3 Pointers (EdTech)
Advice I Received On Advising Edtech Startups
On January 1st, as I pretended to watch a few college football bowl games, I decided to start the year off right by jotting down a few of my professional goals for 2016. My objective, like every January, was to establish a few goals in which I could focus my energy on. As a startup advisor, I wanted to visualize what I could learn, give, and accomplish in the startup ecosystem. One goal that I look forward to realizing is “to invest my time, knowledge, and resources exclusively 1 or 2 promising edtech startups.”
There are a few opportunities with companies and accelerators within the edtech industry that would give me the opportunity to reach my goal to drive real impact in one or two startups, but I first took some time to speak with venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and operators to gain insight on how to be the best advisor I can be. Below are a few interesting points that resonated with me from my various conversations.
How to Prepare for Advising Edtech Startups:
“Preparation should be based on the following: 1) stage of the company and 2) the maturity of the founder. If startups are Pre-Seed stage you will need to be more hands on and become a trusted voice. The startups will look to you for answers to questions that they may not feel comfortable asking early investors. However, companies that are looking to raise Series A or B funding will need operational assistance from their advisor. Therefore, your feedback should be more directed to driving the startup to the next milestone (new partnership, fundraise, hire, etc.). With respects to the maturity of the founder, it is in reference to where they see their involvement in the long-term state of the company. You may have to teach the founders how to respond and not react. It is also important to remind the leadership teams that they are building a community/culture and not a just company. Make it clear to the entrepreneurs that their first customers are the employees. Lastly, it is important for the founder to “design” themselves out of the day to day operations of the company. Push she/he to think about how to institutionalize their best practices.”
What Aspects of Design or Operations are Edtech Startups Oblivious To:
“Education is one field where innovation has historically only been focusing on redesigning old models. The industry as a whole has not applied concepts or initiatives from analogous markets. The challenge for your startups and yourself as an advisor is how do you organize a community-based vision when all stakeholders (teachers, students, parents, administrators) are incentivized to focus solely on individual contribution — it is not focused on community building. Also, you may want to think about how can apprenticeship, which is the best manner of teaching, be immersed within your startups’ product and mission?”
How to Present Your Dissenting Opinions with the Founder Ideas:
“If you have a dissenting opinion on something the founder and leadership teams are currently conducting it is first essential that you design the conversation that you want to have. Doing the preparation work before the discussion occurs is vital to aligning with your startup. Key aspects of designing the conversation are 1) Environment, 2) Frame the Conversation, and 3) Impact on Brand. In my opinion, the ideal meeting should occur in person on a circular table so that everyone participating feels equal. When framing the conservation, it is first important to do a post-mortem of the last meeting. Make sure you use the “I like”, “I wish”, and “I wonder” approach where you state first what went right then share the ideas for improvement. The last concept you should think about before conducting the meeting is to brainstorm what impact do you want the decision to have on the brand of a the company? Also, think about what brand you want the startup to maintain. But if you remember one thing, remember that your goal in all conversations is to align with your startup — because you will not always agreement.”
If you have any perspectives, comments, or perspectives on how one can become a better advisor to early stage startups please share in the comment section or reach out to me on twitter.
Earnest Sweat is a Startup Adviser and Business Ops professional for various accelerators. Sweat specializes in sourcing, managing and mentoring startups within the fin tech, ed tech, and real estate tech sectors. If you have any questions, comments or requests please connect with Earnest through LinkedIn,Twitter, or AngelList.
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