Last week I went to an edSurge meetup in San Francisco titled “Do You Have What It Takes To Do An Edtech Startup?”
The illustrious panel consisted of Tyler Bosmeny, CEO of Clever; Ben Levy, CEO of PlayPosit; and Rupa Gupta, CEO of Sown to grow.
They all had great advice and insights from their own experiences starting a company.
One surprising thing each one noted was that they spent an inordinate amount of time building out their teams and didn’t expect to have to do that. Finding the right candidates is difficult and time consuming. Some keys pieces of advice were, it’s a must to have an educator in the founding or other levels. Also, most felt that the personality trait of always learning and searching for the right answer was as important or more important than experience.
Finding a great mentor that’s aligned with your way of thinking was also a recommended key to success. Their best mentors were CEOs, who were a few years ahead in starting their companies and investors who thought along the same lines as they did.
Talking to mentors and anyone else that would listen was also recommended. Don’t worry about who might steal your idea. Ideas are a dime a dozen; its how you implement them that counts. Get your MVP out there and validate your ideas ASAP!
CEO of Clever, Tyler Bosmeny said that by far the hardest thing was sales. Understanding school and district sales cycles, and how to sell to schools was very difficult. They suggested founders should always be involved in this area.
The best and last tips were ones that everyone has heard many times but sometimes it is necessary to hear over and over again, especially in edtech. “Build something people want” and “Empower teachers, don’t replace them”.
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