10 Things I Learned From 2 Years in Tech

Yes it's a Sunday, but as I get ready to jump on a plane, I've spent some time reflecting on the last 2 years working in start up world (here's to many more!)

Here are some of the things I've learned along the way, I have a little bias towards EdTech so you'll have to forgive me, and no doubt you'll have heard some of these before:

1. EdTech is HARD; it's not well understood and is having to fight against centuries of institutional and state thinking. As such it takes time to embed, and naturally therefore, time to make a return - investors take note, it requires patient capital and a different approach to traditional tech VC

2. As a result I'd say hats off to all the EdTech founders I've met, grit doesn't even begin to describe your tenacity. Keep the light burning, it'll happen one day!

3. In startup world as in life, if you're not learning, you're not growing. Take every opportunity you can to draw insight, and of course, the more data you can find and use to support the better

4. It's never the tech, it's the team behind it - always remember that. Great tech is the product of people thinking differently about how they want to see the world. It doesn't just happen and there can definitely be blood, sweat and tears before it's ready

5. In Steve Blank's immortal words - get out of the building! Speak to the world before you try to sell to it. You know that old ditty about assumption making an ass out of me and you? Believe it, if you're building what you want and not what your user wants (see below), you'll probably end up pivoting or packing up

6. Your customer and your user may not be the same person - figure out who you are trying to solve for. In my last business, one of the hardest issues we faced was figuring out how to satisfy the multiple stakeholders from the school to its teachers and from the students to their parents. Whilst it was the students taking the course, it was their parents paying for it

7. I'm an accountant by profession, so it would be unnatural for me to forget this one - cash is king, know how much you need and when to spend it. Don't make the mistake of over planning - that is to say, have a plan but don't be rigid about following it if you know things need to change. And because things do change, always know how much cash you have and how long it's going to last you

8. Numbers are important, because they help you think about your business as a business, not just a project. Ultimately you want to create value, and whilst I agree that traditional metrics aren't the be all and end all, they help you to focus on creating that value

9. There are a lot of ideas out there, the best teams know how to take them through to execution. Delivering on what you've set out to achieve can be tough if you don't have the right people around you - find people who know how to execute and listen to them

10. However tough it may be, if you're not having fun, take a step back and ask yourself if it's time to look for something new. Sometimes moving on is the right thing to do

I'm sure there are a hundred, a thousand more insights I could draw out if I sat down and truly thought about it, but for now I think these ten are a pretty good start and I'd love to hear from you about your experiences in the topsy turvey world that is start ups

Enjoy your Sunday!