The EdTech Tripod

This is what I've built a career on: The idea that EdTech is a tripod with three equally essential legs. Look at any successful EdTech venture and you'll see they've somehow figured out how to balance all three elements. The real magic happens when good education practices, smart technology, and solid business thinking all come together.

The EdTech Tripod

I've seen great universities create amazing learning experiences when they embrace the fact that yes, commercial viability matters, and so does having technology that actually works for people. I've watched investors succeed when they take the time to understand that education isn't just another market—it has its own rhythms and values. And I've helped mission-driven education organizations thrive when they realize that investing in user-friendly tech actually amplifies their mission rather than distracting from it.

So why is this balance so hard to achieve? I think it comes down to building bridges between different professional cultures. Education, technology, and business people speak different languages, celebrate different wins, and have different problems keeping them up at night. The real opportunity is in creating true understanding among these worlds.

It's amazing to watch what happens when tech and business people really start to appreciate educators' expertise. They discover there's deep wisdom in those learner-centered approaches that teachers have been refining for generations. And when educators work closely with business minds, they start to see the value in thinking about sustainability and strategy. And when educators collaborate with business people and tech specialists, they witness firsthand how thoughtfully designed systems can open up learning in ways they never imagined.

Put simply, the best EdTech happens when these experts come together and actually respect each other's expertise.

Building these relationships takes work, though. I vividly remember one project where we deliberately created course development teams with at least one person from each area. Here's the twist we added: each specialist had full authority in their domain, and they could also hit the pause button if they saw something concerning from their perspective. You'd be surprised how quickly this got people genuinely listening and solving problems together. We ended up with solutions that actually worked better for everyone—not winners and losers and not just compromises.

We also found that rallying around a shared purpose made all the difference. We landed on something really simple but powerful: Every student is wearing three hats: they're a learner, a customer, and a technology end-user all at once. To serve them well, we needed all three types of expertise at the table. A learner needs solid educational approaches, a customer deserves good value and experiences, and someone using technology needs systems that are reliable and intuitive enough to fade into the background.

With this shared understanding, our ten teams built an entire master's program in just a few months. The results? Four teams clicked immediately and worked beautifully. Three teams hit some serious roadblocks and needed reshuffling before they found their groove. And three teams bonded so deeply that they stayed friends long after the project wrapped up.

This "EdTech Tripod" idea works everywhere—whether you're launching something new, designing courses, building platforms, improving processes, or scaling up something that's already working. The best educational technology ventures simply require all three legs of the tripod to be sturdy.

I'm curious—what's been your experience at these intersections? I've spent years helping build these bridges, and there's nothing more satisfying than watching organizations find harmony among these perspectives.