9 Lessons from EdTech Founders Changing Education

It’s easy for EdTech founders to say they want to “make an impact.” It’s hard to do the work, year over year, required to get it done.

In 2019, I’ve talked to five people who are committed to improving education, and have the results to prove it. These people include:

• Michelle Brown, founder of CommonLit
• Matthew Gross, founder of Newsela
• Brett Kopf, founder of Remind
• Eileen Murphy Buckley, founder of ThinkCERCA
• Chris Castiglione, founder of One Month

What do they all have in common? They all have a razor-sharp vision for what education could be like. But the difference is, their companies are getting us closer to that reality everyday.

From speaking to them about growing their companies, I’ve pulled out 9 lessons they revealed on how to run businesses that change the way students learn.

1) Just get started.

Michelle Brown appeared on episode 002 of The EdTech Startup Show. Listen here.

Michelle Brown didn’t have a computer science degree.

She didn’t have tons of funding (yet).

But she had real classroom experience. She had an understanding of the struggles underpriveleged students faced in developing literacy skills. And most importantly, she had an idea on how to fix it.

She used the money from her wedding to hire an initial developer, and worked on her couch for months to build version 1.0 of CommonLit. Now she has received over $3 million dollars from Google. And she’s bringing CommonLit to other countries, too.

All because she had the courage to just get started.

2) Build “gold coin moments” for your users and students.

Chris Castiglione, founder of the online education platform One Month, shared these three insights on episode 005 of The EdTech Startup Show.

Chris Castiglione tells his story of starting One Month.

It’s all clear to you.

If Vice Principal Jones signs up, then creates a sample lesson/video/assignment, she’ll figure it out. Your product is perfect for her teachers. But the security guard just brought Colin to her office for the third time this week because he cursed at a teacher, so her attention is split.

How do you nudge your users towards the actions you know they need to take to succeed? The analytics can you tell you where it needs to happen. But creativity and empathy will tell you how to do it. Which leads me to…

3) Empathy for your users is priceless. 

Chris was a music major in college. He wanted to build a file-sharing app, so he walked into a CS class. “NOPE,” he said to himself.

“I’d rather not learn about variables for six weeks.”

He taught himself how to code. Then he built a company that teaches you how to code. And if you say you’re a “non-technical founder”? Chris has been there, so he knows exactly what to say.

There’s no replacing the authentic experience your user has, whether you’re directly serving students, teachers, parents, or school leaders. But…with a rock solid research process, and a system to glean insights from customer conversations, you can get close.

4) Don’t talk about it – be about it.

One Month is built on the idea that people are lifelong learners. Sure, they need to learn technical skills sometimes to do their job. But many of One Month’s courses are geared towards people who want to learn the basics of a programming language – to get promoted, build a prototype, or talk to employees better.

Chris  teaches and  learns all over. He teaches courses on Digital Literacy at Columbia Business School. He reads and discusses books on his podcast. And he researches “The History of the Internet” and writes crazy in-depth articles.

Chris teaches and learns all over. He teaches courses on Digital Literacy at Columbia Business School. He reads and discusses books on his podcast. And he researches “The History of the Internet” and writes crazy in-depth articles.

Of course he gets attention doing this. And even better, it’s the perfect kind of attention because it’s from people who love learning. What do you know? They might love One Month, too.

This is simple and has wide-ranging impact, but it is also rare. If your company offers a product to improve literacy, then go be a reader and writer in public. If you help people find internships, then go do an “undercover boss” experiment and film it. And if you’re working on early childhood emotional resilience, then give a TED Talk about your own journey with emotional resilience (yes, I mean you, Ami Shah).

5) A north star for your company that matters to teachers and school leaders is a win-win.

Matthew Gross, founder of Newsela discussed lessons learned from his companies growth from a tool for English teachers to a platform for schools and districts. Listen to my interview with Matt here.

Matt mentioned several times to me that his company is largely focused on making school (and literacy) more engaging for kids. This is something based on his own experience with his children in school, something his team keeps in mind when sourcing articles, and something his whole company is based around. 

As an EdTech founder, it’s best when educators can easily see how your startup’s mission is important to you personally. Even better when it’s so clearly communicated that anyone who reads your website, opens your email, or uses your app knows it.

6) When your product spreads fast enough to surprise the principal, you’re on to something.

I asked Matt about the challenges of selling Newsela Pro to schools and districts. He told me when principals see the value Newsela Pro offers, and they know how many teachers already use Newsela, it becomes an obvious choice. This is something I’ve heard from several EdTech startups who offer a platform or service to teachers.

In fact, when I worked with Edpuzzle on their email copywriting to help them introduce a new business model to teachers, one of the main approaches was to encourage teacher to teacher referrals, and teacher to decision maker introductions. Why?

Once decision makers know your product is all over their school, giving them “the keys to the castle” with additional access or features becomes a no-brainer.

7) Access to hardware is no longer the challenge in K12. How to take advantage of it is.

When Matt mentioned that the majority of students in the US have access to a non-shared device in school, I was surprised. This was a massive change from when he started the company, and most classrooms didn’t even have broadband. 

Now, one of the biggest concerns Matt hears from school and district leaders is the challenge of using these devices in a meaningful way. What is meaningful? It means teaching high-quality standards-based instruction, providing excellent instructional content, and making it all engaging for students. 

Teachers, students, and schools have access to tons of devices and content. In that reality, your benefits (not your features) have to be communicated in a really obvious way. If it’s crystal clear how your product will save time/money, keep everyone on the same page, or improve educational outcomes in an enjoyable way, that’s something.

8) Get clear on how to show school leaders your product solves a problem or improves an outcome.

Eileen Murphy Buckley, founder of ThinkCERCA reflected on her journey from teacher, to administrator, to Edtech founder. Listen to my interview with Eileen here.

Yes, there are several parts of the budget you can encourage schools to tap into in order to afford your product. But even with some creative options to pay, “nice to have” offers don’t always make the cut.

The more you can directly tie the benefits of your product to an essential outcome for the school, the easier your sales process will be. Schools always need a good way to:

• Ensure all students are reading at grade level
• Effectively communicate between all stakeholders
• Assess students’ abilities in an efficient & effective way
• Collect, manage, and secure student data (personal and educational)

Often, the difference here is positioning. A list of features for your app or content platform probably won’t show principals all you can do for them. But research-based, benefit-driven copy, tied directly into the needs of your target users – that can make the difference between a “no” and a “yes.”

9) Talk to your users before you ever write a line of code.

Brett Kopf, founder of Remind, started and grew his company with a laser-like focus on being “teacher obsessed.” Listen to my interview with him here.

Brett Kopf started Remind with a value of being “teacher obsessed.”

It’s easy to get excited about your big idea. But when you’re going to devote time, money, and opportunity to your education startup, do yourself a favor and figure out what schools actually need first.

The way to do this is surprisingly simple: talk to teachers! Brett Kopf had 100s of conversations with teachers – coffee dates, Skype calls, and in-school meetups – to figure out the real communication problems they were going through. All this before he ever began working on his now-successful company, Remind.

The results of this upfront investment mean everything else later comes easier: your product, your marketing, and your support are all geared towards the needs you already know your user has.

A way for EdTech founders to move the needle

A better sales and marketing process can move your education startup closer to making an impact at scale. And of the biggest levers to move the needle is better sales copy.

Sign up for our free 5-Day Copy Fix to learn how to write better sales and marketing copy for the education market. Because you can’t make an impact if no one is listening to you.