The Exciting Field of EduTech: Rife With Innovation

The Exciting Field of EduTech: Rife With Innovation
Stop The Insanity And Start Profiting
7 Questions to Close A Year Strong and Start Another Stronger
Small Businesses Perform Above Average in Holiday Season

Posted: 27 Dec 2012 11:00 AM PST

For years, I have patiently waited for innovation in educational technologies, otherwise known as edu tech. For a variety of reasons, the field simply didn't take off in the last two decades.

But this decade, I think, it is showing signs of a real, exciting, renaissance. Whether it is in the massively open online courses like Khan Academy and MIT's OCW or edX, or various tablet and smartphone applications that are enriching the field, we're seeing serious, high velocity action.

Today I would like to introduce you to three startups that have started showing good traction.

Avaz

edu tech In 2008, Ajit Narayanan, based in Chennai, India, was approached by Vidya Sagar, an Indian NGO focusing on children with special needs, and asked to design an assistive technology device that would address the marked absence of tools for children with the inability to speak (non-verbal children). In 2009, the Avaz tablet was born.

Riding the wave of more successful tablet releases, Ajit transitioned Avaz to the mobile app format, releasing an Android-compatible version in 2010 and an iPad app in 2012. The app helps non-verbal children – in particular those with autism – to communicate by reworking information and language into easier-to-understand pictures. Following the child's evaluation with a therapist, Avaz is recommended for purchase and introduced through therapy sessions until it is fully integrated into the child's life.

While several apps on the market target communication development, Avaz is unique in its focus on autism. Avaz takes a holistic view of language and is easy to customize, making it extremely effective in combination with existing therapies.

In addition to his keen foresight that tablets themselves would become an integral part of life, Ajit sought to improve previous iterations of assistive technology apps by focusing on aesthetics, and not just on features. It paid off, earning Avaz the rank of #1 speech assistive device/app in India, and it is quickly becoming a favorite of speech therapists in the U.S., Australia and Europe. Avaz received the National Award for Empowerment of People with Disabilities from the President of India in 2010, and also placed Ajit on MIT's TR35 list of transformative young inventors.

eHighlighter

edu tech No stranger to entrepreneurship, Parker Holcomb numbers Research Habits Digital, a startup focusing on optimizing the discovery, research and collaboration process in academia through mobile app creation, as his third venture to date. Its flagship product, eHighlighter, launched August of this year, and brings the searchable and annotative benefits of ebooks to hard copy notes.

Parker's first company, All College Storage, began in 2007 during his freshman year at Amherst College. Providing summer storage and shipping, business has now expanded to include 14 colleges and boarding schools spanning the East Coast of the U.S. Parker has since opened an extension branch operating under similar principles, All College Laundry, and operates both under the parent company All College, Inc.

It was a lifelong passion for technology, and a belief in the ubiquitous application of mobile technology in the classroom, that inspired Research Habits Digital and eHighlighter. After surveying his fellow students to discover an overwhelming majority of them still preferred studying from paper – it was less distracting, easier to read and highlight – and in fact only derived benefit from the ability to search and annotate on computers, Parker decided to combine the two. With the motto "eBooks benefits. Paper sources," eHighlighter uses iPhone cameras to manage citations, create searchable annotations, and transcribes highlights.

Research Habits Digital is currently a bootstrapped company with a single developer. eHighlighter is now in what Parker refers to as "Public Beta," with 10,000 users and a free download with unlimited use available on the iTunes App Store. A future release will include crowdsourced popular features and some UI refinements. An Android version of the product is in the works as well.

MyChoicePad

edu tech Zoe Peden launched MyChoicePad in 2009 as an iPad app that assists adults and children with learning or communicative disabilities in language development and communication skills.

As Senior Manager at The Makaton Charity, a leading UK learning and communication disability charity organization, Zoe had the resources at her disposal to assist in development of a language program that combines symbols and sign language to build communication skills. With permission from Makaton, Zoe worked independently with speech and language therapists and teachers to further develop the app and run trials for 12 months prior to its release.

In addition to providing affordable access to communication assistance, MyChoicePad has built a training franchise around the UK allowing access to the educational system at both a local and national level.

At the time of market entry, MyChoicePad was faced with only one competitive app, Proloquo2Go, in the field, and even this was targeted at a higher language ability level. Eschewing other competition in the form of expensive medical devices, Zoe has the enterprise bootstrapped until July of 2013; and with 1600 paying downloads MyChoicePad is currently post revenue and is breaking even. The app is consistently among the Top 10 grossing in the educational category within the UK.

Zoe hopes to raise a seed funding round in January of this coming year, and says that she is building out her sales and marketing team in the coming months as they move further into B2B solutions for the learning disability, assisted living and early learning markets.

Clearly, these are examples of serious products addressing serious problems, and both Avaz ($99) and MyChoicePad (£74.99) are relatively expensive products, especially relative to the 99 cents games that proliferate the app stores.

