The following transcript has been edited for readability. Timestamps have been removed and minor transcription errors corrected. Speaker comments and context have been preserved. Please note that Will's job title has since changed. However, his title in this transcript reflects his position at the time of recording.

Opening Remarks

Rich Portelance

Thanks for joining today. My name is Rich Portelance. I am the host of the EdGate Powers podcast, and today I'm excited to be joined by Will Gordon. I'll let Will introduce himself, but we do these podcasts periodically to explore what's happening in the education market, what changes are afoot, and how we can all help one another to succeed in these trying and changing times. So, without further ado, Will, can you give the audience an introduction?

Will Gordon

Sure. Thanks for having me on. As Rich said, I'm head of sales for BOOKR Class. Head of sales really encompasses both our partnerships that we have around the world, as well as our U.S. sales, so it kind of is a big, broad role in scope. I'm based in Durham, North Carolina, where I grew up and then ended up living abroad for about a decade. I'm actually the son of two primary school teachers, both reading teachers, in fact. So, the platform that I work with, BOOKR Class, is a reading platform, and so that's kind of very close to my heart, and really fun to work on every day. I also taught English before I got into business and edtech. So, I come to my role with sort of that background as well. I've been in edtech for about 15 years, working with startups, large publishers, and domestic and international companies. And so, it kind of runs the gamut of experiences I've had. So, yeah, I’m excited to talk about the U.S. market, edtech, and all things education. 

Discussion

Rich Portelance

Oh, that's fantastic, Will. So, if we go look at– I mean, there's a ton of questions about your past, but, looking at BOOKR as a company, where is it based out of? Where do you guys come from?

Will Gordon

Sure. So, BOOKR is a… we're just about 10 years old as a company, and our core team is based out of Budapest, Hungary. So, our founder is from Budapest. It actually was– the company was founded by a husband and wife who wanted to create a new and unique online experience for reading, with a particular attention towards children with attention deficit disorder (ADD), and learning disabilities, like dyslexia, and other things like that. So, the company really was focused very specifically on creating a format that would be most beneficial to students in terms of comprehension and engagement. And from that format, which is the BOOKR format, the BOOKR Class was born, which is a classroom platform with teacher accounts and tracking capabilities. And then the core of the platform is the student reading app where students can select from over a thousand titles, read, and work on their reading skills and their English language learning skills. So, the company's based in Budapest, but we have team members throughout the world. We work with schools on all continents, we have some work we do directly to consumers online, and then the core of what we do is working with schools, teachers, and students in the K-12 space.

Rich Portelance

If you're an edtech company out there and you're listening to this podcast–it's for you as you listen to Will–you might catch a little glimpse of something that might be familiar. You know, companies that are born abroad and coming into the U.S. market, or if you're in the U.S. market trying to go abroad. What we're trying to discover in talking to Will and his company are some of the challenges that are out there, and that edtech companies and publishers face, and how BOOKR is overcoming these challenges in order to find some success as they delve into the markets, and try to sell their product. You know, as Will's talking about, BOOKR is a product meant for student reading, students with certain challenges that they're facing, and… So, Will, as you guide your team into new markets, why don't you help us to define what some of the major challenges or roadblocks are, and how you approach those?

Will Gordon

Yeah. Well, I think I might take it global and then bring it really local. I think globally, or when you have a product that's really exciting–especially when it's a really great product–sometimes the hardest challenge will be that you want to start everywhere. You want to serve everyone, and you want to go in every market and be everywhere. And I think the first and most important task is to really clearly define your market or your audience. Who are you really serving? Are you serving English language learners? Are you serving international schools? Are you serving native English speakers? And so, I think that's really important in whatever you are doing, is making sure that you're pinpoint precise around who you want to serve. And then from there, you can kind of begin to broaden and expand so that you can serve more and more kids. 

So, for BOOKR Class, I think one of the ways in which we were uniquely positioned was that our founders were English language learners. They were non-native speakers. And so, if you walked into our office and talked to our team of editors, animators, academics, our marketing team, and our tech team, they all speak English very well. They're very fluent in English, but they all have that firsthand experience of what it's like to learn English. And so, I think that a great benefit when you're developing a product is to have empathy for your audience and your customer, and to be able to develop really for them. 

