What's AWS up to in Edtech? & More!
My conversation with Alex Sarlin on the Edtech Insiders Podcast.
Hi everyone! It’s been a while — if you’re going to be at SXSWEdu or ASU+GSV, please hit reply and let me know. It’d be great to catch up!
Also - I’m helping the Masterschool team find an extraordinary EIR / Head of Strategic Initiatives. If you know anyone who would be a good fit, please share the JD with them.
I recently had a great conversation with my friend Alex Sarlin, the host of Edtech Insiders, about what AWS is doing in Edtech and some of the Future of Work trends I’ve been thinking about. You can hear the full conversation via the link below.
Some key highlights:
You are the Global Edtech & Workforce Development Lead at AWS Marketplace, which is Amazon Web Services’ one-stop shop for businesses to procure enterprise software solutions through the cloud. Tell us about what AWS Marketplace is and what it means for the Edtech world.
With AWS Marketplace, we’re trying to do for B2B software buying what Amazon.com did for consumer products. We want to make it really easy for customers - in this case, businesses and public sector organizations - to discover, test, buy, and deploy digital products. We have many leading Edtech companies selling to their end customers - whether it’s businesses or school districts - through AWS Marketplace. I joined AWS to build up the Edtech vertical, and since then, we have launched 22 big Edtech sellers, and are aiming to grow that further.
When you search on AWS Marketplace for eLearning solutions, you can find all kinds of B2B Edtech companies listed, from Pluralsight to Udemy Business to LearnPlatform to Coursera to Dataquest to Skillsoft and more. Tell us how the ecosystem works- what are the advantages to companies in listing on AWS marketplace, and what are the advantages to businesses in procuring a licence to, say, Pluralsight, on AWS Marketplace?
At a high level, we’re trying to bring speed and ease to the software buying process. Companies such as Crowdstrike have spoken about how AWS Marketplace has cut down their time to close a deal by 50%. As far as advantages go - for customers, this means faster deals. So being able to discover and purchase software more quickly, have AWS be the vendor of record - and most importantly, be able to utilize their AWS spend commitment towards buying 3rd party software solutions. We also run different promotions from time to time which provide customers with credits and other perks.
For sellers, the big draw is the opportunity to work with AWS reps to close deals. Our reps get comp and quota relief for Marketplace transactions, so they’re incentivized to help their partners discover the best solutions for their needs through Marketplace.
Pluralsight has been a partner of ours for over 3 years - they were an early adopter of Marketplace, and have really leaned in to grow with us. They’re also a big training partner for AWS as well – thousands of our teammates have learned cloud skills from A Cloud Guru, a Pluralsight company.
I see LMSs on there, like Moodle, Canvas and D2L, content providers like Skillsoft, Udemy and Coursera, certification providers like A Cloud Guru, cloud video vendors like Kaltura, and more. Tell us how you think about the different categories of companies on AWS marketplace, and what other companies might be interested in being listed.
In the early days of Marketplace, the main customers were developers and devops teams - as you can imagine given the typical business users for AWS. Over the years, that’s expanded to include line of business buyers and procurement teams. So how we categorize on the backend is by type of solution - as you described - but also the persona of the customer. We have teams that help sell to K-12 school districts, and public sector universities – and others that are aligned with corporate buyers – the businesses that buy solutions such as A Cloud Guru or Coursera.
We have mapped the account teams to have coverage across all of our AWS customers, and through Marketplace and the Amazon Partner Network, sellers have the opportunity to engage with our reps and tag team to close opportunities.
What’s the larger vision that AWS Marketplace has for the Edtech sector?
Looking forward to 2023 now, my goal is to continue building this vertical – someday I want to have every Edtech company that’s built on AWS to have the opportunity to sell through AWS to their end customers. And similarly, I hope we make it really easy for school districts and businesses to find the right learning solution for them. Cause at the end of the day, there’s so much cool tech out there - and it shouldn’t be such a hassle to get it into the hands of learners. And we want to help simplify that experience.
We talk on this podcast a lot about the big tech companies and how they have deep pockets and the ability to have transformative effects on the Edtech ecosystem. We’ve seen Amazon buy Tenmarks, create a platform for educational materials, and recently launch a “courses” section of their main website. As a close Edtech observer; I’m curious about the different Amazon initiatives to benefit the Edtech ecosystem?
We have a couple of cool AWS teams working in the Edtech sector. We’re essentially trying to support every stage of a company - from startup through big Edtech.
AWS EdStart is an awesome organization for early-stage startups that are building on AWS. Being part of EdStart provides you with starter credits and access to solutions architects – but more importantly, it gives you access to an incredible community that you can use to learn, engage with partners and investors, and connect more deeply with the AWS network. EdStart does demo days, provides founder-specific content, and also supports startup CTOs in growing in their roles. I highly recommend all Edtech founders look at the program.
AWS K-12 & Higher Education Teams – they do research on different categories, support companies (big and small) across Edtech, and host AWS Imagine - our annual Edtech conference.
AWS Partner Network & AWS Marketplace – these are the communities I was talking about. The AWS Partner Network (APN) is a global community of partners that leverages programs, expertise, and resources to build, market, and sell customer offerings.
Alex and I also talked about the Future of Work -
How ChatGPT will impact classrooms & professional jobs (and how my 20-year-old brother thinks he’s going to be automated out of our relationship 😂)
Our thoughts on how traditional education is hurting the middle class the most
Revisiting my Op-Ed from 10 years ago: “Open Letter to Freshmen – Choose well, not all college majors are created equal” — and what I think about it now
Hope you enjoy the episode! Message me with any questions or feedback. Talk soon! 👋