Getting That Paid Pilot In EdTech

I’m presently helping a company execute a pilot program and progress from being unpaid to actually getting paid for their efforts in the next school year.

The product is great and kids love it. Teachers love it. It has a few bugs but its really engaging; real-world math in a fun, playful format. We are solving the problem of students having to learn math “the old way” – which every teacher and district in the U.S, I’m told, wants. The playing field, though, is packed with great companies and competitors.

I’m finding that once you’ve given something away for free- its hard raising the price.  I’m just wondering if we should have asked for a fee to begin with? Though logically, I would think it’s nearly impossible to get paid for someone to test your “not quite ready” product.

For investors apparently, it’s not enough that an unpaid pilot was successful; meaning the students were super engaged and their lessons reinforced. According to a talk that I recently heard, not only do your pilots need to be PAID, but you also need to be testing in at least ten percent of the schools in the district! Otherwise, this is just considered an “experiment”. Of course, everyone needs to have these experiments and tests but does that mean you can’t raise money with positive data from unpaid pilots? Pilots require handholding, workshops and other support to be successful, in addition to a healthy amount of funds. It takes a village.

These next few months are critical to getting your product into schools and districts. You need a solid beta in April/May and a perfect product by August 1^st. Meanwhile, between April and June, customer follow-up is the order of the day; one needs to be knocking down doors and leaving no stone unturned until you get those Purchase Order’s and you’re in the school budgets.

Pricing that first product is also tricky. Schools and districts want to see per student pricing and investors like yearly subscriptions. I’m told that however you layout your initial pricing model; it will change once you have more than one hundred customers. I’m really looking forward to that milestone!

I’ll be continuing this theme in the future. Any comments, questions or answers are welcome!