In the last five years, a significant boom has rocked the edtech industry. Online learning grew rapidly in acceptance, and advances in learning tools have allowed teachers and administrators to get more efficient in their day-to-day routines. On top of this trend, the coronavirus pandemic forced most school systems around the world online for a prolonged period. Investors have taken note. While the pandemic disrupted a good deal of venture capital activity, the edtech sector enjoyed a record year. In other words, previous barriers that stood in the way of launching an edtech startup have come down. If you have been thinking about joining this trend, this article presents important information to know before starting an edtech company.
Today’s Memo: What’s happening in the world of edtech investment, will it last & could we see a DARPA for education. W/ key stats from @holoniq https://t.co/v5cvAiEf8l@jwestanderson @annalieseg pic.twitter.com/QiLwULEJfQ
— Learnit (@Learnit_World) May 14, 2021
So, let’s start learning.
Launching an EdTech Startup: Best Practices
Before launching an edtech company, here are some of the best and most notable practices that an entrepreneur should know.
Know Your Niche
The first and foremost thing you should do is to get knowledge about your niche. For that, doing sufficient research is very necessary. The most common mistake entrepreneurs make is sacrificing depth for breadth. They do not narrow their niche, do not perform proper research, and do not properly define the problem their product is going to solve.
There are a lot of restrictions and challenges in the edtech industry. However, these challenges can be overcome by doing proper research and defining a suitable niche. Doing research can also help you in assessing the strengths and weaknesses of your rival companies that are working on similar ideas. Doing this can help you in properly defending your product in the future and establishing its place in the market.
Validate Your Idea
It must be understood that the needs of different educational institutes can be different based on the geographical locations in which they are located. Furthermore, the edtech tools or products you develop are supposed to appeal to teachers, students, parents, and school administrators.
The offered product should fulfill the needs of a specific user. Many edtech companies fail because they don’t define their target market base. That’s why you should try to identify the right audience for your product. Apart from that, you should not try to offer the solutions to already solved problems.
Assess market needs and deliver accordingly.
Create Engaging and Unique Products
If your products are boring and unoriginal, your plane is not going to get off the runway. No successful edtech startup can get away with simply mimicking others. Create something new and engaging.
Students should feel comfortable while using your product. So, you should try to create such products that other than fulfilling their needs could also give them an engaging experience.
Build Your Team
It is extremely essential for any business startup to collect a team of skilled and creative individuals that are ready to do the job. That’s why you should hire a skilled and talented team. Try your best to have such individuals that are passionate about creating an impact in the education field. The responsibilities and tasks of every team member should be properly defined.
You should also hire individuals that are very well connected with the school administrators, teachers, parents, and other stakeholders. Such individuals can get valuable feedback from them which can be later used for improving your products.
Perform Rigorous Beta Testing of Your Products
No matter how skilled your team members are, the probability of some hidden bugs or errors cannot be overlooked. Beta testing is an ideal way of pointing and eliminating such bugs. That’s why rigorous beta testing is very necessary.
It is advisable for you to distribute the beta version of your product among the real audience. After using your product for longer intervals of time, real users are usually in a better position of pointing out mistakes or unwanted things in your work. With the help of their provided feedback, you can easily modify your product.
High-Quality Content
Creating high-quality content is also necessary. However, the bitter reality is that it is often overlooked. You should keep in mind that properly defining a product is very necessary. No matter how interesting your product is and how many fascinating features it is offering everything will go vain without writing immersive and engaging content.
If you do not have enough time to write immersive content, then freelancers can be hired. However, you should never compromise on the quality of written content as it defines your product.
Choose a Business Model
Choosing the right business model is essential. A business model defines how you are going to achieve your goals. Apart from that, it also helps in determining the value of your product for the targeted audience.
Instead of focusing on earning money or growing a large user base, you are advised to build a sustainable business around any particular problem you are determined to solve.
There is currently no shortage of opportunity in the edtech field. But if you are going to take advantage of the moment, you can’t cut corners.
Featured Image: Mario Gogh, Unsplash.
No Comments