Growing an edtech business
My Role
As Product Manager at Nearpod, I worked with our multidisciplinary team to take the company's first supplemental add-on from conception to launch. I developed our minimum viable product (MVP), formulated our go-to-market strategy, and trained our sales team.
See what I built: https://nearpod.com/ELL
Evolution
Nearpod is widely used edtech tool in U.S. school districts. In 2018, Nearpod won the Edtech Digest Company of the Year. Today, Nearpod is used in 75% of all public school districts. Nearpod began as a platform for teachers to upload and distribute digital lessons in the form of interactive slides. Since then, the company has expanded with virtual realty, games, and thousands pre-made, fully customizable lessons.
I joined Nearpod in 2017 after the company raised its first series B funding of $21M. I was tasked to build out a new product vertical in the U.S. K-12 English learner content space. This new product would allow Nearpod to expand growth at the district level. At a time when the company began shifting from school-based sales to district-wide ramp-ups, my work would give our company an entry point to engage district-level decision makers.
My challenge was delivering an innovative and differentiated solution while balancing internal resource constraints of a young company. I conducted user research and discovery calls to understand gaps. These calls allowed me to design prototypes. Next, I engaged our content team to define which prototypes were feasible and the timeline to scale production. Within 3 months, we began selling a demo kit comprised of content that we could standardize at-scale and some that were more bespoke. Gradually, I transitioned from selling in the field to a sales enablement role, creating customized collateral and reports and attending strategic client meetings. In these meetings, I brought subject matter expertise on pedagogy and implementation.
Achievements
Expanded product to 120+ school districts including 5 of the nation’s top 10 largest school districts.
Achieved 60% year-over-year revenue growth; resulted in $4.5M from new product sales and cross-selling.
Led product implementation and research study in the lowest performing district in FL (7K students); achieved 2.8% growth in state test scores compared to 1.1% state average; turned one school’s state rankings from “D” to “B” after year 1.
Takeaways
As someone who had never been a teacher, I validated that I can bring powerful insights to educators from other aspects of my training.
Don't let perfect be the enemy of the good when building a product from zero to one.
How to use my natural "connector" abilities to quickly learn to sell and even train others on it.
Have confidence in engaging top leaders of the nation's largest urban school districts.
The importance of building capacity across the team to sustain impact.
Growing an edtech business
My Role
As Product Manager at Nearpod, I worked with our multidisciplinary team to take the company's first supplemental add-on from conception to launch. I developed our minimum viable product (MVP), formulated our go-to-market strategy, and trained our sales team.
See what I built: https://nearpod.com/ELL
Evolution
Nearpod is widely used edtech tool in U.S. school districts. In 2018, Nearpod won the Edtech Digest Company of the Year. Today, Nearpod is used in 75% of all public school districts. Nearpod began as a platform for teachers to upload and distribute digital lessons in the form of interactive slides. Since then, the company has expanded with virtual realty, games, and thousands pre-made, fully customizable lessons.
I joined Nearpod in 2017 after the company raised its first series B funding of $21M. I was tasked to build out a new product vertical in the U.S. K-12 English learner content space. This new product would allow Nearpod to expand growth at the district level. At a time when the company began shifting from school-based sales to district-wide ramp-ups, my work would give our company an entry point to engage district-level decision makers.
My challenge was delivering an innovative and differentiated solution while balancing internal resource constraints of a young company. I conducted user research and discovery calls to understand gaps. These calls allowed me to design prototypes. Next, I engaged our content team to define which prototypes were feasible and the timeline to scale production. Within 3 months, we began selling a demo kit comprised of content that we could standardize at-scale and some that were more bespoke. Gradually, I transitioned from selling in the field to a sales enablement role, creating customized collateral and reports and attending strategic client meetings. In these meetings, I brought subject matter expertise on pedagogy and implementation.
Achievements
Expanded product to 120+ school districts including 5 of the nation’s top 10 largest school districts.
Achieved 60% year-over-year revenue growth; resulted in $4.5M from new product sales and cross-selling.
Led product implementation and research study in the lowest performing district in FL (7K students); achieved 2.8% growth in state test scores compared to 1.1% state average; turned one school’s state rankings from “D” to “B” after year 1.
Takeaways
As someone who had never been a teacher, I validated that I can bring powerful insights to educators from other aspects of my training.
Don't let perfect be the enemy of the good when building a product from zero to one.
How to use my natural "connector" abilities to quickly learn to sell and even train others on it.
Have confidence in engaging top leaders of the nation's largest urban school districts.
The importance of building capacity across the team to sustain impact.
Growing an edtech business
My Role
As Product Manager at Nearpod, I worked with our multidisciplinary team to take the company's first supplemental add-on from conception to launch. I developed our minimum viable product (MVP), formulated our go-to-market strategy, and trained our sales team.
See what I built: https://nearpod.com/ELL
Evolution
Nearpod is widely used edtech tool in U.S. school districts. In 2018, Nearpod won the Edtech Digest Company of the Year. Today, Nearpod is used in 75% of all public school districts. Nearpod began as a platform for teachers to upload and distribute digital lessons in the form of interactive slides. Since then, the company has expanded with virtual realty, games, and thousands pre-made, fully customizable lessons.
I joined Nearpod in 2017 after the company raised its first series B funding of $21M. I was tasked to build out a new product vertical in the U.S. K-12 English learner content space. This new product would allow Nearpod to expand growth at the district level. At a time when the company began shifting from school-based sales to district-wide ramp-ups, my work would give our company an entry point to engage district-level decision makers.
My challenge was delivering an innovative and differentiated solution while balancing internal resource constraints of a young company. I conducted user research and discovery calls to understand gaps. These calls allowed me to design prototypes. Next, I engaged our content team to define which prototypes were feasible and the timeline to scale production. Within 3 months, we began selling a demo kit comprised of content that we could standardize at-scale and some that were more bespoke. Gradually, I transitioned from selling in the field to a sales enablement role, creating customized collateral and reports and attending strategic client meetings. In these meetings, I brought subject matter expertise on pedagogy and implementation.
Achievements
Expanded product to 120+ school districts including 5 of the nation’s top 10 largest school districts.
Achieved 60% year-over-year revenue growth; resulted in $4.5M from new product sales and cross-selling.
Led product implementation and research study in the lowest performing district in FL (7K students); achieved 2.8% growth in state test scores compared to 1.1% state average; turned one school’s state rankings from “D” to “B” after year 1.
Takeaways
As someone who had never been a teacher, I validated that I can bring powerful insights to educators from other aspects of my training.
Don't let perfect be the enemy of the good when building a product from zero to one.
How to use my natural "connector" abilities to quickly learn to sell and even train others on it.
Have confidence in engaging top leaders of the nation's largest urban school districts.
The importance of building capacity across the team to sustain impact.