Vectors - October 2018
Rita and Kevin on the ISTE show floor with client Brainco
Metrics for Success
            
Company leaders often ask us about how they can measure success. First, metrics should be relatively simple - each person should be able to gather the numbers in less than 15 minutes each week. Second, you should only be measuring and tracking information that allows you and your leadership team to make decisions in the time frame of the numbers. Here are some examples: 
  • Weekly: Leads, pipeline, cash, service calls, product usage, and development sprints.
  • Monthly: Income statement and balance sheet items, personnel, product plans, and market trends.
  • Quarterly: Cost of leads or customer acquisition, cost of support, and territory penetration.
  • Annual: Lifetime customer value and market opportunities.
Looking specifically at sales, a few metrics stand out from the most effective companies of the more than 150 Ed Tech companies we've worked with. One of those is Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs), or leads that have reached a point where a salesperson should call. Out of 100 MQLs:
  • 75 should be good; 25 won't be valid and are kicked out of the system.
  • 56 of the good leads (75 percent) should then become opportunities - a potential purchase within your normal sales cycle timeframe), with the remaining 19 (25 percent) returned to marketing to nurture.
  • 14 opportunities (25 percent) should then close; another 21 (half of the remaining opportunities) should get pushed into the next timeframe (next year's budget).
If your numbers are better than these, that's great, but might mean you have room to get more leads into your process. Don't wait until you know they are good to put them into your system - you may be excluding potential sales. To put it into baseball terms, we would rather have a batter hitting .250 over 1,000 at-bats - 250 hits! - than one who bats .500 but will only go to the plate 100 times to face just those pitchers they feel confident against.

And how much should you be spending to generate these leads? It varies, but should be no more than 5 percent of the revenue you see from that type of customer. There are some specific guidelines we use, however, including between $25 and $50 on digital marketing for site-based administrators, and $150 for trade show marketing aimed at district-level administrators.

If you'd like to take a closer look at your metrics but don't know where to start - or if you've taken a look and don't like where they're at - get in touch with us at info@arccd.com to see how Arc can help. 
Arc Portfolio News  
Kevin and the CatchOn team
at ISTE in Chicago
 
family of Companies.

CharmTech Labs/Capti  joined the LearnLaunch Boost Cohort 2018 .

Choosito has secured a licensing agreement with a major K-12 publisher, submitted a NSF-STTR grant proposal, and completed Round 2 of the prestigious IBM Watson Artificial Intelligence XPRIZE competition with the submission of their progress report. Additionally, Choosito will soon be available through Carnegie Learning's EMC School Passport Platform.

Rita and the Choosito team in Greece
Quick Key is beta testing a new platform for sharing and selling quiz questions for teachers. Since the launch of the beta in May, more than 14,000 questions have been added. Publishers and writers interested in selling subscriptions to their question sets on the platform can contact the Quick Key's CEO at Isaac@quickkeyapp.com .

Zulama, a game-based learning startup and Arc client, has been acquired by EMC School .
Opportunities

Entrepreneur Bootcamps at Penn GSE  Spark Education Innovation Day (October 8, from 10 am to 4:30 pm) is an intensive, one-day bootcamp for anyone starting or considering starting an education company. Supported by education industry professionals and the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education (Penn GSE) faculty (including Arc's Rita Ferrandino), entrepreneurs will be immersed in a structured, day-long workshop of guided exercises where you explore and develop your education startup ideas with fellow participants to address a problem in the market you want to solve and then refine your idea into a 'pitch.' Find out more and register here .  

On November 12, Penn GSE will offer Education Startup Issues both on campus and online, where an attorney specializing in tech and VC Law will guide entrepreneurs through effective strategies for overcoming the many challenges that frequently plague early-stage education startups, including: Attendees will gain valuable information regarding corporate structure; IP ownership of patents and more; equity and vesting among co-founders and early-stage employees; data privacy (GDPR, COPPA, FERPA, SOPIPPA); data security; ADA compliance; insurance; and regulatory considerations. Learn more here .

Kevin at the Irish National Hurling Championships in Dublin
Raise Funding Faster with HolonIQ 'Investor Connect' helps edtech startups around the world get in front of a global investor network of US $500M+. Last month, 40 startups from 15+ countries raising $50M+ joined the program (it's free!). Sign up now and get profiled each month!

Backstage Accelerator is a 3-month program that focuses on support for underrepresented founders. Apply here!
What We're Reading

Kevin and Rita at ISTE, thinking about expanding Arc's services
BMO Capital Markets released their report, The Education Industry: 2018 , covering analysis of markets from childcare and K-12 to higher education and lifelong learning.  

Rita penned an op-ed in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune exploring how privatization efforts in Florida are weakening public schools, and how critical the upcoming Sarasota school board elections will be for the community's schools.
Arc investment partner P.H. Mullen meets up with Rita and her son at Drexel University
Government Relations Update

2018 Election Guide The Education Commission of the States is out with a guide to the 2018 elections and changes in state education leadership . An interactive map displays the types of elections in each state and which education leaders will be affected by the outcomes. Use the filters at the top of the map to see how races for governor could affect education leadership.  

Parents, Teachers and Education Data A national poll commissioned by the Data Quality Campaign (DQC) found parents and teachers trust and rely on education data as a tool to support students.

Hawaii Education Funding Voters in Hawaii - the nation's only statewide school district - will decide in November whether property taxes should be used to fund schools.

Education is a regulated industry. If you are selling at the federal or state level, you need to intimately understand the dynamics at work to be effective. For more on how Arc can help you navigate government relations at every level, contact rita@arccd.com .
Recent and Upcoming Events 
 
September
October
  • 10/2-3: Client work, Los Angeles (Kevin)
  • 10/5: WEDU/PBS's Florida This Week (Rita appearing)
  • 10/7-13: Rita in Philly/NYC area
  • 10/7: PennGSE Capstone Course, Philadelphia (Rita teaching)
  • 10/8: Catalyst@PennGSE Entrepreneur Bootcamp: Spark Education Innovation Day, Philadelphia (Rita leading)
  • 10/10: Teamology Day (Rita participating)
  • 10/13: Navy Day Regatta on the Schuylkill (Rita)
  • 10/14-15:  OCALIcon , Columbus, OH (Kevin attending)
  • 10/18-21: Portfolio company  support, Ireland (Kevin)
  • 10/24-25: Client work, Los Angeles (Rita and Kevin)
November
December
  • 12/7-8: Kathy Hurley Christmas Weekend, Fort Myers, FL (Rita attending)
  • 12/9: PennGSE Capstone Course, Philadelphia (Rita teaching)
What Arc is Looking for Now

Arc is looking to work with a few select growing education technology companies in an advisory, board or coaching role. More than 80 percent of the companies that have worked with Arc received an external capital infusion or acquisition offers within a year. Arc will also consider a few investment opportunities. If you know of a company positioned for strategic growth, please let us know.

Finally, because education is a regulated industry, education companies need to incorporate a government relations plan in order to optimize revenue. Arc's strong government and grassroots relationships, education industry expertise and business acumen allow for successful advocacy at both the federal and state levels. Check out our Web site at  arccd.com or e-mail us at info@arccd.com.
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