I like that. Capitalism is founded on the principle of entrepreneurs solving real problems, delivering value to customers, and getting paid for it. The edutech entrepreneurs I have introduced you to understand that. They ARE delivering value.

I hope, they get adequately rewarded for it.

EduTech Photo via Shutterstock

The post The Exciting Field of EduTech: Rife With Innovation appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Stop The Insanity And Start Profiting

Posted: 27 Dec 2012 08:00 AM PST

By now we've all heard that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

But if so, then why do business owners do the same things every week, month and year and expect revenues and profits to grow?

Below I'll give you two quick exercises to stop this insanity and immediately start growing your revenues and profits.

The First Exercise

Make a list of the three things that worked really well in your business over the past year and the three things that haven't worked well. Then, start doing more of the three things that worked well.

Seems simple, doesn't it?

But the vast majority of business owners do the opposite. That is, they keep focusing on trying to make things work that aren't working. Rather, focus your energies on ideas and strategies that have worked well in the past.

For example, if you brought in a lot of money from a sale you did a few months ago, maybe you should figure out how to offer a new sale every month. Or, if training your salespeople six months ago led to a sales increase, maybe it's time to do another training session.

Unfortunately, when we were kids in school, our teachers taught us to work on our weaknesses. Rather, in business, we should focus more on our strengths; what we're good at and what's working. Doing so will bring you a ton more success.

The Second Exercise

Write down your ultimate goal for your business. For example:

Do you want to sell it in five years?
Do you want to take it public?

Next, write down what your business looks like at that time:

What will your revenues be then?
Profits?
How many employees will you have?
How many customers?

Now that you have an idea of the business you are trying to build and what it looks like, you have a chance of actually creating it (before you didn't). So, you're off to a great start.

Now, to build this business, here's what you need to do:

Figure out what you need to accomplish in the next year to put you on the right trajectory to meeting your ultimate goal.
Determine what you must accomplish in the next quarter to put you on the path to meeting your annual goal.
Determine what you must do in the next month to be on the right path to accomplishing your quarterly goal.
Decide what you must accomplish in the next week to be on track to hit your monthly goal.

In my book I call this process "reverse engineering success." That is, once you know where you want to be in the future, you can work backwards to determine what you must accomplish in shorter and shorter time periods in order to get there. Then, you can adjust your schedule to ensure you complete these short-term goals that allow you to realize your long-term vision.

To summarize:

Repeat the actions and strategies that have worked well in the past. They are proven winners, and deserve your attention.
Start at the end. If you don't know where you want to go, you'll never get there. So, figure out where you want to take your business.
Work in reverse. Figure out what you need to accomplish each week and month to progress you towards your ultimate goal.
Organize these shorter-term goals into a business plan for you and your team to follow.

Do these things and you'll start to see your success soar!

Stressed Photo via Shutterstock

The post Stop The Insanity And Start Profiting appeared first on Small Business Trends.

7 Questions to Close A Year Strong and Start Another Stronger

Posted: 27 Dec 2012 05:00 AM PST

Our time and what we do with it is our most precious commodity, and one of the most challenging tasks we manage, given our fast paced, hyper connected, massive content driven world.

It is imperative that we wrap ourselves around this, so that it doesn’t wrap itself around us.

Do you wonder why the years fly by more quickly as we age? I do, and there is an explanation for it.

In an article from Psychology Today:

“The best answer for this phenomenon is that the early years are full of first-time events – your first date, the birth of your first child, that first big vacation, etc. First occasions are novel events and we tend to make more detailed and lasting memories of those first times. When we repeat the event, year after year, it is less likely to make a unique or lasting impression.”

It’s all about “time perception” and savoring the time we have. We can slow down the pace of life, at least psychologically, by taking advantage of new and unique experiences, living more in the present, envisioning optimism and using time more wisely.

So, as we close out the year and start another, an honest, candid house cleaning and review does wonders for keeping us growing and on track. Not everything works out the way we had hoped it would, and some things work out better than we anticipated.

Ask yourself these 7 questions to close out one year strong and start another even stronger:

Am I In My Sweet Spot?

If you are not doing work you love and want to do, it’s very difficult to sustain your motivation and commitment. Discover and dive into where your true passions are and make that your sweet spot, where you live most of the time. There will always be things we don’t love, but they go with the territory.

How Well Is Everything Really Working?

I just finished my annual reading of Spencer Johnson‘s gem, Who Moved My Cheese. Hem wrote this on The Handwriting on The Wall:

“Monitor change, smell the cheese often so you know when it’s getting old.”

Frequently monitor how everything is really working. Trust your instincts, your guts, and proactively change things.

Are My Relationships Mutually Beneficial?

True, authentic relationships with family, friends and colleagues based on mutuality and trust have the best chance of enduring. If there isn’t mutuality and trust in your relationships, then maybe it’s time to let go of them or make them work better.

