What Silicon Valley Needs to Know About K-12

Almost monthly, we hear stories of companies who are raising insane amounts of money before they have earned a dollar. We also hear about companies who are being rolled up into bigger companies so that “school districts across the country benefit from our comprehensive offerings”.

Having spent equal time as a “real” educator and as an edtech executive, there are a few things that Silicon Valley needs to know about investing in the K-12 space.

In the spirit of offering some advice, let me share with you some insight on how the investment community can ensure that their efforts are beneficial to K-12 schools while also being good business decisions.

Understand that revolutionizing education does not mean replacing teachers with technology

If you truly believe that your app, platform, robot, or tool, simply by having educators use it, is going to revolutionize the K-12 education industry, you are wrong. I don’t care what your platform is. Education will be revolutionized by the human beings who work in schools each day to help students achieve their personal best. The very most your product can do is make the human interactions that happen all day every day in K-12 more meaningful.

How do you know if your company falls into the “we are revolutionizing education” category? Your website or sales presentations use any of the following messages:

• We are a game-changer
• “All you need to do is…..”
• Read our press release about new clients

You see, a current inventory of edtech marketing would find that there are currently hundreds of “game-changing” apps out there. And, if everything is changing the game, nothing is changing the game.

When non-educators say, “all you need to do is….” to a room full of teachers who will walk back to a classroom with sixty eyeballs looking at them, “all you need to do….” is a pretty big task. But, if you haven’t done it, you wouldn’t know.

Don’t minimize the role of the humans who work in schools by proclaiming your edtech tool as revolutionary.

True innovation in education doesn’t start with venture capital

A wise VC once told me, “we don’t invest in ideas”. I liked that. When companies are unable to get multiple school districts, at least, to give them taxpayer dollars year-over-year, there is a problem. Either the market doesn’t think that their product is solving a problem worth paying for, or the edtech company or investor doesn’t truly get how schools work.

While books, TED talks, and articles can be a great resource for learning about education, nothing can replace the experience one gets when spending hundreds of school days doing the hard work that K-12 educators do each day.

There is no better way to understand market problems and innovative business opportunities than to work in a school because you have an immediate product/market fit by having empathy for users. This becomes the fabric of your product and can lead to evolutionary change which seems to be a better model for transforming education than revolutionary change, which will likely lead to resistance.

Spend more time in classrooms and less time in board meetings

Not everyone is cut out to be a teacher, principal, or district leader. So, if you haven’t spent time working in a school, get to one…..now! And, don’t ask to talk to the edtech-loving teacher who is open to trying anything. He or she will love your product. Go find my Auntie Diane (or someone like her). She taught Home Economics for 39 years and won’t use your product. Understand how to help her, show her how she will benefit from your tool, and you’ve solved a billion dollar (and maybe even priceless) problem.

What are some other ways that the venture capital industry can better support the K-12 community? I look forward to hearing your thoughts.