Crowdfunding in the Upstart Age [INFOGRAPHIC]

Crowdfunding is growing rapidly — we’ve heard as much from observers and consultants (including our sister company Massolution) for some time. But “crowdfunding” is hardly a rigid term. There are different ways to raise cash from the crowd, and the landscape is likely to change soon with Title III of the JOBS Act (which legalizes equity crowdfunding for unaccredited investors) coming into effect. Not sure how the new rules will affect the crowdfunding space? This infographic created by Clarity.fm shows some of crowdfunding’s biggest successes, and gives a brief overview of how the JOBS Act regulations will affect startup financing.

SETDA Seeks Ed Tech Startups for Private Sector Partners Program

Reposted from Marketwired:

The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA), the principal non-profit membership association representing U.S. state and territorial educational technology leaders, announced today that it will begin accepting applications for the third cohort of startups seeking to join SETDA’s year long Emerging Private Sector Partnership Program (EPSP). The EPSP is a public-private partnership program tailored specifically for companies new to the U.S. K-12 education and technology market. No more than ten startups will be selected to be a part of the Emerging Private Sector Partnership Program. You can view SETDA’s partner’s page here.

Emerging Private Sector Partners will benefit from a variety of opportunities throughout the year to showcase their products and services, receive feedback and advice and engage in meaningful dialogue with state educational technology leaders. EPSPs will make their debut via a pitch fest at the SETDA Emerging Technologies Forum (ET Forum), June 26-27, 2015, immediately preceding the ISTE conference. Also during the ET Forum they will have the unique opportunity to participate in a full-day workshop led by SETDA’s Channel Partners and industry experts Charlene Blohm (C. Blohm & Associates, Inc.), Kevin Custer and Rita Ferrandino (Arc Capital Development) and Mitch Weisburgh (Academic Business Advisors). The workshop will provide valuable insights into the K-12 ecosystem and trends, advice on how to successfully market to K-12, and offer individualized feedback on pitch fest demonstrations.

Applications Due by March 17, 2015. To apply and access more information about the program and its benefits go to: http://www.setda.org/partners/strategic-partners/private-sector.

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A Challenge to Educators with Innovative Ideas

Reposted from EdTech Digest:

Teacherpreneurs are teachers solving problems through scalable edtech start-ups. We’ve lived through the systemic issues facing education and we’re able to use strategies that we know will work to solve them. I’d like to challenge educators who have innovative ideas to try their hand at building a business. Rather than subjecting yourself to a new “program” that may or may not work, you’ll have concrete affirmation or denial through the market itself. Every educator I’ve ever spoken with has a unique perspective on the classroom. You’re already doing invaluable and groundbreaking things in your classroom and the rest of the world deserves to share in your success.

We’re launching an experimental answer: a Kickstarter campaign for Adaptive History. BirdBrain History will be our second content area of adaptive and differentiated reading. We’re an early start-up that’s served over 50,000 students and teachers in the last year. In no way does this mean it’ll be easy. To date, the only edtech tool that’s run a successful large-scale crowdfunding campaign was Mathalicious in 2012! Our goal is to create the most accessible curriculum tool on the market for students to read and schools to pay for.

If you don’t know where to start, there is a growing network of edtech entrepreneurs and do-gooders that would love to connect with you. Teach For America connects their alumni through the Social Entrepreneurship Initiative, and you’re able to connect with many other education enthusiasts through local Meetups, Accelerator events and StartupWeekendEDU.

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The End of Employeeship As We Know It [INFOGRAPHIC]

I run a startup. Lean and mean, 16-hour days. Everything we do is ours. When we thought of hiring another person, it quickly became clear that we could not handle an employee. I had to become an entrepreneur. We could not pay for insurance, supervise them, offer them a stable salary. Why because all those things that are stable about a job are the opposite of a startup. Anna Vital of Funders & Founders shares this infographic on how workers will think of employment in the not-so-distant future.

View the original post here.

The Collaborative Economy Honeycomb [INFOGRAPHIC]

Social networks were the first phase of digital P2P (peer to peer) networking. They enabled anyone to create media and then share it. The Collaborative Economy is the second phase, enabling anyone to create goods and services and share them, so that individuals can access what they need to meet their personal and professional interests. Version two of the Collaborative Economy Honeycomb, created by Jeremiah Owyang, illustrates twelve families of industries, including learning, along with classes and examples of startups in each.

See the original posting of this graphic here.