Editor’s Pick: Sqore
Sqore, who focus on connecting students with study abroad and online programmes, won the EdTechXEurope Ecosystem Event in Gothenburg, qualifying them to pitch in the Global Startup Super League. Robert Lyngman, Founder of Sqore, spoke with EdTechX about the inspiration behind staring Sqore.
Why did you start Sqore?
Sqore was founded as we saw an opportunity to make student recruitment smarter for the digital generation. Many interesting study options are foreseen as prospective students simply aren’t aware of them, and high drop-offs are a problem as students take less informed choices where to study as it’s quite hard and time-consuming to do research about what and where to study. Students take decisions based on too few, and sometimes, wrong parameters such as location, reputation, friends and so on, instead of how the program content and format match their needs and aspirations. We wanted to help fix that. In 2015 when we founded Sqore, Sweden had just introduced tuition fees so they needed help to recruit more international students so our timing was just right.
Sqore’s mission is to ‘connect the right educators with the right students’. We want to help more students to discover more programs and make better-informed decisions on where to apply, whilst helping education providers recruit students who are more likely to enrol and graduate.
Tell us more about the tech behind the product
Sqore product is a digital “advisory-quiz” that interviews the user about their interests, aspirations and career goals, as well as educational background. Based on the information the user receives feedback on how well the program matches them, or which out of a range of programs best fits them. The process takes 4 minutes and creates a happy-happy situation; students receive the benefit of honest and personalized study advice, and universities receive contact information and rich data about prospective students to funnel into their communications.
The product is built as a mobile-first website and can be easily implemented as either a traffic conversion tool in a digital marketing campaign or as traffic capturing on the educator’s own websites.
It’s mobile-first as mobile usage is surpassing desktop, especially amongst Millennials and GenZ (58% of all website traffic derives from mobile in 2018 in the US). We measure the success of the product in terms of traffic conversion rates, as well as how well these leads that are captured later convert to applications.
Architecture is tailored to blend into the marketing ecosystem through direct integration to systems including digital marketing platforms, CRM and email systems. Rich data about the user is captured and delivered to CRM systems which allow for personalized, relevant CRM communications and establish a personalized relationship between prospective students and university.
What is the ultimate goal for Sqore?
The ultimate goal is that Sqore products become a natural component in the student’s research phase. All educators should offer the Sqore service to their prospective students as a way for students to 1) discover programs in a relevant way 2) choose the right program and so increase applications and decrease drop-offs.
By 2030 1 billion students should have gone through the Sqore platform in their research phase.
What’s been the hardest thing about getting Sqore off the ground?
The maturity in using digital marketing in recruitment processes varies across educators in the world and not all educators have a marketing strategy and working processes that fit with the Sqore model. To develop relationships with best-fit clients and truly understand their needs to cater to them has taken time. We have been pivoting quite a bit to find the best solution to solve our client’s needs as they can be very different between different universities, schools and other educational institutions.
What piece of advice would you give to other entrepreneurs?
Return on Time (ROT) is an equally important KPI as Return on Investment (ROI). You need to have time goals as well as monetary. Spend time on building and nourish relationships, people do business with people they like. Remember that idea, people, organization, relationships and execution are equally important. You can win on having the same product but the best execution, and at the same time; product uniqueness will not make you successful on its own.
If you’re in tech; don’t build anything that is already available in the market even if it’s “easy” to do — build smart integrations instead. Maintenance and development are a lot more costly than to integrate into systems that already have specialized in the component that you need. Then you can stay focus on developing your core.
Don’t be afraid to pivot, but then again — don’t be afraid to stick to something and turn down deals that don’t fit your solution. Remember that unclear focus is very costly, as you’ll disturb your organization with projects that take time and focus of your core business and you’ll lose a lot of time and money (more than you would initially plan for most likely).
What has the response been like since winning the EdTechX Europe Ecosystem Event in Gothenburg?
Clients and prospective clients have been very interested in hearing about our new product, as we’ve received the attention from EdTechX Europe Ecosystem Event. Many interesting discussions were initiated during the event. It helps us to remain a prominent player in student recruitment innovation.
How do you think support in your country has helped grow your company?
We are a Swedish based company and have since start worked closely with the top Swedish universities, governmental agencies, and students in developing our product.
Why should more people be using Sqore?
Education providers should use Sqore as they’ll see better ROI on their marketing investment. They will also benefit from being seen as able to cater to student needs as they offer the Sqore service to prospective students.
Prospective students should use Sqore in their research phase as they’ll get honest and personalised study advice without hassle in their mobile phones. They will discover more programmes and find a better-fit study option for them. This choice will be a key influencer for the rest of their lives so it should be done properly. It’s a happy-happy: students are more informed and education providers receive more applications.
What do you think are the top tips for success?
Stay focused; don’t lose sight of the goal. Make the goal clear, and make all the people working with you understand and buy into the goal.
Make informed guesses, take a bet on a guess and run with it.
Build relationships with stakeholders.
Founded in 2010, Sqore has now won awards and is represented by over 12 nationalities. The company was founded alongside Robert Lyngman, Gustav Borgefalk, Chu Zhu and Niklas Jungegård when they participated in the Swedish version of the entrepreneurship TV show. “The Dragon’s Den”. You can find out more about Sqore here.