So, I think it's been sort of a passion project. It started as a passion project for our founder, Dorka Horváth, because of, you know, a very intimate relationship with this subject and this topic. And then it's grown from there. So I think that's the initial thing, is to have relevancy to yourself to what you're building and creating, and then being very specific about who you want to serve.

Rich Portelance

Okay. So, by being specific to who you want to serve, does that limit the market for you?

Will Gordon

Yeah, I think that would be the initial kind of response or feeling is, “Am I limiting myself to the market?” You know, can we serve university students and preschoolers? If I'm only focusing on, you know, the K through eight market, then what am I leaving on the table or not considering? And I think you do have to make choices initially. You have to make choices around what types of partnerships you make. You know, you have to, as a small company, part of your goal has to be to scale, because that's how you're going to make, you know, your business work. But I think you have to make choices. 

I think sometimes the false assumption is that if I go too narrow, then my attainable market is going to be too small. The truth is that even if you narrow your initial market to English language learners who have learning challenges in the K through four space, two things happen: one is the product you design is very specific to them, and so the value you bring to them is sort of– there's a multiplying effect that's even higher. The second effect is that… that actually what you create can have a broader audience, but because you're so focused and specific, it's received well. And so, I think that it can be a false assumption that narrowing too far is a bad decision, where I think it's very important. 

Rich Portelance

Well, there's also certain barriers that come up, right? As you look at these markets, and you're saying, “I'm going to go into the K through four market,” and you're going to serve a specific type of learner, you as a company have to meet certain requirements in order to step into that district or that state, correct? And I would imagine that by meeting those requirements, once you've met them, you have a learning process that can be applied as you expand your market.

Will Gordon

That's right. Yeah. So when it comes to standards or learning requirements, this is where, you know, as a company, we focus, and then we kind of broaden. So, when we first created the platform, we aligned the books to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), because that was mostly the market we were in. We started in Europe, we expanded actually into the Middle East, into Turkey, and other markets in the region. And for those schools, and the textbooks they were using, and the school curriculum they're using, the Common European Framework for Language Learning was the most relevant framework. Then, we began to broaden and work with American international schools, and we found that the Lexile Framework for Reading was very important. So, the Lexile framework for assessing text complexity, but also student complexity, and so, we added Lexile measurements to our books, and we also added a Lexile placement test to our product. 

And then, as we shifted towards entering the U.S. market, we had to, one could say, expand, or kind of broaden the measurements or the alignments we had in our platform, to be focused in the U.S. market. And so, that's where we started partnering with EdGate and integrated the curriculum planner so that you could search our books based on state standards, based on different Common Core standards, but really specifically, state by state standards, and which books in the platform could work on that. So, that was a way in which we started focusing; we broadened, but then as we broadened, it allowed us to have certain levels of focus with, for example, the U.S. market. 

Rich Portelance

And when you were making that decision, I'm just kind of curious to understand why you chose EdGate at that point in time. What was it about EdGate that made sense for BOOKR?

Will Gordon

Yeah, I mean, I think there were a couple of things. I think one was the consultative approach that EdGate took. Just, it seemed to me and to us that EdGate really had a level of expertise and understanding in this area, and is continuing to research in this area and be up to date on the latest trends of where standards are going and shifting. I think the second component was the simplicity with which we were able to implement the curriculum planner, as well. And then I think we also saw that as we expand into the U.S. market, there are opportunities to make the standards alignment work we do with EdGate kind of expand. So, there are different levels or ways we can work with EdGate.

Rich Portelance

I appreciate that. You know, when you were talking about being specific, you know, really honing in, and while some people might consider that being limited, if the more you dig into a certain area, if you're going into that K through 4 marketplace and you're looking at a certain learner, right, you develop that expertise, and then as you said, you're more valued. And I think EdGate took that same approach with standards. We could do a lot more, but being really focused on standards has allowed them to, I think, be perceived or more valued because they do things so deeply and thoroughly when it comes to, you know, their repository. Not only is it the biggest, but it's the most comprehensive in terms of how they process the standards, augment them with metadata, open GUIDs (Globally Unique Identifiers), and things of that nature. And then, how they deliver those standards, trying to allow people to be able to have access, and then also to align to anything, any state, or any other country. So, you know, it kind of– that resonates with me, and I think with the field is, you know, how do you become specific? How do you really build expertise? And so, when BOOKR started to develop the product and started to get into some states, are you looking at a process of going from state to state, or from district to district? What does the growth strategy look like?

