Thought Leaders in Online Education: Dror Ben Naim, CEO of Smart Sparrow (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: What are you seeing in terms of adoption in the school systems? Dror Ben Naim: Everywhere we look, we’re seeing great interest in the area of personalized learning. It’s not just a buzzword. It’s a reality. What we also see is that certain schools are ahead of others. The classic example is to

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Thought Leaders in Online Education: Dror Ben Naim, CEO of Smart Sparrow (Part 3)

Dror Ben Naim: We can base adaptation on many factors. We can base it on how students are doing right now on the problems they are working on. We can adapt in a more complex way not only by looking at what they’re doing now but also by what kind of mastery level they have

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Thought Leaders in Online Education: Dror Ben Naim, CEO of Smart Sparrow (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: Is it software or is it content that you’re delivering in a SaaS mode? Dror Ben Naim: This is software. We’re talking about a tool for designers, developers, and subject matter experts. Sramana Mitra: They are designing the content on your tool. Dror Ben Naim: Correct. Sramana Mitra: It’s a next-generation LMS.

Thought Leaders in Online Education: Dror Ben Naim, CEO of Smart Sparrow (Part 1)

This conversation delves into the personalized learning design system space. Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by having you introduce yourself and Smart Sparrow to our readership. Dror Ben Naim: I’m the Founder and CEO of Smart Sparrow. We are a learning technology platform. We help education providers make their digital learning experiences personalized and adaptive. Sramana

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Building Multiple Bootstrapped Education Software Companies: Lane Rankin, CEO of Illuminate Education (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: What did you learn? Was the threshold one salesperson per state? How were you calculating your expansion strategy? Lane Rankin: Just about every time we would go and meet with the district, we would win a sale. If we have a presentation, 80% of the time we are winning the business. We were growing

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Building Multiple Bootstrapped Education Software Companies: Lane Rankin, CEO of Illuminate Education (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: We are now at the point where you bought some portions of your previous company that you bought to Harcourt. You’re now ready to start off on your own in 2009. What happens next? Lane Rankin: We started over in 2009 with some pieces of a new platform. We had started a new

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Building Multiple Bootstrapped Education Software Companies: Lane Rankin, CEO of Illuminate Education (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: You financed the other company using the resources of the first company? Lane Rankin: Correct. Sramana Mitra: If you look at revenues and stuff, how was the first company doing? What was the trajectory of the second company? Lane Rankin: Our turnover was around $2 million to $3 million in the first company. I

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Thought Leaders in Online Education: Ron Olsen, CEO of Remote Learner (Part 1)

What kinds of technologies are missing from the portfolios of learning management systems that customers looking to launch online learning programs need? This is the subject of my conversation with Ron Olsen. Sramana Mitra: Let’s start with some background about yourself as well as Remote Learner. Ron Olsen: I’m the CEO of Remote Learner. Over

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