The early days of a partnership are always the most exciting, full of hope and possibilities for the future. You can’t wait to embark on this exciting journey with a partner who promises to meet your every expectation.

For educators and edtech vendors, however, navigating a professional relationship in a particularly tumultuous climate doesn’t come without its challenges. In most cases, both partners’ priorities center on student achievement, but the steps to reach the end goal don’t always mesh.

This year, the Biden-Harris Administration has designated high-dosage tutoring and reducing chronic absenteeism as pillars of its 2024 educational agenda. At the same time, venture capital funding for edtech is shrinking, stalling many smaller start-ups’ entry into the market. Instructional leaders and vendors have to partner together now more than ever to land on long-term solutions that strengthen student outcomes and increase investment in edtech innovation.

Reprioritize your relationship by putting collaboration first

Superintendents are stuck in a difficult position. They need reliable and evidence-based edtech solutions for their students. But at the same time, they’re overwhelmed at the non-stop barrage of vendors trying to sell them on the “perfect” product, some of which are solving for problems they don’t have in their districts.

Edtech innovators who open communication with district leaders before product launch are the ones who build the longest-lasting (and most profitable!) relationships. Here are three ways to get it right:

Ensure your team is equipped with lived experiences. Many vendors have made the right move by hiring former K-12 teachers with first-hand insights to address real-life learning issues. Yet, they limit sales, marketing, and management positions to executives who migrate over from traditional B2B or B2C fields. Companies need to bring on experts who understand the procurement, implementation, and budgetary concerns of diverse districts and possess the ability to secure buy-in from all influential stakeholders, including parents and board members.

Provide customers with research that relates to them. Instead of inundating district leaders with market research and case studies, ask them what their specific issues are and then pinpoint solutions that address them. Seek out superintendent testimonials from districts with similar challenges. And offer opportunities for pilot programs, as in-school testing with a small focus group is far more beneficial to the decision-making process than a traditional demo.

End the one-sided conversations. For superintendents, nine of the scariest words in the English language are: “We’re from VENDOR NAME, and we’re here to help!” Solution providers often take on the persona of edtech superheroes, but refuse to invest in customer discovery to determine if their prospects even want to be saved.

One of the most successful edtech innovators we’ve encountered was an academic who assembled an advisory group of superintendents early on in the product’s development phase. She didn’t form a hypothesis based on assumptions and try to sell district leaders on it. Instead, she listened to and validated their pain points and recommendations to develop a solution that met their needs. She turned potential prospects into committed advocates for the technology.

Play the long game. Nothing turns off a potential buyer in public education more than an aggressive sales pitch that prioritizes a sale over a relationship. Position yourself and your solution to be on the district leader’s short list of providers if and when their teams escalate a problem to them that you can solve. If you can bootstrap, do so. If you take on institutional or angel investors, make sure to show them honest revenue projections that take into account the slow sales cycles and ensure they are on board for the long ride.

Don’t lose focus in the case of consolidation

In 2023, there were more than 140 company acquisitions in the edtech market, and the 2024 buyout push is expected to be just as intense.

Unfortunately, because of the rapid merging of software companies, the vendor/customer relationship has taken a hit due to constant employee turnover. Even worse, multiple solutions are often just slapped together without a game plan for sustainability. It’s no surprise that some edtech software is lower quality, negatively affecting customer trust.

A true multi-tenant software as a service (SaaS) product is based on a building-block approach. Even when solutions are merged, developers are able to remove, rebuild, and replace autonomous modules without affecting the overall structure of the product. In addition, all modules continue to communicate with each other as if they were external products built to correspond through an application programming interface.

Promote the superintendency pipeline

Because student achievement is so dependent on a symbiotic relationship between districts and vendors, edtech providers need to help reinforce the educator-to-superintendent pipeline so it doesn’t collapse in our politically-tinged climate.

Because vendors have connections across the country and a collection of best practices built from working with diverse districts, they can leverage their expertise to help tackle the challenges superintendents face. For instance, superintendent think tanks provide a collaborative space where solutions providers connect with education leaders and investors to conceptualize sustainable solutions to right-now K-12 issues, from addressing learning loss to creating a more equitable pathway for women and leaders of color.

Four years after the pandemic hit, learning progress continues to be at a standstill. Providing students the support they need requires vendors and edtech leaders to reevaluate their relationships. For some, that may mean making a clean break and looking for new opportunities. But for others, it can be the chance to renew their commitment to building a better future together for the students they serve.

About the authors

Doug Roberts is the CEO and founder of the Institute for Education Innovation and creator of the Supes' Choice Awards for edtech startups.

Bridget Duru serves as a Senior Associate on the investment team at Rethink Education.