How to build your EdTech start-up from scratch |
Posted: May 23, 2019 |
“Make hay while the sun shines”, should be in the mind of every budding The EdTech entrepreneur. But just like every start-up requires a motive or reason behind its initiation this is true even for the EdTech sector. The motivation behind an The EdTech start-up lies in its ability to solve a current problem facing the education sector and revamp the face of it. An The EdTech product might address the problems faced by developing countries in the area of rural education. Another The EdTech product might work towards creating an online platform on which students and teachers all over the world can communicate in a much better way. Although how noble these intentions might sound still there is a basic requirement of an The EdTech product with extraordinary features. This is due to the fact that market is awash with innovative The EdTech products and your product needs to stand out in order to be noticed. I have come up with a list of essentials for entrepreneurs who are on the verge of starting their The EdTech journey. 1. Understanding the needs of the education sector The education sector is an intricate marketplace with a lot of subdivisions. There is a higher education market, continuing education market etc. After you have selected your area of work you still need to have thorough knowledge about the same. The EdTech creators should be able to figure out what are the current problems facing the modern education sector. Here by problems I mean the real ones as faced by the students and teachers and not what your perception of the problem is. This will help you in understanding the buyers of your The EdTech product. Not only this but also you will be able to justify your product offering to various investors. The rule of knowing your customer applies to the EdTech sector as well. Education sector is divided into many subsections. There is a higher education market, continuing education market and what not. One needs to decide first which segment of the education sector one’s start-up will be catering to. This is followed by an extensive research on the chosen segment. Without a thorough research one would not be able to fully comprehend the problems facing the education sector. This can only be done 2. Choosing the right business model So you have a ground-breaking idea to reform the education sector and now you need ways to make money out of it. Picking up the right business model suitable for your start-up is the next step. There are many types of The EdTech business models. The Freemium model is famous with most of the MOOC websites. Under this model, the customers are offered the product for free with the option of upgrading it through payment at a later stage. In the top-down business model, the district leader is approached to make bulk purchases for all the schools under its administration. This approach generally involves large contracts. There are quite a few more business models. You can choose a business model of your liking based upon the segment you are targeting that is, B2B or B2C. 3. What uniqueness does your product have? There are many The EdTech products currently on offer in the market. So before developing any The EdTech product one’s focus should be on what problem your product would be solving. What is the need of such an The EdTech product in the market? With The EdTech industry bustling with various innovative products, your product should appear as a clear differentiator from its competitors. Also, if you are offering a product which is already out there in the market, your product will fail to attract any buyers. Moreover, no investor would be willing to fund your start-up. Hence, a market reconnaissance is a must to make sure that your product is not a mere simulation of any other product already there in the market. This is one of the most important factors to be considered before diving into the entrepreneurial sea. 4. Setting the price of your product One of the most important decisions that The EdTech entrepreneurs have to take is the pricing of their product. First of all, you should ask yourself a question that what value does the EdTech product is offering to its customers. Many The EdTech start-ups try to price their product close to what their competitors are charging. While this shortcut may save time but the grave error you are committing is not considering the fact that maybe the strategy followed by your competitor might be completely different. Hence, merely imitating might not help. Pricing decisions should only be taken by experimenting your product for some time, taking to the beneficiaries of your product and then some more experiment. Even many big corporations consider pricing a complex task. So take your time in pricing your product as who knows it might eventually help you in securing competitive advantage in the EdTech space. 5. Advertise as efficiently as you can Those who believe that the sole aim of advertising is to increase sales are completely mistaken. Although, it is the most important one there are many other benefits as well. Advertising can prove useful where awareness about your product is very minimal. Sometimes the customer doesn’t know that he or she has a need which your product is fulfilling. Advertising can prove much useful in such cases. Also as in most of the cases with The EdTech product you might be offering something for free which your customer might not be aware of. Hence, you need to advertise in order to communicate the benefits your product might be offering. Social media advertising is a cheap and reliable source of marketing for many The EdTech start-ups. Also, social media advertising can help you in gauging the sentiments of the customers regarding your product. This can help you when coming up with your next product as you can try to work upon the shortcomings. 6. Always be focussed on the objective behind your start-up This helps you in the long run. Staying focused on the reason behind coming up with your start-up can help you in building a strong reputation with your customers. By customers, I mean students, teachers and other educators. Moreover, investors will be willing to invest further in those companies only which remain close to their goal at least in the initial years. Many entrepreneurs also think that by adding new benefits to their product can lead to more and more customers. If your core offering is not able to attract new customers adding any new features will certainly not help. A product needs to be strengthened by working upon its existing core capabilities not by adding more new features. So remaining focused on your goals is mandatory for a start-up especially in the early years. According to me, these are the six most important factors to be kept in mind by any the EdTech start-up enthusiast. You are welcomed to come up with some more points as well. Author: Rohit Manglik, an Edupreneur and Founder-cum-CEO of EduGorilla Community Private Limited, pens articles on fields of education and technology, as he harbors a yearning to transform India’s traditional backdrop of education to fall in line with the one leveraging Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, and Machine Learning, etc.
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