Defining Success in EdTech

Caity Doyle’s post last week (Are Most Edtech Startups Doomed to Fail?) got me thinking. What does success mean? And are we on the right track?

I think of us at Flat World as more EdTech then Publishing. I think we deserve that distinction. We are as much of a platform as we are a content provider. We are our own distributor. As of this fall, we have more paid digital usage than print usage. No traditional publisher can claim any of those things.

In the embedded article on Wikispaces, check out James Byers and Adam Frey’s definition of success:

“We define success in ed-tech as building a sustainable company that improves student outcomes, empowers teachers, and increases the reach and efficiency of educational institutions.”

My summary:

1. Sustainable. The business has to thrive.
2. Outcomes. Students have to succeed.
3. Empowerment. Educators have full control. 
4. Efficiency. The platform provides lightness.

Not different at all from what we’ve been talking about at Flat World, though we haven’t hit fully on all cylinders yet. 

1. Sustainable. We made a big move towards sustainability with Free to Fair. 
2. Outcomes. Affordability = more access. More access + personalization = more student success.
3. Empowerment. Personalization at your own desktop in a unique-to-the-industry editing platform for full control of content. 
4. Efficiency. No army of sales reps, no “custom publishing” division, no warehouse with unused stock.

And as new CEO Chris Etesse says, the foundation for all 4 is the company culture and the team you field. I think that includes authors and customers too—if we’re doing it right.