The Analysis
Strengths
FreshGrade has identified a viable pain-point in the education system. Firstly, communication is key between home and school. Parents are busier than ever and parent teacher meeting twice per year are just not sufficient. Websites are becoming a thing of the past as they are more difficult to maintain and do not allow for feedback and personalized information to be shared. FreshGrade opens the lines of communication, allowing parents to be involved and collaborate in their children's learning. Secondly, the company has noticed the need to revise report cards and offers a grade reporting service that uses tangible evidence from student portfolios to support assessments.
FreshGrade has an impressive team of experienced and skilled employees backing their product. The co-founders all have a great deal of previous experience in successful start-up ventures. Through the business experience of the co-founders, the company has the marketing skills to thrive in a competitive market as an emerging venture. The other portion of the team is made up of programmers, developers, designers and educators. The collaboration between all team members offers the experience necessary to make an educational technology venture succeed. Additionally, the company has spent time and funds interviewing educators and researching to create the most efficient and useful software possible.
FreshGrade was named edSurge's Top S'cool tools for the second quarter in 2014. According to Parija Kavilanz , since its launch in 2014, over 20, 000 educators are using FreshGrade and almost 500, 000 portfolios have been created. Approximately 20% of the existing accounts are using the paid version. In 2014, a student pilot using FreshGrade was successfully launched at Bronx International High School in New York. Additionally, Jordan Tinney, of the Surrey School District, has implemented FreshGrade as its official reporting tool across the district. (Thomas, 2014).
PRNewswire explains that leading education and venture capitalists have invested a large sum of money into the FreshGrade start-up. A total of $4.3 million dollars was invested into the seed funding after one round. Large scale investors include; NewSchools Venture Fund, Emerson Collective, Accel Partners and The Social+Capital Partnership. In comparison to FreshGrade, other start-up companies such as Remind, only raised $1 million in their first year.
FreshGrade has an impressive team of experienced and skilled employees backing their product. The co-founders all have a great deal of previous experience in successful start-up ventures. Through the business experience of the co-founders, the company has the marketing skills to thrive in a competitive market as an emerging venture. The other portion of the team is made up of programmers, developers, designers and educators. The collaboration between all team members offers the experience necessary to make an educational technology venture succeed. Additionally, the company has spent time and funds interviewing educators and researching to create the most efficient and useful software possible.
FreshGrade was named edSurge's Top S'cool tools for the second quarter in 2014. According to Parija Kavilanz , since its launch in 2014, over 20, 000 educators are using FreshGrade and almost 500, 000 portfolios have been created. Approximately 20% of the existing accounts are using the paid version. In 2014, a student pilot using FreshGrade was successfully launched at Bronx International High School in New York. Additionally, Jordan Tinney, of the Surrey School District, has implemented FreshGrade as its official reporting tool across the district. (Thomas, 2014).
PRNewswire explains that leading education and venture capitalists have invested a large sum of money into the FreshGrade start-up. A total of $4.3 million dollars was invested into the seed funding after one round. Large scale investors include; NewSchools Venture Fund, Emerson Collective, Accel Partners and The Social+Capital Partnership. In comparison to FreshGrade, other start-up companies such as Remind, only raised $1 million in their first year.
Weaknesses
FreshGrade has the financial backing from prominent investors, a well-rounded and experienced team and continues to grow. Some of the short falls are listed below:
- The pricing is not permanently set, it differs from school to school.
- Educators who are technologically illiterate will be less likely to use the program.
- Educators fear that the time spent taking pictures and uploading will take away from valuable planning time.
Reviews
|
|
|