Transcend Network

Applications for the Transcend Fellowship are now open! 📢 Finding PMF is the #1 priority for early-stage founders – our mission is to help you make progress in finding it! This core belief is the foundation for all that we do for our Fellows. From enabling you to run weekly PMF experiments to giving you access to exited founders, our programs and our network are designed to help edtech founders cut through the BS and work towards what actually matters in the early stages. So far in 2024: ➡️ 79 founders have participated in the Fellowship, serving K-12, higher ed, corporate learning, and future of work audiences. ➡️ 96% of Transcend Fellows run weekly PMF experiments, and one in four founders are running 1 per day! ➡️ 97% built meaningful relationships through our mentor matches, coaches and personalized introductions. We are now opening up a new cohort (TF15) and will accept 30 early-stage founders into our network this Fall! What we do with each fellow: 1️⃣ Run weekly customer experiments to find PMF 2️⃣ Get 1:1 coaching from an exited founder in your specific sector 3️⃣ Get matched with 4 successful mentors in our network (founders, angel investors and customers) If this sounds like you or someone you know, say hello in the comments and we’ll reach out to chat 1:1 with you! Link to apply ➡️ https://lnkd.in/dkXydVV4 Applications close 📅 October 18

It is the last day to apply for the Transcend Fellowship! 📢 Over 5 weeks, 30 early-stage edtech founders will: 1️⃣ run weekly PMF experiments to unlock growth and customer insights 2️⃣ get 1:1 coaching from an exited founder in their specific sector (k-12, higher ed, corporate learning, etc.) 3️⃣ get matched with 4 successful mentors in our network (founders, angel investors and customers) ...all with the goal to help you and your company inch closer to product-market fit! 🚀 If this sounds like what you want to be involved doing as 2025 approaches, submit your application today to be a part of our TF14 cohort! (link to apply is in the comment 👇 ) We close applications October 23 @ 11:59 pm PST 📅

Introducing our K-12 Educator-Product Advisors! 📚 Teachers are some of the most important stakeholders in the K-12 ecosystem. They enable edtech implementation in schools (whether the tool is learner-facing or educator-facing), and are the ones driving change for students day to day. Unfortunately, edtech startups often struggle to involve teachers early enough in the development process, leading to misaligned expectations and empty promises of disruption, but without real teacher support or adoption. We want to address this problem by involving teachers as co-designers, not mere users. Hence, we want to introduce you to our K-12 Educator-Product Advisor Network! These are educators with years of experience as teachers and admin at schools around the world! We first introduced them to our K-12 fellows in early 2024, and we are excited to continue this initiative for our upcoming TF15 cohort. A huge thank you to Alissa McDonald, co-founder of PopPD (and a Transcend Fellow herself!) who has helped put this advisory network together and is our program partner for this initiative! Every Transcend Fellow building in K-12 will have a 1:1 meeting with an educator advisor, and receive personalized, ISTE standards-aligned feedback on their product usability, communication and value proposition! Here are some of our k-12 educator-product advisors and how they individually support edtech founders! 👇 Brittany Blackwell, M.Ed.- Host of the Resilient Teacher Podcast ➡️ Helps founders with effective communication strategies to enable product-led growth with K12 Teachers Khristen Massic - School District Leader ➡️ Helps career and technical education (CTE) teachers get more done during the school day. Amy Roadman - PA Certified Art Teacher ➡️ Focused on enhancing art education through innovative curriculum development and tech integration Taleen Stevens, M.Ed. - Reading Specialist and Instructional ELA Coach ➡️Host of The Learning Curve- Education Conversations Podcast. Helps founders run a test-bed network with project-based schools Ben Schoenebeck - Elementary Educator ➡️ Helps founders explore the differences between high-needs and high-performing schools Lisa McHargue- Teacher & Digital Organizer ➡️ Supports founders building digital organization products Julia Cafaro - Curriculum Designer and Instructional Coach ➡️ Founder of Around the World With Mrs. C. Focused on empowering secondary English educators with diverse world literature curriculum Rajalique McCowin, M.Ed - Founder of Lone Star Tutor ➡️ Focused on blending learning with gaming, and creating microschools for neurodivergent learners. Gabriella Volpe, B.Ed. - Educational Accessibility and Inclusion Consultant ➡️ Focused on Neurodiversity, UDL, AAC, and game-based learning. We’re looking forward to working with these awesome folks for our upcoming TF15 cohort! 🙌

We are extending our deadline to apply to October 23! 📢 Today is technically the last day to apply to the Transcend Fellowship's TF15 cohort. However, we are keeping applications open for anyone who gets a referral from a Transcend Fellow or a friend of Transcend! If you are a founder building in edtech or the future of work and are looking to: 1️⃣ Run weekly PMF experiments to finetune your product positioning and value props 2️⃣ Get 1:1 coaching from an exited founder in your specific sector (k-12, higher ed, corp learning, etc.) 3️⃣ Get connected with edtech veteran founders & investors in our network through mentorships then apply to the Transcend Fellowship asap! If you don't know anyone who can refer you, dm us directly and we'll share next steps! Over the coming week, we will be reviewing submitted applications and ask select founders to schedule a 1:1 working session with us. Since these slots are limited, we encourage you to apply asap! PS: If you know someone who may be a good fit, tag them in the comments or introduce them to us via dms!

