Empowering
EdTech
Entrepreneurs
— ROLE
Product Designer (Strategy, UX Research)
— SKILLS
Research
User Interviews
Data Analysis/Synthesis
— DATE
03/2021
Save the Children is a global organisation that gives a powerful voice to children around the world and champions their rights. Their work tackles all issues affecting children including access to health and education, saving lives in a disaster, stopping climate change and protecting children from harm.
the brief
The Save The Children Investment Fund had recently secured funding to search for investment targets. The Fund targets For-Purpose organizations that deliver social outcomes and provide value back to Save The Children. EdTech was seen as a promising market segment, but the Fund needed more information to find the right EdTech organizations to invest in.
project
overview
My primary tasks were:
1. To research the needs and drivers of EdTech entrepreneurs (the customers) so that the Impact Fund (the product) could better attract and close investment opportunities.
2. To research the adoption of EdTech innovations by target customers so that the Fund could better assess investment opportunities/coach the entrepreneurs along their journey once they invested in them.
As this project was solely focussed on UX Research, the deliverable/output was a two-sided research report which explored the requirements of Save The Children’s Impact Investment Fund, as well as the EdTech market as a whole. I was to provide recommendations which analysed and provided guidance to Save The Children in relation to which EdTech organisations could align to their investment goals. The main business objectives of the Impact Investment Fund were:
1. social impact
To prove the social impacts of investments made and help businesses grow in ways they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to
2. financial return
- To generate a financial return for investors in the fund
3. set a precedent
- To set a precedent and demonstrate how charities can get involved in the impact investing space
Contact
email@domain.com
000-000-000
hypothesis
After an initial chat with the primary stakeholder, the Head of the Impact Investment Fund, my hypothesis was that Save The Children had a significant role to play in scaling up these EdTech startups. Using this as my basis, I further assumed that many small EdTech startups were in need of help from larger organisations such as Save The Children in regards to networking, funding, support, resources, and scaling. This helped me create my research statement…
{ To better understand how EdTech companies operate, think about looking for investors, gain traction, and seek support/resources in order to grow and scale up rapidly, thus helping their own users, i.e. teachers/students/policy makers/people using their technology }
research goals
No research project is ready without setting out foundational goals:
- 1. Learn about the needs of Save The Children’s Impact Investment Fund
- 2. Discover more about the decision making and general operations of EdTech companies in regards to their growth within the market
- 3. Learn about the current pain points, frustrations, barriers, goals, and visions of the EdTech market
- 4. Create recommendations for how Save The Children could marry their values with the needs of the EdTech startup market
method
- • Seven interviews with members of various EdTech organisations from across the market board (30-60 minute sessions) were conducted
- • One interview with a subject matter expert was conducted
• Sessions varied from one-on-one to small groups, depending on how the interviewees were sourced.
• A mix of demographics was preferred but not essential. Users were primarily from different segments within the EdTech market and there was no one segment favoured – this was an attempt to make the sample group as broad as possible, however due to the small sample size it was difficult to attain a true representation of the market spectrum.
- • Remote recorded sessions (via Zoom) were later transcribed by programs such as Otter or Dovetail and then reviewed and coded in order to aid in synthesis
synthesis
Once analysis of the interviews was completed, the process of affinity mapping began in order to synthesise the data. From here, I began breaking down the problems that affect users most acutely in order to uncover common insights, create user archetypes/personas, customer journey maps, and creative solutions.
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archetypes/
personas
- Archetypes and personas were created as behavioural embodiments of the target customers, in this case the EdTech founders/entrepreneurs. As generic characters borne from the amalgamated collation of all the data gathered, they were intended to give a more accurate and specific view of customer behaviours, needs, pains, and gains
insights
the entrepreneur
Advisory support is more beneficial than financial support – it opens doors, not wallets.
Getting government recognition at a policy level is a necessity which companies need help with.
Financing and raising capital is/was not seen as a major need or barrier for startups.
Most, if not all, businesses either started or pivoted to a B2B business model.
There is a large imbalance between supply and demand of features and developers.
the expert
Not all schools, students, and products are homogeneous.
EdTech is not a panacea, its a tool.
There is a need to engage on a policy level to
make effective change.
set a precedent
- To set a precedent and demonstrate how charities can get involved in the impact investing space
Contact
email@domain.com
000-000-000
recommendations
In order to further validate the findings of the report, more research was of paramount importance. Whilst these findings were highly productive, useful, and insightful, there were too many variables to consider such research definitively conclusive. Additionally, networking and advisory support, as well as governmental recognition and navigating red tape-filled bureaucracy were all major issues which needed addressing. Three major recommendation areas were provided, including; research, external activity (between startups and other startups or between startups and government), and investment.