screen. Evening slots, reminders at 24 h and 1 h, your cancellation policy enforced. 3. 3 Week two · Community ### Students' Discord, weekly class _€15 / month_ The $50-a-month group class as a subscription: one fixed live class on Thursdays, a daily clip channel with a reply within a day, sparring pairs by rating. Yearly plan on, cap at 60. Waitlist when full. 4. 4 Week three · Leads & CRM ### Opening repertoire / aim routine _free_ One-field form in your bio: a PGN file or a 15-minute aim routine goes out instantly, the contact is tagged by rating band or rank. When the next class cohort opens, you email the segment that fits it. 5. 5 Week six · Newsletter ### Weekly annotated game _€5 / month_ One game a week: the three decision points free, the engine line versus the human line and the drill set behind the €5 tier. The agent drafts from your annotations; you edit and send on Sunday. _Tomas · annotated game · Sunday 18:00_ #### #17 — The rook ending you keep losing (1600–1900) The game Lichess rapid, 15+10, a member's game with names removed. White is +3 on move 30 and loses on move 41. PGN link and the position at each decision point. Decision point 1 · move 31 Trading rooks looks safe. It isn't. Why the pawn-up rook ending is a draw for most players under 2000 and the king-and-pawn ending is a loss. Engine line vs human linepaid What Stockfish wants at moves 31, 35 and 38, what a 1700 can actually find, and the one rule that covers all three: king to the passed pawn, rook behind it. Drill setpaid Five rook-ending positions as a Lichess study, ordered by difficulty. Twenty minutes a day; retest on Saturday. This week Member game of the week goes to Ana (1520 → 1610 in a month). Thursday class: rook endings, obviously. Four review slots open Monday. Rung five · Newsletter ## What the weekly issue _actually contains._ One game, three decision points, one lesson. The game and the first decision point are free, which is what gets it shared in club Discords. The engine-versus-human comparison and the drill set are the paid part, which is what gets it renewed. A member shout-out and the class topic close it. Swap “game” for “VOD” or “solve” and the format holds for Valorant, League or 3×3. The agent drafts from the annotations you already write for the class; you spend fifteen minutes editing on Sunday afternoon. Rung three · Community ## The class as a _subscription._ Group classes at $50–55 a month with five to ten students are already how chess coaches earn steady income; esports coaches run the same thing as a Discord. The difference is who does the admin. ApplyForm grants and revokes the role as students pay and cancel, the yearly plan holds the ones who would otherwise leave the month they hit their rank goal, and you run one class a week. Anything longer than a clip reply becomes a €25 review. - Thursday **Live class, 60 min** One theme a week, one member's game or VOD on screen. Recorded to the archive; the reason people stay past month two. - Daily **Clip and game channel** Members post one position or a 30-second clip. You or a peer reply within a day. Anything longer is a form. - Saturday **Sparring pairs** Members paired by rating or rank for two training games or a scrim. They post the result; you pick one for Thursday. - Monthly **Ladder and tournament-prep thread** A members' ladder resets on the first; anyone with a tournament that month gets a prep thread with the openings or agents to expect. Why these prices ## Numbers from the _market._ **$15–75** what VOD reviews already cost on Metafy A League VOD review at $15, Valorant at $20, review with goal-setting at $25, a written VOD review from a poker and TFT coach at $75. €25 with a deadline sits in the lower half. **$20–200+** chess coaching per hour, by title Unrated coaches $20–30, FM $50–75, IM $75–125, GM $125–200 and up. Online runs 20–40% below in-person. Price the €60 lesson where your title sits. **$50–55** monthly group class, 5–10 students, one hour a week Ten students at $55 is $550 a month from one weekly slot. The €15 Discord is that class with the admin removed and a yearly plan added. **$10–15** the entry-session price floor you compete with Marketplace coaches list first sessions at $10–15. You don't win on price; you win with a deadline, a written deliverable and students who already watch you. **$0.6B → $3.5B** esports coaching market, 2024 to 2032 About 20% a year. Thousands of coaches on the leading marketplace; most still ship VODs through Drive and get paid through DMs. **5–10%** monthly churn that is normal for a paid community Above 15% signals a value problem. Students leave when they hit the rank they came for; the yearly plan and the ladder are what hold them past it. Market figures from published industry and platform data, September 2026, rounded. Your prices, volume and retention will differ. Common worries ## “Isn't €25 a lot _for one game?_” It is more than a $15 marketplace review and less than a lesson, and it buys something neither does: a written deliverable within five days or the money back. The scope on the form is what keeps it fair: one game or one VOD, three decision points, one drill. Students who want the whole repertoire rebuilt book the lesson. **“Half my students are under 18.”** Put an age question on the form and say plainly that a parent or guardian pays and gets the receipt. Keep the intake to the game: rating, time control, question. No DMs, no personal data beyond what the review needs, and every reply stays in the inbox where a parent can read it. **“VOD files are enormous.”** Which is why the form takes links, not uploads. Lichess and Chess.com game URLs, unlisted YouTube for VODs, Drive for anything else. Nothing is stored on your side and nothing expires before the deadline. **“What if I miss the deadline?”** The buyer is refunded automatically and told why. You get a nudge at half-time and again near the end. Set the cap low during tournament season; a missed deadline costs you €25, never a student. ## Get paid for the review _before you open the file._ Tell the agent your Twitch, Chess.com or Metafy handle. It reads what you post, proposes the review form, the lesson and the students' Discord with prices from your title or rank, and sets them up when you create the account. 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