GROWTH TIPS FOR START-UPS IN THE EDTECH SECTOR
Alexander Latsis is an entrepreneur with a background in tech, publishing, media, and licensing
Growth Tips for Start-Ups in The EdTech Sector One of the main hurdles that all start-ups must surmount early in their journey is funding. The ideal situation for a founder is to find an investor whose vision matches their own. This is possible and indeed happens, but the path involves a series of engagements, information sharing and negotiating, in which the investor and entrepreneur frequently communicate until they find common understanding.
G
iven the extensive interactions between governments, businesses and consumers in the education sector, EdTech founders would be wise to share their journey with education investment specialists as they will better understand the challenges founders might face as they scale and hopefully cross borders. There are a few aspects along this route to investment on which entrepreneurs and investors need to align understanding:
The Key Attributes Key to any fundraising process – and indeed any successful business – is an understanding of the problem a start-up aims to solve. The education market is large but highly competitive, so entrepreneurs must be clear on both their target customers and their avenues of product and company differentiation. The company must also be able to demonstrate that there’s a capable team ready to learn and execute, to boost inves-
tors’ conviction around the startup’s prospects.
The Game Changers Aspects that draw more scrutiny from investors include the startup’s plan to encourage retention (sustained usage of the solution), which can be a challenge in markets as competitive as education, where differentiation can be hard to prove and communicate. High retention and ‘stickiness’ help start-ups to prove the longer-term value of their proposition to investors.
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