In a world obsessed with the latest technological breakthroughs and shiny new features, it’s easy to overlook the true catalysts of educational progress – our teachers. While most conversations rightfully celebrate what teachers do in the classroom, I want to shine a light on something equally powerful:
What teachers do for the future of education technology.
Because here’s the truth that every EdTech company needs to hear—especially those still clinging to slick sales decks and multi-page pitch docs with more buzzwords than a Silicon Valley bingo card:
Teachers follow teachers.
Not roadmaps. Not webinars. Not even AI-generated use cases that look like they were written by a committee of buzzwords on an energy drink binge.
Nope. They follow each other!
A tip shared over a staffroom coffee. A quick “Hey, have you seen this?” message between departments. A passionate moment in PD where a teacher shows what actually worked with their students (and not the theoretical students who apparently have unlimited attention spans and zero technical difficulties).
That’s the real marketing engine. That’s the trust loop you can’t fake. And if your GTM strategy doesn’t start here, you’re basically selling ice to penguins… wearing mittens. Ambitious effort. But fundamentally misguided.
The Pincer Movement: How Real Adoption Actually Works
The best EdTech growth doesn’t happen top-down or bottom-up. It happens both.
I call it the Pincer Movement—a two-sided squeeze that closes the adoption gap:
Bottom-up trust from teachers using the tool authentically, helping peers, proving impact, and occasionally performing minor tech miracles with just a YouTube tutorial and sheer determination.
Top-down confidence from leadership, who see alignment with outcomes, compliance, and strategy (and who are secretly relieved they won’t need to attend another emergency training session).
Together, they create momentum that no cold call or fancy lunch meeting ever could. It’s how you go from “that quiz thing in Year 7” to “we literally cannot imagine teaching without this.”
The Authenticity Imperative
Here’s the part that stings a little for the marketers in the room:
You can’t manufacture teacher advocacy. Teachers have Olympic-level BS-detectors. Years of hearing “I handed it in, I swear!” and “My dog ate my Google Doc” have made sure of that.
If your testimonials sound like they were written by someone in a WeWork with a ring light and a marketing degree who has never stayed up until 3 AM marking homework… they’re toast.
Real influence is built on:
- Real problems solved (as they define them, not as your product roadmap imagined them)
- Real voices elevated (without polishing them into corporate slogans that no human has ever actually said)
- Real leadership from teachers on the ground (not just on the org chart or your advisory board’s impressive letterhead)
Teachers: Your Strategic Growth Engine
While we should always celebrate everything teachers do for their students, let’s also acknowledge their role as:
The filters of fluff (with a BS detection system honed by decades of creative excuses)
The validators of value (who can spot the difference between “game-changing” and “time-wasting” faster than you can say “pedagogical paradigm shift”)
The internal influence network that drives real adoption (and who don’t need a single LinkedIn certification to do it)
They’re not just users. They’re your GTM strategy with a heartbeat, a coffee habit, and a grading pile that never seems to get smaller.
If your product isn’t spreading in classrooms, then ask:
Have I built something worth sharing—or just something worth selling?
The Only Question That Matters
If you’re building for education, there’s one question you should lose sleep over:
Are you selling software, or solving something that teachers will actually talk about?
Because when you solve real problems—when you lighten the load, make learning better, or just give them one less thing to worry about—teachers don’t just adopt.
They champion. They share. They lead.
And here’s the beautiful truth about teachers: when they believe in something, they fight for it with the same passion they bring to defending their students, their classroom supply budgets, and their sacred lunch breaks.
I believe that every day should be a day to recognise teachers. You deserve more than just occasional recognition. You deserve technology that actually works for you, not against you. You aren’t just part of the education system. You are the system. And in my world—of product, growth, and EdTech dreams—you’re the spark that makes everything possible.
And to my fellow EdTech builders: If you want to grow, start listening in the staffroom. Because that’s where real scale begins. The future of education technology isn’t being written in boardrooms or funding decks—it’s being written every day by teachers who believe enough in something to tell another teacher, “Trust me, you need to try this.”
Now excuse me while I go find a teacher to thank… and maybe subtly ask which apps they’re loving these days. For research purposes, of course.
Julian Ridden, former Head of APAC Growth at Quizizz, is an edtech leader empowering educators through AI, community and active learning.