AMA about Edtechs

This currently only surviving on VC money and I think this has done more harm than good to the society. Education can’t be scaled very fast, it needs time and patience. At the end edtech can create value, but not necessarily money. Education should be a social good and shouldn’t be seen as a traditional business. Things can change if people who actually teach can start running these companies as well.

Rapid scaling is bad. Perfecting to teach for outcomes, takes time. Edtechs can move faster than universities but not at their current pace.

Because they don’t perfect their product and straightaway jump into selling. Also most run on venture capital, there is an unrealistic vc greed that they need to chase. Easiest short term fix for them is to splurge on marketing and sales.

In K12 your user and buyer are different. Student, who is your primary user and engaged in your product does not have purchasing power. Parents have hardly interacted with your product and the sales person becomes in picture

The thought behind these ventures is not really bad, but the moment you have very traditional management running the show, things start falling apart. I don’t know the team in these two companies so can’t comment, but believe educators with managerial talent, should be running the show.

Hard skills like coding, certain kind of mathematics can still be taught online. Management I believe is tough to pull off.

Online MBA's/CBC edtechs are like long-distance relationships that last for a few months. Accha lagta hai but hota kuch nahi.