Will Gordon

Yeah. Well, we… I think the first important part of our strategy is that we know that there is no magic–maybe this is the wrong metaphor–but magic pill. There is no one partnership or one adoption that will magically make us a leading player in the U.S. market. I think it really is a set of incremental steps that is getting us there. And we've always taken a very kind of deep partnership approach, so we are approaching the market in several ways. 

You know, we are working– we'll be announcing very soon a partnership we have with an at-home reading partner, with which we will be working through districts to reach students at home for summer reading and during-the-school reading. We have other partnerships that are around data security, so making sure we're integrated with the right platforms so that we're keeping in mind data security, making sure we have the right integrations with LMS (Learning Management System) platforms that are most commonly used in districts. So, there's sort of the partner layer to that. And then there's the next layer, which is actually interfacing directly with districts–directly with decision makers. And that typically looks like a pilot program where we actually allow a school or a group of schools to use our platform, and really see them use it in their schools. 

I always say that the U.S. market… well, of course, it's much more like 50 markets, you know? Each state has its own system, and, you know, some of the states are larger, and the decisions made in those states may impact what other states' decisions are made. Similarly, there are larger districts which impact smaller districts. But it's actually not unlike other markets in the world, in the sense that… even if– let's take Southeast Asia for example. I may have 30 schools in Indonesia, and you travel north on the map to Thailand, and they're not really interested in knowing what we've done in Indonesia. They want to know what we've done in Thailand so far. And so, I think you have the same dynamic. It's a natural dynamic here in the US, which is, schools, you know, want to know something closer to their context: how has this been implemented? So that's why pilots have been so important and a continual part of our strategy.

Rich Portelance

Oh, that's fantastic. You know, in terms of developing pilots, do you feel that there are any downsides to providing a pilot program to a school?

Will Gordon

I think that you have to be very specific in a couple of ways. One is that you have to obviously be prepared for onboarding schools. I think that's just sort of a baseline, but any product that has maybe succeeded in other markets, they should have that. So, you have to have a customer success team that is ready to provide a dedicated support member. These are kind of basic components that need to be in place, but you also need to have clarity on how you're defining a successful outcome of the pilot. So, what are we focused on? Are we focused on what the level of engagement is? And there may be multiple KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). What is the level of engagement amongst the teachers and students? Were they successfully able to roster their students and assign books? How much reading did the students do? What was their performance on the comprehension tests? So, it's important to really clearly outline that. 

I've also found that it's important to go into it and make sure that the pilot audience has the capacity to do a pilot, because sometimes what you find is that you might have a decision maker who takes a quick look and loves your program, loves your platform, and they have their teachers that they want to be in the pilot. But teachers have their own demands and lots of things on their plate. So, even if they're an innovative teacher–they want to try new things–if they have a 30-day, or a 60-day, or a 90-day pilot, but they don't actually spend time in the platform, you might come away with a less than optimal outcome or reception simply because the teacher was busy, or because there wasn't buy-in. 

So that's the second thing. And then the third thing I've actually found is that sometimes shorter pilots can be more effective, because it's less of a burden on the people who are in the pilot. And typically over the course of 30 to 60 days, a school district or a group of teachers can decide pretty quickly if they can see value in what you're offering or not. 

Rich Portelance

That's a really great suggestion. I've run pilots before, and what you just talked about resonates. Being specific, having those KPIs. Longer pilots can sometimes get lost in the weeds, you know, so keeping it short, keeping it very specific often has a higher success rate. So, thank you for that. It's easy to get caught up in your product, right? And being in love with your product, what it can do for the students, but being able to actually implement, and getting it into a school, and having it be effective with the classroom, with the teacher and the students is a whole other ball of wax, right? It's a challenge. As much as you believe in your product, you can't believe and make the results happen for the classroom. So, you know, how you set it up for success is really key.

So, as you start to develop market share here in the U.S., do you have active clients in active pilots going on at the same time, and are you kind of rolling that process forward? Is that how you're approaching the market? 

Will Gordon

Yeah, we do. And you know, I don't want to give too many specifics on the call, but we have several different pilots running on both coasts of the country. I'm based in North Carolina, so we have a couple of pilots on this coast and in this area. 

