Quote:
Originally Posted by kablooey
Revamping Math Education with Cognitive Sciences
Cognitive sciences can revolutionize education the same way biological sciences revolutionized medicine.
JUMP Math is already making this happen in math education and, as far as I know, they are the only ones in the world which can honestly claim breakthrough results on a consistent basis, shattering previous paradigms about math and student potential, especially the ones that appear hopeless in math.
But JUMP focuses entirely on Grades 1-8.
I've had some big "JUMP-style" successes, such as helping a severely troubled 13-year-old go from 8 + 3 = 11 to acing a Pythagorean Theorem test in just 9 months. (This is not an isolated case; JUMP is doing this for zillions of kids and I've done it for a bunch myself.) Along the way, I've found that improving math education is why I was born. It's what I love to do and I'm making a living out of it now. Currently, though, I work almost exclusively 1-on-1 and am self-employed. My schedule is so full that I've told clients I can no longer accept referrals.
It's time to scale.
I'd like to start making JUMP-style lesson plans, workbooks, and other support materials, but for grades 9-12 and introductory calculus courses.
According to most sources (I, II, III, etc.) the next step is to find lead users, i.e. teachers who are already aching for better a way to teach high school math. Then I make a piece of crap to begin with ASAP (lead users tolerate initial crappiness) and iterate until I have something that they consider a breakthrough.
Questions:- Can you think of other/better ways for me to scale my work?
- How do I find lead users? Is there a standard process for doing this? Or a standard way of doing it in the education industry?
- How should I find partners/employees/advisers/etc? (I already to know to only work with "A players" but that means tomorrow at 9am I [insert first step].)
- Aside from finding first customers and seeing what/when/if they buy, what else should I do?
Any other feedback would be greatly appreciated!
p.s. I envision my business as a benefit corporation, of which I will own 100%... if I'm so luck to have the money pour in, I'll probably convert it to a non-profit after I've made a few million.
I come from a family of educators and have worked with a handful of education startups (one tutoring, one textbook creation) so this kind of stuff is really cool to me.
That said, a very smart guy once told me that the two things rich people are mostly likely to dump money in to once they get "shameful rich" are education and the environment. What that means is that there is a ton of money out there chasing new education techniques and products, but also a lot of people who are doing it to feel better about themselves and probably aren't going to be as serious about it as the entrepreneur is.
Now, getting to your questions:
1) Can you think of other/better ways for me to scale my work?
I would focus on creating your material and getting as much feedback as possible from teachers. Most public school teachers' emails are available on the school websites or, if not, you can pretty easily figure out the naming convention and guess them.
2) How do I find lead users? Is there a standard process for doing this? Or a standard way of doing it in the education industry?
Do you live where you grew up and remember any great teachers from your high school days? Are any of your friends teachers? Do you have friends with kids/siblings/anything in high schools close by?
Are you near a college that has an education major? Talk to some of those kids, they're still enamored with the idea of teaching for the rest of their lives and actually caring about the outcomes
3) How should I find partners/employees/advisers/etc? (I already to know to only work with "A players" but that means tomorrow at 9am I [insert first step].)
That's a damn good question. And unfortunately not one I've found a failsafe answer to. A lot of it is just going to mean getting out in the community and meeting people.
I know that's an "obvious" answer, but figure out where the startup crowd in your area hangs out and start going to their events. I've been to these things in a bunch of cities and it's super rare that anyone is an *******.
But don't go and just start asking everyone for help. Really care about the community, hang out and talk to people the first few times. They'll ask what you're working on, you'll have plenty of chances to explain what you're doing and what you need. But one of the few things I've seen turn a lot of people off is when a new guy shows up and tries to either a) sell a bunch people whatever he's doing (especially if it's a service provider) or b) begs for help from everyone without making a connection.
4)Aside from finding first customers and seeing what/when/if they buy, what else should I do?
What exactly are you selling and who are you selling it to?
Are you selling materials to teachers? If so, do teachers get to set their own curriculums or is it set by the school/county/state?
Are you selling to parents? They're going to be more difficult to find and target if you only want parents who are interested in helping their students' math abilities. Plus their price point is probably lower.
Are you selling to other tutors? This may not be a bad move, and would allow you to basically license your materials to tutors without having the annoying piece of actually growing your own business and employing other tutors.
But most important, none of those choices would inhibit you from selling through another channel later.
By the way, if you're full and turning people away, charge more. I know it's uncomfortable to think about, but it's almost certainly the right move.
My stepmom is a highly desired dance/tumbling/cheerleading coach in the North ATL suburbs and I'm constantly trying to get her to raise her rates. She upped hourly rate for private lessons 30% and didn't lose a single client because she was able to explain what she was doing and why.