Meet Benedek Hermán, founder and CEO of Voovo, and a Transcend Fellow (TF14)! Benedek is an ex-medical student and experienced product developer. Currently he is building Voovo, a tool reimagining how students absorb knowledge. Voovo utilizes scientifically proven techniques such as Active Recall and Spaced Repetition, primarily associated with digital flashcards and quizzes, to enhance student learning experiences. Benedek and his team noticed that while high-achieving students often leverage these methods, many lower-performing students miss out on their benefits. To address this gap, they have launched Voovo for Classrooms, an initiative designed to make these learning techniques accessible to all students. In collaboration with Semmelweis University, Hungary's largest medical school, Voovo has successfully launched its pilot program, where over 92% of students engage with flashcards and quizzes daily, thus implementing spaced repetition into the education system. Voovo is looking for more universities to start pilots and potential edtech companies in the higher-ed spave who would be interested to partner. “By integrating Voovo into entire university systems, we aim to provide valuable learning tools to those who need them the most” - Benedek Hermán. Recently, Benedek and his team raised a $500K pre-seed funding round! The company is also backed by the prestigious Techstars accelerator program, was a Top 10 finalist at the ReflectX Startup Competition, won the 2023 Hungarian Startup Innovation Award, and qualified as a finalist in the EU-Startups Summit Pitch Competition! “This investment allows us to accelerate our mission of revolutionizing education by integrating spaced repetition and microlearning into the education system.” - Team Voovo We are super glad to have Benedek as a Transcend Fellow and thrilled about the future of Voovo! Learn more about Benedek's work here: ➡ Voovo

We are closing applications for the Transcend Network TF15 Fellowship very soon! 🚨 Bad news 👎: the official deadline is tomorrow Good news 🗞️: we added a deadline extension until next Wednesday (Oct 23) for anyone who gets a referral from a Transcend Fellow or friend of Transcend (dm me if you don't know anyone to refer you!) If you are an edtech or future of founder looking to... - Finetune your product positioning and value prop - Go from your first customers to 10 - Raise your first round of funding - Get connected in the edtech space ... then the Fellowship may be a good fit for you! We select 30 founders for our equity-free program and put them through an immersive program that includes cohort-wide workshops, 1:1 coaching and personalized access to the Transcend founders and network. If you know someone who may be a good fit, please tag them in the comments or introduce them to us via email, and we'll be happy to grant them the extension + chat with them 1:1 to explore if the program is a good fit!

Meet Alana Heath, co-founder and COO of How to Change the World, and a Transcend Fellow (TF14)! Alana is a social entrepreneur with over a dozen years of experience building impactful ventures in sustainable development, microfinance/financial inclusion, energy access and impact investing. Her work has taken her across the United States, South Asia, and East Africa with companies such as Grassroots Capital Management, Factor[e] Ventures, and Mirova SunFunder. Currently she is building How to Change the World alongside her co-founder Jason Blackstock (also a Transcend Fellow - TF11)! Alana is focused on revolutionizing experiential learning. At 'How to Change the World,' she and her team are transforming careers to create a sustainable future through online experiential learning programs – while building the tech platform to revolutionize online experiential learning at scale. Their online programs are experiential, interdisciplinary, multi-university, and global, bringing hundreds of students from dozens of institutions together with their global network of community leaders and experts. They are on a mission to empower and equip learners with the skills and mindsets to build a brighter, more equitable future. 'How to Change the World' has partnered with prestigious organizations such as Harvard Innovation Labs and Times Higher Education. It has also worked with a range of renowned universities, including Queen's University, Imperial College London, and the University of Toronto, to name just a few. We are super glad we get to have Alana in our community and are excited about the future she is building! 🙌 Learn more about her work here: ➡ How to Change the World

ClassHook, led by Alexander D. (TF12) has been acquired by ClickView! Used by K-12 educators in over 25,000 schools, ClassHook has become an indispensable resource for busy teachers who need to quickly engage students and make learning relevant. They are the leading provider of short video “hooks” for K-12 teachers, and host a suite of tools to enable classroom discussions and help teachers drive better outcomes in an engaging and entertaining way. With this acquisition, ClassHook will become a distinct member of the ClickView family, supporting them in their mission to provide U.S. schools and districts with fresh, high-quality, standards-aligned videos that makes learning more engaging and relevant for students. “I’m really excited to amplify our impact through this acquisition. ClickView’s mission aligns perfectly with ClassHook’s—making learning more relevant and engaging for students. I’m excited about the opportunities ahead to support more classrooms across the U.S. and reimagine how educators use video.” - Alexander D. Alex participated in the Transcend Fellowship's TF12 of 2023. We are super proud and congratulate him and the team on achieving this incredible milestone! 🙌 Learn more about ClassHook's acquisition here: ➡ https://lnkd.in/d4pkQyjQ

We close applications this Friday (Oct 18)! If you are an early-stage founder looking to run weekly PMF experiments, and be coached/mentored by exited founders and leading investors in edtech, apply now to be a part of our TF15 cohort! (link to application is in the comments 👇) PS: Wondering what our recent alumni think of us 👀? Check out the comments in the post below

Decoding the VC-Founder Match: Day 2 at EDTECH WEEK ✅ Thank you to all who joined this incredible session yesterday! Our co-founder Alberto Arenaza participated in the panel alongside awesome investors in the space like Sabari Raja, Heather Matranga, Arrun Kapoor and Tetyana Astashkina 🇺🇦. At Transcend, a core part of our work with founders is to get clear about their 'funding-market fit.' We were glad to participate in a session that discussed this subject in such depth and hear insights from leading investors around how founders can choose the right investors for their companies.