Reflecting on recent mentoring and RevOps consulting, I’ve assembled the mistakes most often made by Edtech startups (in no particular order):
(1) New features create adoption friction and do not grow customer value. Understand the features that drive user value. Consider not introducing the additional features or packaging them in an add-on module. Follow the user behavior data.
(2) Cannot profitably find prospects and convert them to customers. The attraction part of the buyer journey can be costly in a noisy market like EdTech. Consider niching down to a smaller segment (lower volume and higher prices) if buyers are easier to find and target. Continually work to lower the cost to gain attention and lower the friction to making a purchase.
(3) Don’t use founder opinions instead of market research. Founders are passionate and smart, but they are not a target market. Market research should consist of competitors and non-competitors so you “see” the marketing that buyers “see”. Follow the market data.
(4) Don’t rely on a single GTM strategy, which is like batting 1000. Consider a few related strategies. Keep in mind that your ECP might not be your ICP and create false PMF confidence.
(5) Don’t rely too much on features (the “what”) instead of making the user’s life better (the “why”). Only do demos for “qualified prospects”, who have done key touchpoints. Demos are costly.
(6) Make sure your messaging is clear and differentiated. If another company is already “saying” it, then you should not “say” it. Create an irresistible offer and give them a reason to act now (“10x”). Just “Three Words” should describe and excite. Examples include “student gap finder”, “all education is special”, “learning amplifier”, “ace your tests”, etc.
(7) Don’t just rely on product features to create customer value. Consider community to help teachers and principals/supers break out of their silos.
(8) Don’t publish your pricing. Use multiple pricing models to discover the price the market will bear. It isn’t crazy to adjust your prices upward after each big “win”. Requesting pricing data is another touchpoint. Follow the pricing data.
(9) Have a plan for user research. Get at the scale and scope of the problem (time and money). Understand the jobs to be done and the motivation for a solution. Buying a product is a form of change and change does not come easily to most people. During the research process, strive to understand the sales process. Suss out the most valuable features instead of getting just a long list of wants and needs.
(10) Relentlessly experiment. There are many successful and unsuccessful GTM strategies. You can’t use them directly. They worked at a point in time when there were a different set of companies vying for attention and different school priorities. Use several GTM strategies to discover the most cost-effective buyer journeys. Follow the buyer journey data.
(11) Build brand awareness before you need it. Don’t wait until you have an MVP to start marketing. Start brand building during the research phase. It is easier to pivot a marketing message than an MVP. The best case scenario is to set the buying rules on how your product category is evaluated and purchased.
(12) Build a RevOps automation stack ahead of when you will actually need it. In the early days, founders can overpower the workload. Resist this temptation because it leads to spending precious time incorrectly. Instrument your Saas platform to provide operational data. User behavior will inform marketing, customer retention and product development. Do what increases value for customer. Follow the RevOps data.
Favorite data-oriented quotes:
“90% of success correlates with having the correct data. The remaining
10% could be a lucky coincidence” — Maja Voje
“In God we trust, all others must bring data” — William Edwards Deming
“What is the purpose of analytics? To protect you from lying to yourself “ — Alistar Croll and Ben Yoskovitz
“Good analytics is the best friend of great decision-making — John R. Talburt
“Research is what I’m doing when I don’t know what I’m doing” — Wernher von Braun
“Assumption is the mother of all mistakes” — Eugene Lewis Fordsworthe
