Across EdTech, companies are being asked to prove that their products actually work.

District budgets are tighter. Buyers are asking harder questions. And simply having an innovative product isn’t enough to get a deal across the finish line anymore.

District leaders want evidence that a product is worth the investment and, more importantly, that it can produce meaningful results for students.

On top of changing how EdTech companies sell their products, it also forces teams to review the people and skills they need to prove how effective their tools are.

‘Screen Value’ Over ‘Screen Time’

From living rooms to classrooms, everyone’s worried about how much time kids spend in front of screens. Alabama and Utah are among the first states to pass legislation limiting student screen time, and more states are following close behind.

But what if we’re approaching this from the wrong angle?

Two hours of screen time isn’t good or bad on its own. It depends entirely on what’s happening during those two hours. Treating a rigorous, research-backed literacy tool the same as passive video-watching is like rating a novel by how heavy it is.

The real question being asked now is what’s the value of this screen time, not just how much of it there is. To prove that, districts need:

• Independent, third-party research proving a tool actually moves the needle
• A “seal of approval” they can point to when a school board member raises an eyebrow
• Quantitative and qualitative data showing that screen time is actually benefiting a student’s social and academic growth

What this means for your team: Independent, third-party research can take a long time. In the meantime, gathering case studies, whitepapers, and testimonials is a solid way to make the case for your product’s value.

OBCs: Helping Buyers and Sellers Find Common Ground

Plain and simple — there’s not as much funding for districts as there used to be.

Even for research-backed tools, districts can’t afford to sign a contract and just hope for the best. So what do you do when you know a tool is effective, but the buyer still needs reassurance they’ll get their money’s worth? Outcome-based contracts (OBCs).

In practice, it makes sense. A vendor and buyer agree on targets, and the vendor gets paid in full (or partially, if the tool helps the buyer hit some of those targets). 

Little to no money upfront, but real accountability built in.

That said, this model isn’t for everyone. It requires real capital, and a team has to be financially (and mentally and emotionally) ready to absorb the hit if a target isn’t met. Used sparingly, OBCs can be a foot in the door for early-stage startups with strong efficacy data behind them.

What this means for your team: Sales, product, and customer success all need to be on the same page here. Beyond the dollar amount, buyers want to hear the numbers behind efficacy and scalability.

The Thing That’s Hard to Quantify: Trust

We’re still dealing with learning loss and social-emotional fallout from the pandemic, and technology, especially AI, has complicated recovery for a lot of students.

Students who lean too heavily on these tools risk pulling away from peers and adults. Beyond using AI as a “homework helper,” many students are outsourcing the very tasks and assignments that help them grow academically and socially.

So the question parents and educators keep coming back to is simple: what guardrails do you actually have in place to keep students from disconnecting academically and socially?

What this means for your team: Being innovative isn’t enough anymore. You also have to be the trustworthy adult in the room: transparent about what your AI is doing, and careful not to make existing problems worse.

What This Means for Job Seekers

• Learn to speak fluently about efficacy, evidence, and outcomes. It’ll set you apart in interviews, even if you’re nowhere near a research role
• Look for companies with a real, validated seal of approval or documented outcomes. In a tight market, that’s a solid signal the company isn’t going anywhere
• Sellers, get comfortable with outcome-based conversations now. Understanding how OBCs work makes you more valuable, even at companies that haven’t adopted them yet

What This Means for Hiring Managers

• Efficacy isn’t just a product team’s job anymore. Whoever you’re hiring for sales, customer success, or implementation needs to be fluent in outcomes and data, not just feature lists
• A clean implementation is now a competitive edge. Hiring for roles that prevent botched rollouts (onboarding, customer success, integration engineers) protects your reputation and gets your buyer closer to hitting those targets
• You need a trustworthy team. Buyers have to trust you and your product, and that starts with people who build real relationships and put the buyer’s needs first

Does It Work?

That question isn’t going away.

Districts want to know whether the products they’re buying will produce results. Companies need people across the organization who understand those results, can communicate them clearly, and know their role in helping customers achieve them.

Building a team that can do that? Let’s chat.