Fixing Education with Startup Thinking

Aligning incentives with goals can boost team performance. Ryan Delk explains how Primer's teachers benefit from unique incentives.

\"We want the teacher to feel like they have real ownership... they are in the driver's seat... they have economic upside in the schools they launch and operate.\"

• Align incentives with outcomes.
• Offer ownership to key team members.
• Incentives drive engagement.

Early user feedback is crucial in refining your product. Ryan Delk discusses how Primer evolved by listening to teachers.

\"Because this is not how we originally launched our first few primers... we learned that the teachers themselves... running a classroom is not that different than running a small organization.\"

• Be open to pivoting based on insights.
• Let early users guide evolution.
• Deep user understanding aids product fit.

Real-time data can help in finding product-market fit. Ryan Delk explains how Primer uses data to improve outcomes.

\"We now... can predict what amount of progress we expect from a student... And if the student meaningfully finds themselves off track... we then send an alert to their teacher... and we give them a proposed intervention.\"

• Use analytics to anticipate needs.
• Real-time data informs interventions.
• Feedback loops refine your product.

Using AI and data can revolutionize product offerings. Ryan Delk shares how Primer leverages these technologies for personalized education.

\"All the technical breakthroughs that have needed to happen... have happened. But no one has put all the pieces together... which is amazing for us because we're the software layer on top of it.\"

• Leverage AI to enhance your product.
• Being a platform allows tech integration.
• Adopt cutting-edge tech to stay ahead.

Empowering team members by treating them as entrepreneurs can drive ownership and impact. Ryan Delk discusses how Primer uses this approach with teachers.

\"We realized that once you take these great teachers and you empower them to launch the schools, they actually kind of run with it and they make it their own. They take extreme ownership of the experience for students, for parents.\"

• Empower team to take ownership.
• Treat employees as entrepreneurs.
• Decentralize decisions for impact.

Attracting top talent can be challenging. Ryan Delk shares how tackling big problems helps.

\"I think it is true that tackling a very hard problem counterintuitively is not actually that much more difficult than tackling a moderately hard problem. Because when you tackle a very hard problem, you attract very talented people who also want to go tackle a really hard problem.\"

• Big challenges attract top talent.
• Ambitious missions differentiate you.
• Don't fear hard problems; team will follow.

Raising venture capital in a challenging sector like education is tough. Ryan Delk explains how Primer succeeded.

\"I wasn't tackling Primer because I thought it was a great venture backable business or not. I was tackling it because I believed that this needed to exist and I wasn't sure anyone else was going to build it.\"

• Big problems attract top talent and investors.
• Passion and vision can compel VCs.
• Be the exception in tough sectors.