But… the other advice I give or the approach that I've really taken is that sometimes working with smaller districts initially can be a great way to start. I worked for a former company about 10 years ago, and we, you know, I remember we were very focused on sort of some key, larger districts, and getting pilots in those districts. So, you know, I mean, there are many of them around the country, but you know, Houston Independent School District is one that comes to mind. And we're really fixed on getting an adoption or getting, you know, with that district. And while that is very important to have adoptions in those key districts, sometimes those districts might not be the best places to start an initial pilot. And sometimes, the best place to start is in your own local school district. You know, going and talking to the librarian, and understanding what types of resources they have, where their pain points are, and really getting to know a school locally and what are their needs. So that's another thing that we've been focused on is not sort of missing the forest for the trees, not just going for those larger school districts, but thinking about the smaller ones as well.

Rich Portelance

So, let's pull the lens back a little bit, get a little broader as we're going from Europe to the U.S., or from one state to another. One of the things that, you know, we talk about at EdGate is, you know, aligning standards and making sure that your content meets the requirements at the local level, understanding the legislative requirements in order to at least present your product to that state, right? Or a district within a state. How is BOOKR looking at that? You know, if you're, say, going from North Carolina to South Carolina, what are the things that you're doing first? What advice can you give to companies as they try to go from one state to another?

Will Gordon

Sure. Well, I think it may be obvious, but it's important to know your audience. So, it's important to do your research and talk to… Well, of course, online research, but it's important to know the latest changes in that district or that state, to be updated on their latest standards. Again, bringing it back to the EdGate curriculum planner, if I'm switching from doing a presentation in North Carolina to doing one in Oklahoma, the benefit is that I don't have to change anything about my platform. You know, what I can do is tailor my overview of the platform to focus on that state. So that's actually… When it comes to getting our product out there and visibility, it makes the conversation a lot easier, because it checks a box, right? It answers that one question. And once– And sometimes there are certain key questions that put your audience at ease when you're in a presentation or if you're in a meeting. And usually those boxes relate to, “Does this company really know me? Do they really know what my needs are? Do they really know what my state is going through right now? Do they know what my district is undergoing right now?” So that starts with knowing what the standards are, and that starts with using language that the local district or state uses to talk about reading. You know, knowing where that state stands on the science of reading, for example, or that school. So kind of, you know, the basics of any sale is that, is kind of knowing your audience and being prepared, and having the answers to questions before they're asked. 

But, again, going back to my first experience in edtech, one valuable lesson I learned: I remember in one of my first demos, I was working for a startup, and we were presenting actually to Cambridge University Press. This is a tangent, but I remember in that presentation… I give myself a B minus. It was not a great presentation. And in retrospect, I realized one of the downsides of it was that I was trying to answer every question, or I was trying to act like what we offered was a solution to everything, if that makes sense. 

And I realized that was not the right approach. It's okay in meetings to say, you know, maybe, “Let me get back to you, let me speak with my academic team and get back to you with an answer that would really solve your issue,” if it's an academic question. Same with if it's a technical question. So I think when you're in meetings, the audience appreciates if you come with a certain level of, kind of, authenticity in that respect, as well. So, being prepared, but not implying that, you know, you're perfect, and you know everything about their district. You're there to learn as well.

Rich Portelance

You know, it's a good time to mention, EdGate does have a free tool that I think is a good utility. You might have dug into it, Will, online. On their website is a standards comparison map, and it bases it off of, let's say the Common Core, and shows, you know, moving from one state to another, here's the amount of the Common Core that that particular state is leveraging, so that you have some basis to understand where they are in their preparation and utilization of standards. It also does a comparison of ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief), and other types of CTE standards. So, you can start to draw some inferences based on the maps, and have some ideas so you can do some homework there. 

When you get EdGate’s ExACT tool, which is their standards alignment offering, you know, it can get more specific with things like gap analysis, and understanding from Alaska to Alabama: what is the gap? And you can actually plug in, do the alignment on your product and your curriculum, and then say, “Here's the gap, and this is what you need to fill in or change in order to be prepared to align to that state.” So, you know, these are things that companies can do ahead of time to be prepared like you're saying. 

