Go to VCs who know EdTech and focus on learning experiences rather than only metrics
Guest: Didem Cikse, co-founder & CEO of Hub21, a company building a new way to help kids & teens aged 7-17 to master their technology skills guided by passionate tutors from top universities, based out of Turkey and London.
Frank Albert Coates
Could you tell me a bit more about the the company and at what stage you're in?
Didem Cikse
Hub 21 offers online tech courses for students 7 to 17. In topics we all wish they could learn. We are building a new way for students to master tech skills in coding, game development, and creative tech. We do it with adaptive courses supported by real people. We balance online and offline learning taste or hybrid learning system, our tutors are students from top universities, experts in computer science related topics. We offer personalized curriculum that is adaptable according to pace and interest and needs of each student. In two years time we have reached 500 students in 10 different countries. Now we are looking to grow our impact internationally as well in Europe.
Frank Albert Coates
Tell me about the online versus the offline piece. How do you combine that? I know you've run summer camps in Turkey. What's the strategy online versus offline?
Didem Cikse
Actually, we started with summer camps in the south of Turkey. And we saw that when kids are together physically face to face and socializing at the same time, while learning new things, they're enjoying it.
…when kids are together physically face to face and socializing at the same time, while learning new things, they're enjoying it.
And if they're enjoying what they're learning, and they remember, it gets better. So that's why we moved to Istanbul and started offering our workshops physically in Istanbul as well. Then the pandemic happened, and we moved to online, but we saw that coding is really fun, and really doable online, because you're able to code real time with the collaboration of your teachers and friends. So, we focus on the coding side and to increase our content and levels. Right now we have more than 32 topics and levels according to the interests of kids. So still, during the post pandemic, as we turn back to our physical locations, we are also offering robotics content, according to different age groups and interests of kids. They are enjoying coming to our place, seeing their friends and doing this collaborative hands on project, which is not possible online at all. So we are thinking to focus on this part and improve it. Like maybe time to time kids just come to our place to socialize with their friends, while they're learning online during the week, maybe in one to one or small groups.
Frank Albert Coates
Okay, so like blended learning. There's a lot in that, especially now with the pandemic where, not not only kids, but also adults as well want to go back to the physical setting. Let's take a few steps back. Think about when you got into EdTech in the first place. What was the moment when you decided to go into EdTech and startup hub 21?
Didem Cikse
I was born and raised in Turkey, and I studied economics at the University. I was part of an NGO called YGA (Young Guru Academy). Aiming to educate children in economically underdeveloped regions. So I traveled all around Turkey, executing educational workshops with them, but it was a really fulfilling experience as a young university student to see the impact that you are creating on the next generation. But at that time, it was just a volunteer experience for me. I never thought that one day I will become a founder of an EdTech startup. Actually, I started my professional career as a marketer and worked with startups in different areas like mobile technologies, renewable energies, and so on. And I had the chance to be a founding team member of Turkey's leading crowdfunding platform. That's why I met with a lot of founders who shared their successful stories as well as their failures. I think their journeys also encouraged me to become an entrepreneur as well. In 2018, I met my co-founders Sylvain at one of the YGA events as well. He has been working as a private tutor since 10 years. And he is really passionate about education. When we started exchanging ideas, we realized that we observed the same problem, from different points of views. There is a lack of interaction between the education system and the digital innovative world. To increase this interaction, we decided to start Hub 21 learning in 2019.
There is a lack of interaction between the education system and the digital innovative world. To increase this interaction, we decided to start Hub 21 learning in 2019.
Frank Albert Coates
That's a good start of the adventure. You were referring to your talks with founders, and how that inspired you to get into EdTech. And their challenges. Talk to me about what your challenges are. What's been the biggest one, since you started the company? And how did you solve it?
Didem Cikse
To be honest, I'm not sure which one was the biggest challenge, but I have a few of them in mind. As for Turkey, the devaluation of Turkish Lira has been affecting our business a lot. When we compare 2020 and 2021, we were able to grow our company by 110% in revenue, however, when we convert it to USD, it's not sustainable on the paper. This creates a talent crisis, which makes our lives as early stage founders, more difficult. Digital talent in Turkey, they prefer to go with European startups and companies that pays in USD or euros, while Turkish startups were paying their employees Turkish Lira. That's why today, we are both targeting international markets and having our company HQ in the UK.
