Education and Business Revisited

A while ago, I wrote Education and Business: A Tough Combo.

What's changed since then? Not much, actually. I think that technology and business are still a tough combo.

About all that's changed is how much I've seen. A few years ago, I had an epiphany about the nature of customers and users. Most people probably figured it out way before I did, but....

Few (hopefully none) of Alpo's users are customers and vice versa. Similarly, edtech companies need to think hard about who their customers are (who will write the checks) and who their users are. For many edtech companies, the customers are schools or school districts, while the users are teachers and/or students. Every company needs to think hard about these groups and design a product and messaging that resonate with each.

Snehal Patel (whom I met while he was selling Sokikom) seems to have learned this as well. What I Learned From Building and Exiting 2 Companies (Part 1) seems pretty on-point. He's been pretty darn successful at this difficult intersection of business and education, and it's great that he's willing to share his lessons learned.