Will Gordon

Yeah. You know, and that makes me think of another point, which is, you know, that's a tool I don't think we've leveraged very much. It's also a reminder, especially with online products, with edtech, is… your product is never finished, you know? Just like the standards are evolving, you know, your learning of what is going on in the market is going to be constantly changing, and that's going to constantly impact how you design and build what you're building. And so, you know, it is a falsehood that, you know, you will build the perfect math product, and then once it's ready, you do your research on every state, then you launch, and you go to market, and it just spreads like wildfire. The product is an iterative process; the sales are an iterative process. Understanding the standards is also, you know, iterative as well, I think. 

Rich Portelance

Yeah. No, that makes a lot of sense. You know, I was talking to someone a couple weeks ago who is in a similar position at a global company, and they're really trying to break ground in the U.S. market. And he said one of their biggest challenges is the cost of doing business. And so, you know, as we go through, and because the U.S. is 50 different fiefdoms of sorts that have different requirements and legislative kind of setup, it does cost a lot of money to come into a market, having to hire people and to put things in place. And if you're trying to chase down every standard and chase down every update to each standard, that can be very cumbersome, right? Whether it's from a human resource perspective or from a cost perspective. So, I know EdGate, you know, our role in the market, trying to understand those standards– we're trying to lower the cost of entry by handling that stuff, you know, we do keep track of all those standard changes, and we update the repository so that when the alignments are done in the system, I don't think a lot of people know that it automatically updates the alignment. So if you are aligned within the exact system, and a standard changes over time, you don't have to really even be cognizant of that changing, because the system is automatically updating everything and updating your alignments, and you're good to go. So those are the little things that we do in the background. 

How are you looking at cost reduction and that kind of process as you approach the market? Do you have a way of doing business that helps to keep the cost down for BOOKR as you grow? 

Will Gordon

Yeah. Well, I think one way in which we're doing that is, as I mentioned. sort of through a partner model. So, we have several key partnerships that are going to expedite our growth in the next six to 12 months. So, that's one way. And then– and we are not, you know, expanding our sales team exponentially across all states. You know, that is not our approach, because, typically, internationally, we've worked through resellers. So, you know, we're looking at, you know, how do we work with partners? How do we work with potential resellers? And then, we'll be opportunistic about perhaps direct sales in certain markets, but that's not our core strategy., I think that's been true around the world. You know, we sell directly to some international schools. Actually, we get quite a bit that come to us as kind of inbound opportunities. But, for the most part, we rely on local partners around the world in different markets, because they're the local experts, and they know their schools well. 

And so, I think it also… in general, what I've seen of European edtech companies is they have this sort of lean startup mentality, as well. They're very efficient, they're very smart with how they spend their resources, and they tend to be more focused. So, I've experienced that at BOOKR, as well. There are many things we could be doing, but we're, you know, we're staying very focused in our particular lane. 

You know, of course we're also– You know, there are other efficiencies. As with everyone, we are, you know, using or looking at AI and how that can create efficiencies. But we actually– and part of our core value is we're creating content by humans, for humans. So, we're integrating some AI into what we do, but, you know, the core of what we do is sort of creativity and coming up with content that is created by our content team. That covered quite a few topics, but I talked a little bit about efficiency in different areas. 

Rich Portelance

Yeah. No, I appreciate that. And, you know, as you touched on advanced technology, it's another interesting area, because I know a lot of companies, you know, if you go out to the ASU+GSV Summit (Arizona State University + Global Silicon Valley), which is coming up in April, you'll see the air show which is delving into AI, and there's probably going to be 200 to 300 companies that exhibit there that all have some kind of AI component to their product. 

As much as people talk about it, I wonder if AI is a lead? Or is it an add-in? And what I mean by that is, you know, does the product generate directly from the use of AI? Or is it something that can augment and help improve a product? Do you have an opinion on that, Will, and how it can play into the market? 

