“How Solve Education! Found Its Product-Market Fit” unveils the company’s inspiring journey of leveraging technology to improve education. Discover how they identified user needs and achieved a successful product fit!
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The Beginning of the Journey
When I started this journey, I noticed many people, especially in poorer areas, lacked access to good education. Therefore, Solve Education! was established. As a team, we aimed to address this issue using technology to help these groups learn better. Now, our innovative solutions and commitment have made a positive impact, showing how technology can transform education for those who need it most.
Through Solve Education!, my team and I have tried to bring quality education to marginalized communities. We rely heavily on creative methods and dedication. Luckily, after years of innovating, our hard work has paid off. We’ve seen improved literacy and numeracy skills among underserved populations. This article is meant to share our stories in understanding user needs and constantly adapting to achieve a successful product-market fit.
Who is Janine Teo?
I was born and raised in Singapore and earned a Bachelor’s in Computer Engineering from Nanyang Technological University. Over the years, I’ve founded and sold companies in the technology and FMCG sectors. With all these experiences, I’ve also gained a strong sales, marketing, and revenue management background within the competitive hospitality industry. This journey took me across eight countries, supporting hotels in nearly 100 countries. Thus, my career blends entrepreneurial spirit with corporate expertise.
My path into the education sector began when I realized the vast educational disparities faced by underserved populations. It breaks my heart how wide the educational gap is between the poor and the rich. Soon, I realized the potential of mobile technology and gamification to bridge that gap. Seeing the widespread availability of smartphones, even in underserved areas, I knew we had the potential to create an impactful, scalable solution to improve literacy and numeracy skills.
This insight inspired me to use mobile technology and gamification to build a learning program that makes learning accessible and exciting. Therefore, in 2015, with this vision in mind, I founded Solve Education!. Together, we quickly started making significant progress by delivering scalable educational solutions through innovative platforms like our AI chat-based “Ed the Learning Bot.”
Listening to People’s Needs: Key of Product-Market Fit
My experience working in hotels across different countries exposed me to the challenges many people face in accessing quality education. My team and I came up with an idea to help kids in resource-limited communities learn more effectively. We noticed that almost everyone, even in poorer areas, had a phone. So, we thought, “Why not use phones to make learning fun and easy?” This led to the creation of Solve Education!, a philanthropic organization that developed gamified learning programs.
To ensure our idea would work, we initially talked to parents and kids to understand their needs. We also collaborated with local schools and organizations to test the app. The innovation didn’t stop there. During the pandemic, we discovered that people preferred learning on chat apps like WhatsApp. This simple chat format became very popular.
After years of hard work, Ed the Learning Bot was established. It has now delivered over 20 million lessons and reached more than 600,000 youth in over 45 countries. This achievement highlights the importance of adapting to user needs and how crucial it is for startups to achieve product-market fit through continuous feedback and iteration.
Facing Challenges in Doing Product-Market Fit
However, it wasn’t all easy for us. To find our first users, we partnered with community groups and nonprofits, offering our product for free to support existing learning programs. We showcased the benefits on social media and at events, proving that our solution truly helped learners, which was the best way to get people to start using it.
One of our biggest challenges was making our technology fit the different needs of our users. We addressed this by constantly collecting feedback and improving our product to match what users wanted and needed. Building trust was another significant hurdle. We tackled this by being open in our communication and demonstrating clear improvements in learning outcomes.
Keeping users interested and engaged was also tough. To address this, we studied user behavior and used this knowledge to design strategies that kept learners motivated. By understanding what drives learning, we made the user experience more interesting and rewarding.
After years of hard work, even though we have achieved many recognitions, we know our journey is ongoing. We keep learning and adapting as the needs of our users change. This commitment to continuous improvement helps us stay relevant and useful. This approach has been key in overcoming challenges and achieving a strong product-market fit.
Journey of Empowering People
My passion now extends beyond my role at Solve Education!. Now, I also become passionate speaker on education, technology, gender equality, and poverty alleviation. Additionally, I serve on the advisory board of a nonprofit organization and mentor startup founders, aiming to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs.
For new founders seeking to build a successful product, you may want to pay more attention to how important it is to stay connected to your users and truly listen to their feedback. Being ready to adapt and improve based on their needs is crucial. I also believe in building flexible teams that can quickly respond to changes. In my experience, forming “full-stack” teams, which include both technical experts and user growth roles, helps avoid working in silos and fosters better collaboration.
We took a simple idea—using technology to make education better—and turned it into something that helps millions of people. I believe our hard work and willingness to listen to users made Solve Education! a success. Our story shows that with creative thinking and effort, amazing changes can happen, providing valuable lessons for achieving product-market fit in the startup world.
