4 Principles of Advice to Education Start-Ups

In talking with many startups, and working with quite a few, we see some consistent challenges. Here’s a brief look at some of our advice to early stage education companies. We know this is tough work. We know this is tiring. So we’re boiling it down to 4 principles in one brief post.

Execute & Automate

Getting things done, meeting goals and objectives is critical in any organization---but most critical in a startup. While prioritizing execution, it's imperative to build systems and processes that 'automate' the business to lessen the individual workload and improve efficiency of practice. It's this efficiency and replicability that investors want to see in order to help scale the business. As you know, savvy investors won't make a significant commitment until they can see how the business works, how it repeats, and how their money will deliver ROI on productivity and earnings.

Build the Vehicle

Every organization needs a concerted revenue effort. But they also need marketing, account management, development, and operations. Defining these functions, planning for these functions, aligning, and then staffing them is a vitally important step for any organization with intentions for growth. Potential investors will insist on knowing how these functions operate and what their capital will do to accelerate growth and scale.

Put the Right People in Seats

People should be focused on what they're uniquely capable of doing. Should everyone understand how their role impacts revenue? Yes, 100%. But everyone shouldn't be doing sales---just like everyone shouldn't code or handle accounting. This is the challenge of creating and staffing specific roles that contribute significantly to growth in meaningful ways.

Steve Jobs famously quoted: It doesn't make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do, we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do".

Prioritize the Work

All organizations, especially startups, need to focus on simple solutions that have the greatest impact. When you're lean, you have to focus on projects and tasks that have the greatest ROI. In many situations, the key is identifying the most critical problem and finding the simplest solution that has the greatest impact.

Most startups don't starve. They overeat. When everything represents an opportunity it's easy to pursue it all.

To get to scale quickly, everyone should be focused on work that's a ‘best’ use of time. Because there’s typically so much to do, everything is a ‘good’ use of time. Some efforts are a better use of time. Focusing on 'best' will foster individual growth and help accelerate organization growth.

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