Entrepreneurship Pre-Conference Symposium
An innovator, risk-taker and trend-predicter. These were some of the words used by the audience to describe an entrepreneur. In his introductory remarks, Dr. Saul Carliner clarified that an entrepreneur is not usually the inventor themselves, but someone who is able to recognize the potential in an invention and translate it into a particular product or service. Such innovation, when applied to the field of Educational Technology should create positive changes in the way organizations works, whether in K-12 education, higher education, online or in the workplace. Having set the stage for the day, Dr. Carliner invited the panel of speakers, all graduates of the Concordia Educational Technology Program and successful entrepreneurs in the field, to share their challenges and successes.
Paul Cholmsky, Serial product designer (K-12) and Entrepreneur
A creator and problem-solver from an early age, Cholmsky credits a ‘do-it-yourself’ attitude and constant curiosity for his success. Cholmsky got his entrepreneurial start when he founded The Article 19 Group Inc. in partnership with Robert Gordon, designing simulator plugins for statistics and physics education for K-12. With a proven track-record and passion for innovative Math and Science education, Cholmsky branched-off to co-found ExploreLearning developing an award-winning math facts fluency application which is now used in thousands of classrooms with a solid track-record of meaningful impact on student success.
Tips for entrepreneurial success? For the product developer: Iterate! Get your minimal viable product out there for formative assessment even if you are tempted to stay cocooned in your garage crafting your vision. Iterating will result in reaching a better final, user-ready product more quickly. And on the business side: “Contracts make a good base for a partnership” Cholmsky exhorts. It’s not about planning for “when things go bad”, it is more about setting the structure to keep things going well as the business and vision evolves. Also, consider the fit of your business model to the area in which you work. At ExploreLearning, annual subscriptions have allowed long-term, scalable partnerships with schools, districts and states/provinces. These ongoing connections mean that relationships with subscribers are based on interaction and responsiveness to feedback. Modular architecture also allows for features to be added on as needed and as resources allow. Finally, the content development is data driven with analytics harnessed to strengthen future iterations.
How will you know when you are not just surviving, but thriving? When your effort input starts to match your achievement output. Achievement for Cholmsky is marked not only by reaching business goals but by the learning impact of the products created and the progress made in their continuing development.
Lorne Novolker, Large-scale Services Entrepreneur
What does it take? Being willing to risk loss for a worthwhile endeavor and pursing opportunities even in the absence of resources are key traits of an entrepreneur for Novolker, VP of GP Strategies Canada. Furthermore, once an endeavor has taken shape, recognizing complementary skillsets to add to the team is critical for optimal long-term operations; the instructional designer, the project manager, the graphic designer. Describing the trajectory of entrepreneurship as a saw-tooth line of ups and downs, Novolker emphasizes that success is measured not by each individual bump but by an overall upwards trend and with increasing recognition of your work.
What are the challenges? Getting those first clients and gaining experience is never easy, but with each project you can establish credibility and build your individual brand. For Novolker, the entrepreneurial mission is to “Say ‘yes’ and then figure it out.” This stretching for success however is built on a base of experience and extrapolating from one project to the next.
There are also variables outside of your control as an entrepreneur, from fluctuating global markets to new competition; during the SARS epidemic in Toronto, Novolker guided Prospero Learning Solutions Inc. (subsequently acquired by GP Strategies) to focus on developing capacity and forward-looking projects that would be in demand once the economy recovered. This agility to reinvent is fostered by constant re-evaluation; identifying strengths and weaknesses and planning for ways to address weaknesses such as adding the right people to your team or building forward-thinking capacity. Referencing a recent article in Forbes[1], Novolker summarized: “’We’ve always done it this way’ are some of the most dangerous words in business.”
Eduoard Rotondo, Boutique-firm Services Entrepreneur
What motivates you? “You have that feeling of something bigger out there” says Rotondo of his identity as an entrepreneur. This is also a benchmark for success as an entrepreneur, when that feeling disappears and you’ve developed into what you were meant to be doing. This is something that Rotondo has accomplished as founder and president of Studio 7 Communications, a leader in innovative corporate training.
What does entrepreneurship look like at the start? Rotondo provided an honest overview of the stages of development of an entrepreneur within the first five years: The first year is characterized by finding funds and expanding the portfolio, the second year by focusing the portfolio, the third year by establishing recurring business, the fourth year by being a salesperson, and the fifth year by customer innovation. Learning to focus the portfolio is enhanced by evaluating projects accurately. This can be fostered by gaining experience in different types of projects but also reaching out to get input from those with more experience. This emphasized the importance of developing a network of fellow entrepreneurs. For Rotondo, an entrepreneur needs to have knowledge of three domains: 1) Expertise and who can provide it when needed, 2) Markets and what they can support by way of cost and competition, 3) Clients and what they need to have delivered.
Haidee Thanda, Social Entrepreneur
How can entrepreneurship be applied beyond business? As a social entrepreneur, Thanda offers a unique perspective on the topic. A social entrepreneur brings together resources to address social issues in a system. These resources include both capital and human resources of knowledge, skills and time and must be the right fit for the identified issue. Specifically, Thanda is passionate about bringing people together around health-related issues, to spark innovative solutions through the umbrella of Hacking Health an international non-profit, headquartered in Montreal. Compared to the classical conception of entrepreneurship, the ‘social’ variety is a low risk culture and the incentives are the implementation and success of problem-solving. The value of the effort is not measured by one individual or partner, but collectively by all those within the related social ecosystem.
As for the process, Thanda emphasizes the need to iterate and to test early on in order to get feedback from the users and beneficiaries of the solution. This ensures the solutions produced remain relevant and grounded for the intended application.
In a vibrant conversation, moderated by Carliner, panelists discussed what can prepare you to become an entrepreneur.
What do you need to know? It is essential to know a little bit about each role in the training design and development process says Rotondo, from IT to graphic design and marketing, and to that Novolker added “and an understanding of basic accounting.” This will enable informed decision-making that will affect not only yourself, but others as the team expands. And while having a broad knowledge-base is necessary, you also have to drill down and develop expertise in a specific area according to Thanda, referencing a T-shaped approach to knowledge-acquisition. For Cholmsky, knowing how to harness the data generated by your products and services, is critical to power ongoing development. Being responsible for your own learning is essential as an entrepreneur as you need to be a salesperson who understands needs and can make an authentic case for a solution; this too, according to Cholmsky, is a learnable skill.
Where does that knowledge come from? It can come from negative examples that you have experienced, prompting you to consider how to do things differently according to Rotondo who describes this as a ‘roadmap for improvement.’ Taking on leadership roles in low risk environments such as through volunteerism prepared Thanda for larger-scale social leadership. Seeking out formative feedback early in the design process and then integrating it has been a powerful source of information for Cholmsky. Finally, for Novolker it is about debriefing and learning from each experience, asking team-members and clients to reflect on: “What did we do well?” and “What could we do better?”
Information
comes, not only from traditional forums such as classrooms and online networks,
but also through asking people with experience about challenges and successes.
This symposium on Entrepreneurship in Educational Technology did just that;
facilitating dialogue between experts and entrepreneur-minded attendees to
envision innovation in the field and to consider what it takes to be successful.
[1] Zimmerman, B. (2019) https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeslacouncil/2019/01/28/the-most-dangerous-phrase-in-business-weve-always-done-it-this-way/#293b524540f7