Educational Startups: How creating a startup improved the education system

Over the past ten years, the number of educational startups has grown immensely. We understand that interest in developments in the field of education is directly related to digitalization. As such, we decided to share one of the recent case studies related to the educational system in Germany.

You never know for certain where a problem will arise, and what will delay the release of the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) for presentation to investors. Inevitably things change, and more often than not they change more than a few times. These changes can start with the MVP itself and end with changes in the goals of the project.


Let’s analyze the situation

Let’s say there is a client with a fixed budget, tight deadlines, and bloated functionality. 

Prior to the investor’s arrival, there was a clear deadline for the implementation of the MVP and its demonstration to investors. But without the investors, further, development was impossible, because a large chunk of work was related to the development of APIs (Applicable Programming Interfaces) for providing third-party services. The API itself was very crude and untested, and funding was needed to perform necessary tests and adaptations.

Thus, the work had not yet begun, and things were already getting tense.

This is how the development of an educational startup, “My German University” began. It started as a web application for students looking for a master’s degree program in Germany.


There are no unsolvable problems, there is only a bad BA (business analysis)

Before connecting all resources, our Business Analyst, based on client prototypes, formulated a brief for “User Stories”

It was with a short and understandable description of the functionality in hand, that we were able to define a scope. After that, our experienced Project Manager formulated a task prioritization and a tracking plan for all intermediate stages of work.

To keep the project within the budget and finish on time, we proposed simplifying the non-critical functionality. This allowed us to create a working application that could be easily demonstrated to interested parties.

To optimize budget and speed up development, we used an iterative approach with weekly sprints and releases.


We know what to do and how to reduce risks

In the beginning, we warned the client about the risks of integrating third-party services that do not have documentation for their API, and whose actual performance is unknown. We discussed the risks of changes, clarified the requirements, and potential adjustments.

After assessing all potential risks, we took responsibility and started development. For continuous monitoring, we proposed a task tracking system and regular meetings, and in the end the project was a huge success.


Eventually (In the end)

In the end, having won in early 2020 InnoRampUp (IFB Innovationsstarter GmbH), one of the most attractive government grants in Germany – the company moved from Berlin to Hamburg. 

According to their website, in May 2021 the number of unique search queries exceeded 237 thousand, and the number of views approached a million, while the viewing time was 05.08! The number of current programs has grown from 1660 at the time of launch to 2231, and 30 universities have already signed an agreement to provide unique offers to students.

We are proud to be involved in the success of such fulfilling projects, this creates a passion for us to continue to take on new ideas and improve our own skills.