If you're at all interested in starting an ed tech startup, you should apply.
I'm in the current cohort, and it's a really great program. You get access to people who really know education as well as people who are really influential in the space.
That sounds pretty sweet. Does the network of advisors only cover the traditional education space, or also e-learning/self-teaching? Because for the latter it's a whole different ball game when it comes to marketing and customer acquisition.
If they don't personally know the answer, the partners have a broad network of education insiders and experts to tap from, both on the educator and investor side. IK12 has funded companies in the e-learning space, browse through the companies page: http://www.imaginek12.com/companies.html
I went through the first cohort as co-founder of ClassDojo. We went in with basically nothing, got our asses kicked on a weekly basis and had a lot of fun along the way.
The three principals had the depth of consumer internet and business experience to help us build a really scalable distribution model, and to focus our product on solving a real user pain point, which helped us to reach over 4mm teachers and students in under a year. 3 months out of program we had raised $1.6mm from some of the best investors around, and now a year later things are going great.
We would not have achieved any of this without ImagineK12. I strongly recommend you apply!
I co-founded LearnSprout (ImagineK12, W12) with jobowoo. This was my first time doing a startup, going through the program at ImagineK12 was an incredible learning experience. What makes IK12 stand apart from other incubators is its understanding of the education market and grounding you to the realities of product distribution in edtech. Starting an edtech company is unlike any consumer idea you may have, IK12 helps you check your assumptions at the door.
You can expect:
1) First Day – get your ass kicked and assumptions checked on your product and vision
2) Educator Day – make your pitch to enthusiastic early adopter edtech enthusiasts and investors from the community
3) Weekly lunch/dinner speakers
4) Demo Day – self explanatory
5) accessible partners (Tim, Geoff, Alan) in person or via Skype whenever you need help
With edtech, it's incredibly rewarding to know that our late night coding sessions and long work weeks at LearnSprout translate into something of tangible social value: principals, teachers and students getting their software headaches out of the way and focusing on teaching + learning. ImagineK12 will help you focus on finding a real need within education that you ought to be solving with your team and talents.
We believe in the vision that software will eat the world, and it's only a matter of time that all classrooms will be immersed in new learning methods driven by and aided by technology. This sweeping change is begging for hacker-entrepreneurs to step up and build that vision. If that's you, ImagineK12 is the place to get started.
I'm in the current cohort building Edcanvas (http://www.edcanvas.com) and the program has been super helpful in getting us to where we are today. Our team was in a special position where we had to scrap our initial company before coming in but the partners were super helpful/supportive along the way.
If you want to solve hard problems that really matter, edtech is the place to be.
I am working on an edtech startup for PK-6. I have a few questions however.
1) What is the selectivity of ImagineK12? How many apply and how many get selected typically?
2) When is a good time to apply? I started off about 2 months back and have conducted a fair bit of customer development and some product development.
3) I am the only founder and I don't code. For now, am getting it done through freelancing friends, looking for a more permanent technical cofounder. Is that viewed negatively?
I was part of the IK12 W2012 cohort and can answer some of your questions.
1) They don't reveal how many applications they receive, though they tend to accept around 9-10 teams for each cohort. Since they are modelled off of YC, much of their criteria and selectiveness are similar. Geoff Ralston, an IK12 partner, is also a partner with YC.
2) I don't think there's a good, standard answer for when is the best time to apply to an incubator. It kind of depends on your background. Like YC, if you & your team are a bunch of amazing hackers & hustlers, it's possible you'll be accepted without an idea. Having an established idea with demonstrable traction is also a good thing. I would suggest applying right now, just to go through the process. Even if you aren't accepted, the application process will force you to fine-tune your business strategy.
3) Being a non-technical founder is not necessarily a show-stopper. One of the current startups, NoRedInk.com, came in as a single non-technical founder. However, this founder is a teacher, had demonstrable traction, and had already raised some money - so he entered the program with an enticing track record so far.
I was part of the 2nd cohort to go through Imagine K12. It was an amazing experience. They definitely helped us really define our company during its formative stages and are still a great resource for us. We wouldn't be where we are today without their support. If you're at all interested in edtech, I highly suggest you apply. Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions.
my co founders and I went to YCombinator and ImagineK12 at the same time (W2012). While the schedule was stressful, tuesday and thursday dinners and office hours, we felt it was the best decision we made by doing both Incubators at the same time.
Getting access to advice from Tim, Geoff and Alan improved our product dramatically, we also met our first advisors and investors at the ImagineK12 dinner and that had a dramatic effect on the growth of our apps.
You can Expect
Demo Day: The ImagineK12 demo is well attended and put in touch with some of the most useful investors we raised money from.
Advice: The partners are very helpful and can help shape some of the most important decisions that you will make as a startup
Cohort: ImagineK12 is a small group of founders that will go out the way to help each other out, we often felt that our batches at ImagineK12 would have been how YC would have been in the early days of YC with 10-15 startups at most.
Apply now, we at taptolearn highly recommend ImagineK12.
I'm in the current cohort, and it's a really great program. You get access to people who really know education as well as people who are really influential in the space.