Will Gordon

Yeah. I think in the particular category of products we are in, because we're dealing with literacy, and because we're dealing with, at its core, creating reading content, and because we have a sort of a unique format or a way we approach it, we are leaning into human creation as much as possible. Again, there are ways in processes that, you know, we create efficiencies, but our content and our core offering is not AI-driven. We have built-in AI features into the teacher experience and the student experience. For example, our book recommendations are driven by an AI engine. When a student reads a book, the follow-on recommendations are AI-driven. Same on the teacher's side. There are some capabilities that a teacher has that are implementing AI to do, you know, something in seconds that a teacher previously would take their whole evening to do. For example, creating a comprehension test or a quiz based on a bespoke set of titles. And my mom was an elementary school teacher–a reading teacher–she taught reading recovery, and I remember her creating flashcards and creating unique exercises every year on the same unit, you know? And those types of things are done by AI. There are plenty of new– more and more, there are products out there that are specifically AI-driven, but I see, really, that AI will be sort of an assistant or a sidekick. Both to products and to students as we move forward, as opposed to sort of the protagonist in the story. 

Rich Portelance

Yeah. I tend to agree with you. You know, it's not the– you know, the product isn't AI; it's something that can augment and help. I know as we were looking at, you know, how do we… EdGate is based– they're 27 years old, and, you know, the core of the product is really the way in which they do their alignments or correlations, and there's a methodology there that they've, over time, developed patented approaches to doing that work. And initially it was done by humans, and then they started to build in economies, and how can we use technology in order to improve this process? And today, they have this concept of advanced technologies that are applied in specific places in order to get you to where you want to go quicker, or better with more efficiency, and it's pretty thoughtful. I think that's a nice approach to advanced technologies, because I think you can get lost in the “wow factor” of, you know, “Hey, we have all this advanced tech.” All these companies that are out there, you know, that I think you have to be conscious of at the end of the day, how does it improve the quality of what you're delivering to your end customer? What's their reaction? How are they learning more? How are they, you know, how is it improving the classroom experience, etc. And it sounds like BOOKR has a pretty thoughtful approach to applying the technologies that are out there. 

Will Gordon

Yeah. Yeah. I think, you know, I think about my experience just as a consumer, and all the apps I use, and I think the AI– I mean, of course, I use, you know, I use ChatGPT in a very specific way, you know, in some ways, I use it like I would with Google, but, you know, in a more complex way. But in terms of products that have deployed AI, it's really the ones that have done it in a subtle way that have been the most effective. So, you know, why I go to Facebook doesn't all of a sudden change. My reason for using Facebook doesn't change just because AI exists now. So, I'm not going to Facebook because there's some AI feature in there. I don't care about a feature, but I do care about my experience being able to search or discover certain groups or certain content. And so, it's when AI or any technology is implemented in a subtle way to enhance what you're already doing that I think it's kind of at its most powerful. 

And so… I think it'll be interesting at ASU+GSV; right now there's an AI section, but five years from now, is it going to be a separate section of the event? Probably not. It'll probably just be… It would be like having an online section, you know, of a fair 30 years ago. You know, at the time it was innovative, and then it just sort of became a part of our existence. 

Rich Portelance

It really has. I think about early in my career with building some websites and how that process would occur, and what's happening today and how much different it is. You know, we were– It was such a novel thing to create a website and to, you know, do everything by hand, to design and to build out, you know, structures, and then create this thing that would exist online, and in this new place which was the internet. And today, it's just everything's becoming much more automated. You have assistance and chatbots, and the way you search for information has just changed tremendously. 

You know, just reeling back a little bit, we did– a couple weeks ago, Will and I were on a webinar together called “Aligning New Markets”, and we had some of these conversations, and today we're getting a chance to dig in a little bit deeper on some of the topics that were covered on that webinar. So, I do want to mention to the audience, you know, check out the YouTube channel, the EdGate YouTube channel; the webinar is up there. You'll see Will and myself as we talk through with our other panelists. But, Will, you know, in terms of aligning new markets, and let's say, because you came out of Budapest, you were talking about the company kind of evolving. When they first stepped into the market, they were really stepping into Europe first, and then coming to the U.S. Do you have– was there any process back then, you know, as you went into the European market? How did you get from one country to the next? What was some of the process you went through? 

Will Gordon

Yeah, I would say it started even more locally. It started with, you know, the local Hungarian market. So, the initial creation was, “How do we engage students in Hungary even more?” So, initially it was in the Hungarian language, and then it was, “How do we create this same exciting level of engagement and comprehension through literacy in English language learning?” So, expanded a little more. And actually, today, we have an English version; we also have a BOOKR Schule, which is a collection of German titles, and that was based on a market demand or request in the region. So, the way we kind of initially expanded was similar to what I've talked about as our strategy in the U.S. It was a combination of, you know, making connections at the ministry level or at the government level kind of to understand what are the standards or the needs in different markets. So, our CEO is a part of a European edtech female founders alliance. That's been an important part of her network, and kind of building connections across Europe through female founders. And then building a mix of partnerships, some of which are in the tutoring space for at-home learning in Italy and Germany–we have some tutoring partnerships. And then also finding people who reach, you know, school consortiums or networks, whether that's agents or resellers. So, it's really been a mix of things. 