Digital talent in Turkey, they prefer to go with European startups and companies that pays in USD or euros.
Frank Albert Coates
So the situation in Turkey has affected your business and your decision to go abroad. What made you choose the UK among all the European or other markets to scale your business?
Didem Cikse
UK is one of the biggest EdTech markets and also one of the biggest startup markets in Europe. And another point is that I have friends there, so I got their support. They are EdTech founders as well. Because it's super hard for early stage founders to discover new markets alone. So it's important to find your peer support, especially in the early stage. As a founder, you have limited time and budgets, and maybe you have only one chance to discover one market. You might not be able to discover UK and the Germany at the same time. Everything is extremely uncertain in the business at that stage. And probably as you're doing most of the things for the first time, you have a lot of questions to be answered. It's like a roller coaster time to time for your self confidence. You look for support to share your feelings deeply with same stage funders who can understand you and also share their experiences with you. At that point, having your peers around is the best solution. And I think thanks to the EdTech Garage we are feeling this support because for example, we are raising our round right now in the UK and we didn't have any lawyer to work within the UK. We just asked my peers at EdTech Garage and they just offered us someone and we started working. In two weeks we were able to finalize our agreements and move on. So, it's super fast and a helpful process for us. And thank you for creating this network and opportunity.
…it's super hard for early stage founders to discover new markets alone. So it's important to find your peer support, especially in the early stage. As a founder, you have limited time and budgets, and maybe you have only one chance to discover one market.
Frank Albert Coates
That's excellent to hear. It warms my heart to hear that the network can be helpful! And when you look forwards in the next 6 to 12 months at your plans and your roadmap, what's keeping you up at night, except the fundraising?
Didem Cikse
Yes, we just closed our pre-seed round. And I'm feeling like everything is just starting now. We are expanding our team, discovering new markets like the UK, testing our product in larger scale. So, since the beginning, it has been a great learning experience for me personally. I'm super excited to discover more about what I'm going to do in the next 6 to 12 months. But, the most interesting thing for me is to be able to learn different things. And I'm sure I will be learning a lot during this new year. So learning is the thing keeping me up at night.
Frank Albert Coates
If you think about going to the UK, specifically, what's the biggest scaling challenge that you have in starting in a new market?
Didem Cikse
I can not say we have been able to scale yet in the UK. Our businesses are close to traditional businesses; we are certainly adding to the tutoring business and we are doing different topics to create unique experiences for each kid. So when we look at our model, we are able to scale in different markets, but the most important thing is to have people with you knowing the market and also that you can collaborate with to be able to deliver your value. That's why we are also meeting with EdTech startups that we can collaborate with and offer our curriculum. Maybe we can open our platform to them and they can come and join us. And I think this is the most important thing to scale when you enter the market; knowing people and also collaborating with them.
Frank Albert Coates
And lastly, is there anything you want to share with our listeners in terms of advice? When tech startups are just getting off the ground, any thoughts or wisdom you want to share?
Didem Cikse
EdTech is a totally different idea. It's not like FinTech, where you can just go online, get some metrics and compare your business with those metrics. So it's different in that you need to focus first on learning expertise. And then the metrics comes with it. But, like other startups, you have to raise money. So, when you're raising money, it's so important to go with the right VCs, right people that knows EdTech, otherwise you will get a lot of questions regarding your metrics and revenue that is not going to take you anywhere actually. So you may just feel like; am I doing the right thing? But, when you go to the right people who knows EdTech, they're super helpful to position your value in the market and you can really focus on learning experiences rather than only metrics. We are doing something totally different as EdTech founders, so obviously, we should just focus on learning experiences of students or talents, or whatever we are focusing on and try to scale this value.
…when you go to the right people [VCs] who knows EdTech, they're super helpful to position your value in the market and you can really focus on learning experiences rather than only metrics.
