Building a successful EdTech product, particularly for classroom use, is a significant challenge. Obviously one needs to meet the immediate needs of teachers and students—though that alone can be incredibly difficult. However, that alone isn’t sufficient. We must also understand how our product integrates within the broader educational ecosystem. One way to achieve this is to bring together traditionally separate areas of thought: Product-User Fit and Product- Market Fit; Inclusive Research and Design; and the role of Knowledge Brokers.

Inclusive Research and Design: Building for Everyone, With Everyone

Inclusive Research and Design disrupts the traditional edTech creation process. Instead of designing for the “ideal user,” Inclusive Research and Design actively seeks out and incorporates the diverse perspectives of a wide variety of potential users, especially those who are often marginalized or overlooked. Organizations like Digital Promise, AERDF, and the AIMS Collaboratory are actively refining and promoting inclusive design practices, recognizing its power to create truly transformative learning experiences. By accounting for student and teacher perspectives throughout the design and development process, we can expect to create products that truly meet their needs.

Inclusive design requires a team that understands the multifaceted perspectives of all stakeholders. This is where knowledge brokers come in. They bridge the gap between researchers, designers, developers, educators, and learners, ensuring that every voice is heard and valued. Employing Inclusive Research and Design, and leveraging knowledge brokers, can help overcome EdTech’s initial challenge: addressing the immediate needs of users.

Product-User Fit: The First Step to Success

In entrepreneurial terms, meeting the immediate needs of users is known as Product-User Fit. You’ve achieved Product-User Fit when your current users become passionate advocates (or “Product Champions”), and when other target users, upon hearing about your product, immediately seek it out and integrate it into their workflow (e.g. teacher can’t wait to use your product with their students). While crucial, and often challenging, this is merely the initial step towards a successful edTech product. 

Product-Market Fit: Beyond the Individual User

To achieve widespread adoption and lasting impact, we must also consider what entrepreneurs call Product-Market Fit. As outlined in a recent SRI Education report, Product-Market Fit goes beyond Product-User Fit, encompassing the needs of the entire educational ecosystem. To assess if you’ve achieved Product-Market Fit, it is important to ask:

• Does the solution address the requirements of all stakeholders? This includes not just teachers and students, but also curriculum adoption boards, district administrators, technology officers, school boards, parents and perhaps others. Put another way, in addition to finding those you say, “yes” to you, also find those with the power to say, “no,”—and find out what they need to say, “yes!”

The Interplay: Inclusive Design, Market Fit, and Knowledge Brokers

One can get on the path to achieving Product-Market Fit early when engaging with inclusive design and knowledge brokers from the beginning. This will allow you to:

• Cultivate Champions: Inclusive design (at the Product-User Fit state) should naturally cultivate passionate advocates for your innovation or product.
• Expand and Account for Stakeholder Perspectives: Beyond teachers and students, wide scale adoption requires actively meeting the needs of a broad set of stakeholders, such as district leaders, technology officers, and parents. This requires a broader understanding of their needs and concerns.
• Navigating Complexity: Inclusive design, when broadened to apply to a wider range of stakeholders, inevitably introduces complexity. Conflicting requirements, varying understandings of the needs, differing vocabularies, diverse expectations for what counts as “success,” and diverse communication styles can create challenges.

The Role of Knowledge Brokers: Bridging the Divide

While Knowledge Brokers are essential in understanding your direct user base (e.g. teachers and students), it is when expanding the stakeholder base that knowledge brokers become indispensable. They act as the bridges between diverse stakeholder groups, providing:

• Technical Expertise: Translating complex technical concepts into accessible language for non-technical audiences.
• Cross-Community Communication: Facilitating dialogue and understanding between different professional cultures.
• Empathy and Advocacy: Creating a safe space for all voices to be heard and valued.

Building Effective, Equitable, and Scalable Learning Experiences: The Ultimate Goal

Ultimately, our goal is to create edTech that not only meets immediate user needs, but also transforms learning experiences to be effective and equitable at scale. This requires a shift from focusing solely on Product-User Fit to encompassing Product-Market Fit, ensuring our solutions resonate across the entire educational ecosystem. By grounding our work in inclusive research and design, and empowering knowledge brokers to facilitate meaningful collaboration, we can navigate the complexities of diverse stakeholder needs and build edTech that is both impactful and sustainable.

The Path Forward: Collaboration and Shared Vision

Developing truly effective and scalable edTech demands a collaborative approach to design. By harmonizing product market fit with inclusive design principles, and empowering knowledge brokers, we can pave the way for a future where technology unlocks every learner’s potential. This necessitates:

• Unwavering User Focus: Placing the needs of all users at the forefront of every stage of product development.
• Dynamic Iteration: Committing to a continuous cycle of feedback, testing, and refinement through inclusive design mediated by knowledge brokers.
• Transparent Communication: Fostering open and clear dialogue among all stakeholders.
• Unified Success Measures: Establishing shared metrics that reflect both market impact and equitable educational outcomes.

By embracing this comprehensive strategy, we can unlock edTech’s potential, crafting transformative learning experiences that benefit everyone.

This blog is also published on Applied Learning Insights‘ website.

Phil Vahey will be discussing this concept, Improving EdTech Product Market Fit with Knowledge Brokering and Inclusive Design on Tuesday, April 15, 2025 at 3:00 p.m. ET. Registration is open.

Phil Vahey, Ph.D., has been leading learning science research and development projects for over 20 years. He has led projects funded by the National Science Foundation, the US Department of Education, philanthropic foundations, and commercial clients. He was the Director of Applied Learning Sciences for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and before that he was the Director of Strategic Research and Innovation at SRI Education. Throughout his work he has focused on applying learning science principles at scale, with a focus on inclusive design based research, continuous improvement, and equity in education. He received his MA and Ph.D. from the UC Berkeley School of Education, and runs his firm, Applied Learning Insights, from San Francisco.