Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Startups don’t always struggle because they lack good ideas.
Sometimes, they struggle because they hire too early, too late or for the wrong role.
A founder may know they need help, but not whether their next hire should be in sales, customer success, product, marketing or operations. They may copy a job description from another company without asking whether that role fits their own stage of growth.
That’s why I decided to become a mentor at SuperCharger Ventures.
SuperCharger Ventures is a global EdTech and Future of Work ecosystem. It supports founders who are building products and services connected to education, learning and the changing world of work.
The organisation operates one of the world’s leading EdTech accelerators and has hubs in Malta, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Rwanda. Its programmes connect founders with mentors, investors, partners and other entrepreneurs who understand the EdTech market. (superchargerventures.com)
Its support isn’t limited to one type of founder or one location.
Current programmes include an onsite accelerator in Malta, a fully remote global programme and a Saudi programme focused on helping EdTech businesses build partnerships and enter the local market. SuperCharger Ventures also runs a programme focused on founder wellbeing and sustainable leadership. (superchargerventures.com)
More than 200 companies have graduated from its programmes, and alumni continue to access the community, investors, events and future accelerator opportunities after their programme ends. (superchargerventures.com)
The idea is simple.
Founders shouldn’t have to work out every stage of company growth alone.
Building an EdTech organisation requires more than a good product. Founders must understand the education market, prove that their product solves a real problem, find customers, raise investment and build a team that can deliver the next stage of growth.
SuperCharger Ventures brings together specialists across areas including product, education, business development, fundraising, marketing, international expansion and team growth. Its mentor network includes entrepreneurs, education leaders, investors, product specialists and people with experience scaling organisations. (superchargerventures.com)
That sector focus matters.
EdTech has its own language, customer groups, buying cycles and hiring challenges. Advice that works for a general technology company doesn’t always translate neatly into education.
The SuperCharger community includes organisations working across education and the future of work.
For example, Career180 supports young people with career development, practical skills and routes into employment. (superchargerventures.com)
SmallTalk2Me uses artificial intelligence to help people assess and practise their spoken English, including preparation for interviews, business communication and English language exams. (superchargerventures.com)
Notey helps children learn guitar through a game based mobile experience. (superchargerventures.com)
University Startups provides tools for special education transition planning, helping schools and districts manage goals, compliance and student support. (superchargerventures.com)
These examples show the range within EdTech. Some businesses sell to schools or universities. Others support individual learners, employers or people preparing to enter the workforce.
Their hiring needs are just as varied.
My work sits at the point where education, people and company growth meet.
I started my career as a teacher. I later built and ran my own education business, moved into higher education and then worked inside several EdTech organisations.
Today, through RecruitHer, I help EdTech founders and leadership teams plan their workforce, define the right roles and find people who understand both education and business.
Becoming a SuperCharger Ventures mentor gives me another way to support founders while their businesses are taking shape.
It also connects closely with RecruitHer’s wider aim: helping EdTech companies grow by building capable, inclusive teams with people who understand learning.
My mentoring focuses mainly on workforce planning and smart hiring.
Workforce planning means looking beyond the immediate reaction of:
“We’re busy. We need to hire someone.”
Instead, I help founders ask:
What problem does this hire need to solve?
What should this person own?
What results should they deliver during their first six or twelve months?
Does the company need a permanent employee, a contractor or specialist support?
Is this really one role, or have several jobs been placed into one description?
What level of experience can the company realistically afford?
What experience is essential, and what can be learned?
These questions help founders avoid expensive hiring mistakes.
An early stage EdTech company may believe it needs a salesperson when the real issue is unclear positioning.
Another may recruit a Customer Success Manager when it still needs someone to lead implementation and training.
A founder may look for a senior Product Manager when what they really need is a Product Specialist who understands teachers and can support customer discovery.
Job titles can create false confidence. The work behind the title is what matters.
My role is to help founders identify the company’s current gaps, decide which responsibilities belong together and create a clear picture of the person they need.
Once the role is clear, the next challenge is attracting strong candidates.
That involves more than publishing a vacancy.
Candidates need to understand:
What the company is trying to achieve.
Why the role matters now.
What they’ll be responsible for.
How their performance will be measured.
Who they’ll work with.
What they can learn or build.
Why they should choose this company over another one.
A vague job description attracts vague applications.
Clear roles attract people who can see how their experience connects to the problem.
I help founders turn internal needs into job descriptions and hiring messages that strong candidates can understand and trust.
EdTech companies often need people who understand education but can also work within a commercial organisation.
That might mean a former teacher who can manage customer relationships and retention.
It could be a sales professional who understands how schools make decisions.
It might be a product leader who respects pedagogy rather than treating learning as another software feature.
Through my recruitment and sourcing work, I help companies find people who bring the right balance of education knowledge, commercial judgement and role specific skill.
The goal isn’t simply to place someone into a vacancy.
It’s to help build a team that can support customers, strengthen the product and give the company room to grow.
My involvement doesn’t have to end when a founder completes a SuperCharger Ventures programme.
Companies’ hiring needs change quickly.
The role they need while testing the market may be very different from the one they need after raising investment or winning their first major customers.
Founders can continue working with me through RecruitHer on workforce planning, role design, talent mapping, candidate sourcing and recruitment.
That continuity matters because good hiring isn’t a one off event. It’s part of building a company that can keep growing without losing sight of its purpose.
I joined SuperCharger Ventures because I want founders to make clearer and more confident decisions about people.
The right hire can give a founder time, bring missing knowledge into the company and help customers receive better support.
The wrong hire can drain money, create confusion and slow the whole team down.
My aim is to help founders understand the difference before they publish the job advert.
I’m looking forward to working with SuperCharger Ventures founders, learning more about the problems they’re solving and helping them build teams that can turn those ideas into meaningful results.
Are you building an EdTech company and unsure who your next hire should be? Connect with me on LinkedIn or speak to RecruitHer about workforce planning and specialist EdTech recruitment.
