To help kick off the new year, we sit down with Sandro Olivieri, Executive Director of Project FoundED, a community of EdTech founders committed to empowering entrepreneurs and educators to rethink the EdTech landscape. During our chat, Sandro reinforces why EdTech is different from other business models, shares how the pandemic has been a mixed blessing for the industry, and reminds us all to keep educators in the driver's seat. If you like what you read, listen to the entire episode (embedded above or check out all of the links at the bottom of the page). To whet your appetite, we're sharing some of best nuggets of wisdom.
What's Different About the EdTech Business Model
Sandro started his career in general consumer technology and faced a steep learning curve once he started applying that experience to the EdTech industry. "One of the primary things that we assume is this idea of product-market fit," he said. "And that just doesn’t happen in EdTech. Your buyer in EdTech is almost never your user. You could iterate as much as you want with your users, but you’re not iterating with the folks making the decision about how they’re going to give you money." In other words, the end-users are educators who sadly have little or no disposable income for tools developed to benefit them.
Sandro continued, "It’s more interesting to me to work on the problem of how do I influence educational institutions, districts, and states to think differently about how to better support educators in the classroom, by making it easier for them to make choices about the technology they should use in the classroom, and to adopt it and implement it." He prefers this top-down approach over making it easier for teachers to spend their own money on tech products.
"And I always have to kick myself in the pants and say, 'Don’t forget students. Don’t forget the learners,'" he added. "They are such a critical component. Because if we’ve learned anything over the last two years, it’s that if the kid in front of it at that moment is not engaged in it, it’s game over. And so, at least one of the components we consider has to be engagement."
Reframing and Reclaiming the Narrative in EdTech
Thanks to the pandemic-driven rise of remote learning, EdTech is currently a growth market. It should be a win-win, yet Sandro's work with early-stage entrepreneurs gives him a perspective that might surprise some.
"I felt in my gut that this was not going to be a good thing for EdTech," he admitted. "I knew that the dominant narrative was going to be about how this is EdTech’s golden age. The reality is that so many companies based on in-classroom interactions, dealing with teachers directly, etc. have either already closed their doors or had to pivot to direct-to-consumer models. Investors are feeling like that’s the only place for them to make money. What is being left by the wayside are technology tools designed to be implemented in the K-12 classroom and higher ed. We’re allowing investors to dictate the kind of EdTech that will win in this market by making it so excruciatingly difficult to adopt EdTech at a school or a district or a state."
As industry expectations equate impact with sales, Sandro believes that EdTech entrepreneurs should keep their eye on true innovation, however tempting the bottom line looks. "We need more investors in EdTech thinking critically about what their investment means," he said. "The reality is that all it takes to win is investment. If you get that, you’re going to have a real decent shot at winning. So you’ve got to be able to tell a good story. We are still in such early just stages of EdTech adoption. It’s going to be a long time before you’re going to butt up against a ton of competition in the market for your particular product."
Sandro thinks the best strategy is making EdTech buyers aware that a) there are options beyond the products they already know, and b) how and why those options are better. He proposed, "We’re going to create new channels for discoverability for impactful EdTech and keep educators in the driver’s seat of discovering that EdTech. And I don’t think there need to be only two or three winners in education. It’s a big industry and there’s lots of room for lots of winners."
Including Educator Voices in EdTech Product Decisions
People often lose sight of the practitioners and advocates who make education possible: educators. We love that Sandro shares our passion for representing educator voices in all aspects of education, including how EdTech products are created.
"I think taking educators out of the driver’s seat of deciding what gets implemented in the classroom is the biggest mistake we could possibly make in education," he stated. "Education is an industry that runs on authenticity and trust. And educators better than anyone can sniff people out that are not authentically involved in the endeavor of educating our kids." He advocates brand recognition strategies based on authenticity: "Build communities of educators that have seen your product or at least like what you’re saying. Be seen as an expert in your niche."
Sandro wants to put a human face on EdTech company founders, reminding us, "They’re former educators, parents, students, folks that have lived experience in education. They’ve seen a problem, and they’ve created a solution. They have a shared goal of educating kids." But thanks to the nature of product marketing, what could be a community of "us" is often forced into an "us and them" dynamic.
"You have more power than you think," he assured teachers. "When it comes to the EdTech market, there’s nothing more influential than teacher’s voice. I would encourage you to connect personally with the founders of EdTech companies and get all the sales talk out of it. Keeping educators in the driver’s seat of deciding what happens in their classroom starts with creating new channels of discoverability for educators in EdTech. But also, with just letting educators know that they continue to be the most powerful and influential force in education. Period, full stop."
Speaking as a parent, Sandro added, "You have influence in the EdTech ecosystem. That’s just a tool that you use to do one of the most important jobs in our entire society, which is educating our youth. You have all my respect and all my love.”
Take a look at the full transcript of Sandro’s podcast episode.
Note: This interview was originally recorded on December 10, 2021, as part of the All Things Education and Marketing podcast hosted by Elana Leoni.
Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
Episode Skeleton (use this to jump to the parts you want to listen to):
[00:52] A little bit about Sandro
[6:01] Assumptions people make about the EdTech industry
[7:21] Product-market fit for the EdTech industry
[8:03] “Your buyer in EdTech is almost never your end user.”
[8:54] EdTech is not just another sector in the tech industry
[12:02] “Don’t forget the students. Don’t forget the learners.”
[16:07] The problem with investors in EdTech
[20:30] Start building your revenue as soon as possible
[23:23] Educator voice in which EdTech products win
[27:52] “We need more investors in EdTech to be thinking critically about what their investment means.”
[29:45] Creating more channels for discovery
[32:20] The importance of authenticity in EdTech marketing
[35:19] Trends of individualized methods of learning during the pandemic
[37:30] Research about why some marginalized groups trend toward homeschooling and blended learning methods.
[42:32] EdTech companies creating authentic relationships with educators (instead of cold calling)
[47:35] Navigating EdTech trends approaching the end of the pandemic
[49:32] How to get in touch with Sandro / Project FoundEd
[50:52] How does Sandro stay inspired?
Elana Leoni, Host
Elana Leoni has dedicated the majority of her career to improving K-12 education. Prior to founding LCG, she spent eight years leading the marketing and community strategy for the George Lucas Educational Foundation where she grew Edutopia’s social media presence exponentially to reach over 20 million education change-makers every month.
Sandro Olivieri, Guest
Sandro is the Co-Founder & CEO of Project FoundED - a community of EdTech entrepreneurs dedicated to ensuring our industry stays focused on equitable learning outcomes for all learners. Sandro believes that in our eventual attainment of these equitable learning outcomes, technology will have played a key role. He is happy to die on this hill. He loves building new things that help others build new things - especially when these things have a positive social impact. Since starting up Project FoundED less than a year ago, the community has grown to almost 700 EdTech organizations, and growing. Sandro lives with his wife and three daughters in Berkeley, CA.
About All Things Marketing and Education
What if marketing was judged solely by the level of value it brings to its audience? Welcome to All Things Marketing and Education, a podcast that lives at the intersection of marketing and you guessed it, education. Each week, Elana Leoni, CEO of Leoni Consulting Group, highlights innovative social media marketing, community-building, and content marketing strategies that can significantly increase brand awareness, engagement, and revenue.
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