What do we do?

We designed a 6-week immersive program to help European K12 founders expand to the US market by sharing market intelligence and access to the best experts and sales resources with them.

This 6-week learning pathway has been created to engage K-12 founders who want to explore the US market in depth. During this program, we will share insightful data and market intelligence, providing the tools and knowledge to scale in the US market. Former founders, sales executives, and industry experts will share valuable insight through a 90-minute engagement taking place once a week over a six-week time period.

The program participation cost is 3,000€ per company.

Apply for the second cohort starting on May 28th, 2024

Applications close on May 21st, 2024

Join us!

~1h30

6

10

Weeks

With 6 sessions, you'll gain a deep understanding of the US K-12 market, including the sales, funding, and legal requirements.

Founders

Each cohort will consist of 10 founders and their teams. We will tailor the sessions and our introductions to each founder's/cohort's needs.

per week

Our weekly virtual sessions will last 90 minutes, and we encourage founders to join with their team members. (*First session will be 2 hours to provide a welcome)

The program

1

2

US market 101

Understand the structure of the US school system and its variation at the state and district levels. Explore how federal funding, data protection, and privacy compliance are key in adopting and purchasing.

Lead acquisition

Explore strategies for customer acquisition in the US context: we'll share an analysis of successful business models in the US and relevant data collection techniques.

Closing, done right.

We'll share advanced sales and negotiation techniques adapted to the US market as well as an in-depth analysis of data to understand customer needs. You'll practice on cases and sales simulations.

3

4

Hire the best talent

We'll share strategies for attracting and hiring top talent in the USA and help you understand the cultural and legal specifics of US recruitment. We'll discuss which profiles to recruit first and how to test them rigorously.

5

6

Product adaptation

We'll discuss the importance of adapting European products to the US market as well as being compliant with data privacy standards. We'll also discuss pricing strategies and cultural adaptation.

Investment & M&A landscape

We'll go through an overview of the investment and M&A landscape in the EdTech sector and discuss how to managing both a US & EU company and meet with US investors who will share their expectations

6 modules, 6 weeks, 1h30 per week to become a US expert.

We've partnered with experts to provide our fellows with the best knowledge and expertise

Team & Experts

Svenia Busson

Laurent Jolie

Miriam Altman-Reyes
Founder, Brass Ring Impact

Rayna Glumac
Founder, RYE

Ecosystem builder.
Co-founder, Edtech France & European Edtech Alliance. Consultant to Edtech startups
Book a meeting with Svenia

Experienced founder.
Co-founder, Lalilo (acquired by Renaissance Learning 🇺🇸) Advisor to Edtech startups
Book a meeting with Laurent

The founders & program hosts:

The experts & operators mentoring the participants:

Daniel O'Reilly
Founder, FuelSales

Mark Phillips,
Founder, HireEducation

Matthew Johnson
Edtech Investment Banking Lead, Oppenheimer

Over the past decade, Rayna has spearheaded growth in the EdTech market for over 200 companies from 16 countries, using her in-depth industry knowledge to design customized consulting solutions for innovative EdTech from around the world.

With over 30 years in sales, Dan has a love for the profession. He really connected to the education space and its overarching mission to improve student achievement. It has now become his mission to share his experience with other companies in the K12 market to create more scalable and predictable demand for their offerings.

Miriam is an experienced leader, operator, and successfully exited founding CEO with 17 years of experience. She runs Brass Ring Impact a firm supporting underrepresented, mission-driven entrepreneurs who are building tech-enabled solutions to increase equitable access to education, workforce, and economic opportunity worldwide.

Mark is the Founder and Board Chair of HireEducation. He's been recruiting since the late 90s. He has personally interviewed nearly 10,000 sales people, and C-Suite executives, so has a broad dataset for discussions involving everything surrounding founding, managing, and growing companies in the US Edtech sector.

Matthew leads Oppenheimer's edtech focus, advising companies and investors on private and public market strategies to fund and grow their businesses. Matt has over a decade of experience in the edtech space and was previously an attorney in the edtech practice at Cooley LLP.

Jenny Wang,
Principal, Owl Ventures

Jenny is a Principal at Owl Ventures, one of the leading edtech VC funds. As a first-generation immigrant from a low-income family, Jenny has experienced first-hand the difference that a quality education can make in someone’s life and is fully committed to investing in and building organizations that are making significant advancement in improving the quality, accessibility, and reach of education.

Mack Moyer,
Sales Executive, Amira

Mack is a seasoned professional with a strong background in sales and business development. With over 18 years experience, he excels at understanding the needs of the EdTech market and developing strategies to effectively sell products and services. Mack has a proven track record of exceeding sales targets and driving significant revenue growth in companies such as Innovamat Learning, Renaissance Learning, Lalilo, and Pearson Education.

Jacob Kantor,
Co-founder, EDLIT

This is year 16 for Jacob in Edtech. He has sold over $25 million dollars of products across these companies: McGraw Hill, C2 EDUCATION, Revolution Prep, Collegewise, Varsity Tutors, Spark Education. Jacob now consults full time for companies that have included: Stride K12 , Outlier (sold to Savvas), AIEDU etc. He recently started EDLIT - Empowering Districts through Learning, Innovation & Technology that pairs edtech solutions with district decision makers across the US.

Kelly King,
Program director, Started

Kelly has spent the majority of her career educating adult learners, previously managing President Obama’s Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders program and now leading StartEd’s programming for global EdTech entrepreneurs. She also served as Brooklyn Laboratory Charter Schools' Partnerships Director, in which she managed external partnerships and the school's internship program.

Meet our first cohort

Here are the 12 companies from 6 countries we're helping with their first steps on the US market

Some testimonials

Testimonials from our alumni (more to come in the next few days...)

Charles Sol, co-founder, EduMedia 🇫🇷

"If you're considering expanding into the US, participating in these six sessions and connecting with these mentors is essential. Also, Svenia and Laurent are great facilitators, genuinely committed to your success."

Markku Pelkonen, head of international expansion, Graphogame 🇫🇮

"The approach taken was incredibly insightful, offering a comprehensive overview of the US market entry process, from detailed specifics to a holistic big picture perspective. Excellently executed."

Hamza Fechtali, co-founder, Mizou 🇫🇷

"Break into the US opened my eyes to the importance of understanding how school districts are organised, how they think, and use their budgets, which is just as crucial as having a good product.
I learned so much!"

Clothilde Relin, head of business development, Numworks 🇫🇷

"This program enabled me to meet some fascinating people who are very close to the US market. They helped us to take a step back and look at the issues involved in launching a business in the US, while at the same time giving us very concrete examples and very operational advice. I'm delighted to have been able to take part in this program!"

François Vonthron, co-founder, Poppins 🇫🇷

"The program saved me a phenomenal amount of time in entering the US educational community, by establishing trust with partners and providers who have proved to be key to the development of Poppins. The speakers involved in the program are impressively qualified; they're the right people to meet if you want to get a foothold in the US"

Natalia Pereldik, co-founder, Funexpected 🇬🇧

"The program is extremely informative and it also feels very tailored. We were able to find answers for our very specific questions. Any question you have, Svenia and Laurent are able to connect you with someone who can mentor and answer these for you. And this is extremely valuable, especially for someone coming from outside of the US."

Aude Guéneau, co-founder, Plume 🇫🇷

"Break into the US was a game-changer for our company. The expert-led sessions provided invaluable insights into the US market, and we gained a deep understanding of how school districts operate. I highly recommend this program to any European K-12 EdTech founder looking to expand into the US market."

Contact us

For any inquiry, partnership request, suggestion or anything else, please fill the form below to contact us!