And I will say that, you know, that's part of the challenge, is you have to, as a small company–we're not that small anymore–you know, you have to both follow the opportunities, but you have to manage and be choosy about who you work with. And so, some of that is just knocking on a lot of doors, but then having a good feel for who's a good partner, who's going to help you scale. But I think if our CEO were on this call right now, she would talk to, you know, be very proud of the fact that she has multiple partners who she's been working with for six, seven, eight years, both in Hungary and also throughout Europe. And I think that's a sign, you know, of a company that's really established themselves and built trust through their partnerships.

Rich Portelance

So, as you look at the future, so put the lens on, you know, 2025, 2026, and 2027, what defines success as you align new markets for Will Gordon and for BOOKR?

Will Gordon

Wait, which year did you say? 

Rich Portelance

Well, going forward, you can pick them; I'm just saying if you had a future lens. Let's say, 2026. What's defining the success?

Will Gordon

Yeah, I think in the coming two to three years, I think we want to expand. The U.S. is a big part of our goal and our growth. You know, this year, globally, we're planning to double the number of countries we're in and the number of partnerships we have. We're matching that with really leaning into our current partnerships and growing them. And so, I mentioned we're focused in the U.S., but we have a very large partnership in Brazil. I'll be heading to Bett Brasil in about a month. And often, the quickest path and the most meaningful path to growth is the partners you've already obtained or the districts you've already obtained, because that district will use your resource this year, but your goal is to have them use it for three, five, eight years in a row. 

So, let's say in two years from now, the end of 2026, my hope is that we are in all or most of the 50 states, we have multiple levels of partnerships, we have direct sales to schools, but we also are focused on at-home reading. Perhaps we've even–in some specific cases–worked on creating some printed books for libraries to supplement online reading, because we are platform agnostic. We want kids to read, whether they're online or offline. So, those are some of the initiatives and directions I would love to see us go in the next two years.

Closing Thoughts

Rich Portelance

Well, it sounds like, for the son of two reading specialists, you know, you've really done an amazing job, Will, of opening up this market, and we're certainly proud to be a partner in that process at EdGate, and we wish you much success. Is there anything that you would want to say in closing to the audience that, you know, might help them to reach that same level of success?  

Will Gordon

Reach the same level of success. I think, you know, like I said, there is no script to this. You know, we are writing the script; each company's writing their own story. So, it's very hard to be prescriptive about exactly how that path should be. Something that resonated with what you just said, with mentioning my parents, I think it's important to remember that the hardest job in the world is teaching. And so, I think the more you can be appreciative of how hard that is– Maybe the next hardest job is to be a student. That's pretty hard, you know. My 8-year-old comes home pretty tired every day, and she's put in a long day of work. So I think having that, you know, that reminder, or that level of empathy for teachers and for students and what they're doing every day, you know, is really important every step of the way. Even as you get in conference calls, product roadmap meetings, and sales pitches, you know, not to lose sight of who you're creating it for, and, you know, how much respect we do have for them and the work that they do.  

Rich Portelance

Well, thank you for that, Will. And I would agree. My wife's a teacher, and I see, you know, it really is a– it's a 24/7 job that– I mean, I see that she could work straight through without stopping, and often she tries until she's got to stop. You know, it's just amazing. There's just never a drop in the level of effort that has to go into it in order to be good at what you do. And I think people are dumping things on the teachers because they feel like maybe they don't have enough to do. But that hasn't been my experience, and clearly not yours, either. 

Will Gordon

Yeah. 

Rich Portelance

Yeah.

Will Gordon

Totally. 

Rich Portelance

Well, thank you for your time today, Will. I loved having you aboard, and we look forward to future partnerships.

Will Gordon

Thanks! Yeah, I'm happy to speak anytime. It's been good to talk on this topic, and thanks so much. 

Rich Portelance

Our pleasure