How Can I Improve My Time Management and Organization?

Prioritizing, organizing and time blocking everything is the only way to control what we do and why we do it. The level of distractions today, combined with stuff we hate to do, makes a bad recipe for getting behind and off track.

This is a skill anyone can improve on. Get some help or have a heart to heart with yourself. Be more disciplined about this.

How Can I Improve My Brand, Marketing and Networking?

Look at and review your brand visuals and messaging, how you are marketing it and how you are blending your face to face and online networking and marketing activities. Are you getting out and meeting people in person and engaging online enough?

Here are 13 marketing musts for 2013 that can help and guide you.

What Am I Really Proud Of Right Now?

Taking inventory is not always about what’s wrong or needs improvement. It’s also about the things we accomplished in spite of odds or challenges.

Be proud of yourself things you have achieved and use that to motivate and propel you forward.

What Are 5 Intentions Your Have for The Coming Year?

Intentions are the fluid, envisioning what we want to happen in our lives. Resolutions, to me, are to rigid.

Make a realistic list of 5 intentions you have and want to happen in the coming year. Prepare yourself, get ready for them to happen. Stay ready and move yourself in the direction of where you want things to go. Set, plan, prepare, point and go!

From The Handwriting on The Wall (Hem, Who Moved My Cheese):

Change happens
Anticipate change
Monitor change
Adapt to change quickly
Change
Enjoy change
Be ready to change quickly again and again

What are things you can do to end a year strong and start a new one stronger?

Time Photo via Shutterstock

The post 7 Questions to Close A Year Strong and Start Another Stronger appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Small Businesses Perform Above Average in Holiday Season

Posted: 27 Dec 2012 02:30 AM PST

We reported recently on data that showed an impressive performance by small businesses heading into the holiday season. Small business revenue showed a 5.2 percent year-over-year improvement in November, offsetting losses occurring as a result of super storm Sandy. Regrettably, average earnings for all retailers showed a more disappointing trend in the two months leading up to Christmas. Today we look at overall trends and what your business can do even now to boost revenue.

Real Challenges

Anemic earnings. While small businesses showed impressive earnings for November, according to a report compiled by MasterCard Advisors and Wells Fargo, the same report showed anemic average earnings among retailers across the board. Those retailers saw only a 0.7 percent increase in earnings for the last two months before Christmas, as compared to the same time last year, much lower than the 3 to 4 percent analysts were predicting. However, the last week of December generally accounts for about 15 percent of the month’s earnings, experts say, giving retailers a chance to catch up. Yahoo! News

Ask and you shall receive. If you’re having trouble making that sale in your own business, it could because you never ask for it. In this post, business to business sales coach John O’ Gorman explains how crude or premature attempts to close a sale can damage credibility and trust. Instead, O’ Gorman prescribes a new approach to sales. He also gives a list of steps that remain at the heart of modern day selling and should help your company close more sales in a changing market. Buyer Insights

New Techniques

Capture your customers. One of the reasons brick and mortar businesses are now suffering is the newly empowered mobile shopper. Mobile commerce entrepreneur and author Gary Schwartz explains in this podcast how mobile devices now enable shoppers to combine the world of online buying with the physical retail experience in ways that many businesses are still attempting to grasp. The challenge is to find a new way to capture these customers by changing the way retail marketing is done. Blog Business World

Tell your story right. An important way to boost your sales is to effectively tell your story. Here are five ways you can tell that story more effectively using the medium of video. Marketing expert Rohit Bhargava gives you the script to a better sales approach using video to explain how your product works, to show off that product’s “personality,” and to create a unique brand experience for customers. Lights, camera, action! This is the selling approach of the future. Influential Marketing Blog

Simple Solutions

Stop giving it away for free. In an era of abundant free content and services to build brand and expertise, it may have slipped some entrepreneurs’ notice that there comes a point when customers are no longer appreciative of free stuff, but only expect it as a regular commodity. As a business owner, your responsibility is to draw the line, says book publishing coach and entrepreneur Kristen Eckstein. Give away too much for free, and you destroy the value in your product or service and in your ability to serve your customer long term. Ultimate Book Coach

It’s all about the process. The key to improving your business revenue may be in creating the proper sales process. This process should be optimized to deliver four crucial sales outcomes that will make all the difference in your final sales success, says business consultant Dave Brock. Ask yourself whether your current process increases the number of sales closed, maximizes the profitability of those sales, or shortens the sales cycle. Here’s a look at how to improve your process to bring you the results you need. Partners in Excellence

Rules for revenue. There are small business people, from consultants to service providers, who face challenges in getting paid after they’ve completed work or rendered services, or who can’t get the revenue they need from the services they provide, making growth difficult. One small business group familiar with these issues is the freelancer. Here Cindy Cyr gives some advice about how to get paid more and on time. American Writers and Artists Inc.

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