venturecapital

the edtech revolution is long due

the existing startups that saw a sharp rise in valuations during the pandemic couldn't move a needle and slowly turned their eyes to offline, which wasn't the purpose of edtech to start with

only a few cities, and a few areas in particular cities, attract most aspirants from all over the corners, and that is the core issue that needed to be solved, still needs to be, but the entire playbook that startups tried to fall for with miserably failed

they became entirely dependent on distribution, followed by marketing campaigns, while missed out on fostering trust, followed by word of mouth — they _lacked_ intent

in result, cost structures started trembling, retention wasn't even a discussion when they were back to figuring *cac*, and the industry was again back to where it was for decades

those few cities, and those few areas in particular cities, still have the numbers they always had

good things take time—frictionless experiences—product × strat × ops

Building something new. 🟪 Host: /venturecapital /adventures /theitinerant

edtech needs a model like dark stores (high value, low investment) as touchpoints for aspirants where they can resolve their queries in person

edtech needs to explore ways to work on the trust deficit it is plagued with due to poor messaging and positioning among aspirants (aspirants crave bonding)

edtech also needs to narrow down to providing courses and market them as their niche where they excel and deliver on as they come across as know-it-alls in today's scenario

take this, kota in rajasthan is the primary choice for iit aspirants while karol bagh in new delhi is the go-to destination for upsc aspirants (niche is the trigger for word of mouth that aspirants look for)

edtechs have been scratching the surface, distracted by offline-online segment, for too long when market penetration should have been the calling — i recently read where this space has been referred to as "depressed sentiment in the sector" for not being able to have investors' interest

Yes, edtech is going through a period of correction, but I fully expect it to regain its pre-pandemic growth trend once we've fully passed through the trough of disillusionment.

Healthtech (excluding medical devices / drugs) is experiencing a similar phenomenon right now.