Edtech investments reached a remarkable peak in 2018 when the industry raised $1.45 billion—matching the total that flowed into the market in 2015. While that level of funding signals strong interest, venture capital alone is not a reliable indicator of long-term success for education startups.
Many entrepreneurs are choosing to avoid traditional investor relationships because the expectations tied to outside capital often clash with founders’ original visions. When companies change direction primarily to satisfy investors, they can quickly exhaust resources and fail to deliver meaningful results for students and teachers.
If you are an education entrepreneur trying to enter the field, remember this: technology is not the only area where teachers need help. True educational impact is measured first by student learning outcomes, not by revenue, app downloads, or subscription counts. Products should be designed to improve learning, not just to capitalize on buzzwords.
For entrepreneurs without classroom experience, it’s important to recognize that teachers need support in many practical, human-centered ways beyond the familiar Silicon Valley terminology—personalized learning, gamification, or virtual classrooms. None of these alone can solve the complex problems schools face.
Every student arrives in a classroom with a unique background and set of needs. Effective solutions must account for this diversity. Key factors to consider when designing education products or services include:
- Preferred learning styles and how individual students learn best
- Multiple intelligences and varied cognitive strengths
- Different academic levels and readiness
- Prior knowledge and exposure to subject matter
- Cultural differences and identity
- Language proficiency, including English as a Second Language or bilingual learners
- Demographic influences
- Socioeconomic circumstances
- Personality traits—introversion, extroversion, and social comfort
- Family situations and home stability
- Mental health challenges and emotional needs
- Varying life experiences before entering school
Effective education depends on strong relationships between teachers and students, robust social and emotional development, and authentic learning outcomes that transfer to real-life contexts. Classrooms that nurture peer interaction, constructive friendships, collaborative project work, problem solving, creativity, critical thinking, and clear communication give students the best chance to succeed.
Education entrepreneurs need to integrate with schools and collaborate with educators—not merely aim to disrupt the system.
Startups that want to make a lasting difference should pick one clear problem to solve, do deep research, and co-design solutions with teachers and school leaders. Narrow focus often produces richer, more practical tools that fit existing classroom workflows rather than broad products that promise to “fix” an entire educational ecosystem.
Education is messy and complex. It involves countless human dynamics and local constraints that no single technological product can resolve. Technology can amplify great teaching and streamline administrative tasks, but it cannot replace the human compassion, trust, and professional judgment that teachers provide.
Consider a young child experiencing school for the first time: what matters most is feeling safe, secure, and cared for. No app can fully replace the presence of a compassionate adult who comforts a nervous child and facilitates that critical first learning experience outside the home.
Schools exist to educate students, and the core metric for educators is healthy student outcomes. Too often teachers spend valuable time learning to use technology products that offer little classroom value. These initiatives can fade quickly; platforms and tools may end up unused, while schools assume they are “modern” simply because devices or software are present.
Entrepreneurs who look beyond the popular tech bubble and pay attention to the everyday needs of classroom culture can create solutions with real demand. Practical, high-impact areas to explore include professional development, teacher coaching and support, mental health services for students and staff, curriculum design aligned to classroom realities, behavior and classroom management strategies, and tools to support equitable fundraising and resource allocation.
These focus areas may seem modest compared to flashy edtech promises, but they can deliver substantial improvements in learning and school climate. If you’ve developed an education product, consider expanding beyond purely technological features and invest in human-centered services that help teachers and students thrive.
In future articles I will share concrete ideas and hear directly from teachers about the supports they need—especially as the school year begins. For entrepreneurs ready to make a difference, listening to classrooms and collaborating with educators is the most reliable path to impact.
This article was originally published on my Forbes column.