“Books Have The Power To Shape And Transform Lives, Especially Those Of Young Children”; Interview with Surinder Sharma, Founder of Smart Kidz Club
This is part of the EdTech Female Founder (#EFF) interview series brought to you by SuperCharger Ventures.
What inspired you to start your EdTech Founder journey?
I am passionate about reading and believe that books have the power to shape and transform lives, especially those of young children. I was born and raised in India as the only child of a single mother, a primary grade teacher. Books and reading were my constant companions and my most influential source of learning throughout my childhood. Fast forward thirty years, after being a mother of two young boys, I witnessed first-hand the lack of reading engagement by kids, a shift toward digital content consumption, and the growing power and reach of digital technology.
In addition I was struck by the fact that two-thirds of American children were below proficient in grade-level reading, the achievement gap in reading between high and low performers was widening, and that the number one challenge cited by UNICEF in early childhood literacy was limited access to quality education. With more than twenty years of my experience in publishing and IT coupled with my passion and strengths in creativity, ideation, and strategy I founded Smart Kidz Club with a mission to inspire children all around the world to love reading.
Describe your company in one sentence.
Smart Kidz Club is an EdTech company that offers “just right” digital reading and learning tools with the mission of bringing original high-quality educational resources to all young children irrespective of their zip code.
What should an aspiring EdTech founder know before initiating their startup journey?
EdTech industry is very crowded and competitive even more so after the COVID crisis with many new entrants in the field lately. However, technology in education is here to stay which also makes it very promising. According to me, before starting an EdTech startup, founders need to know their competition and how they plan to be different from them. No matter how brilliant your solution is, what is critical for them to understand is the existing contracts that are in place or other unseen barriers that could severely limit or jeopardize the acceptance of their product or solution.
Aspiring founders can also look out for The EdTech Book, by SuperCharger Ventures, coming out towards the end of this year, where I write about the CASE for EdTech. My chapter talks about the main components of a truly transformative EdTech solution and how to design and create a strong framework for an EdTech solution that is impactful and educational.
What has been the most difficult moment as a founder and how did you overcome it?
There are many difficult moments in an entrepreneur’s journey. Trust me it is not easy. My most difficult moment was when I saw that despite being a great product and appreciated by everyone who saw and experienced Smart Kidz Club, we were not going to be able to last much longer. Smart Kidz Club is totally bootstrapped and we were in a unique position where outside funding was not an option any longer. It was a time when I almost considered giving up on the company. Being my passion project, I decided to give it one more try.
We brainstormed, rethought our strategy, refocused and set specific milestones for the company that would decide its survival. I am glad we did that. You never know how close you are to success before you give up. You have to keep trying. Persistence and believing in your product are the two must-have assets for any entrepreneur.
What can the EdTech industry do to improve the gender gap?
Here are the three most fundamental things that the EdTech industry can do —
1) make a conscious decision to hire and train more women.
2) make your company and workplace more attractive and flexible to women.
3) have more female representation at the top management level.
All of these are conscious measures that the EdTech companies need to take to improve the gender gap.
Can you tell us about a role model of yours?
I did not have a male in the household until I was 27 years old. Most of my role models have been strong and independent women who are no longer with me today but their lessons have stayed to this day. The first and foremost is my mom, a single parent, who taught me to be independent in my thinking and never be afraid to speak out my mind.
My paternal grandmother who taught me perseverance and that nothing is impossible to achieve if you believe in yourself.
My maternal grandmother who taught me the power of patience and faith.
I was also greatly inspired by my aunt, Isher Judge Ahluwalia, an eminent Indian economist, public policy researcher, and professor. She taught me to have the courage to always do the right thing.
Can you tell us an example of when you had to pivot?
Despite being incorporated as a for-profit company, I have always wanted the company to remain a socially impact driven company. In my quest to make our digital tool accessible and available to under-privileged kids who really needed it, we spent a lot of time and effort trying to reach schools and school districts that lacked resources and/or were struggling with low reading proficiencies.
Moreover, we tried to keep our library web-based to accommodate such users who would not have access to mobile technology. However, I soon realized that this strategy, though noble, was not beneficial for the bottom line of the company. In 2020 we completely pivoted to a mobile only tool and began focusing all our resources into B2C, direct to parents. This was a great success as this was also a time when parents were looking for high-quality educational resources for their children during school closures caused by the pandemic.
We made great strides throughout 2020 and just in the first four months, January to April, 2021, an amazing 65,000 books were read by kids from around the world with Smart KIdz Club.
What will you consider as success in 5 years from now?
I envision Smart Kidz Club as a tool for all parents, young kids, and educators around the world to build strong, independent readers and learners. I will consider it a success if the Smart Kidz Club user base grows to 10 million users worldwide in 5 years from now and we can enable at least one more nationwide access similar to our Namibia Reads initiative.
Looking back, what advice would you have liked to have received before starting your company?
The most important advice I would have liked to receive before starting the company is to maintain your efforts and resources laser-focused in one direction no matter how attractive and promising the several directions look. Like many new entrepreneurs, you feel that you can do everything and serve everyone. This only exhausts you and your resources at a much faster rate than if you conserve your energy and resources to find success in one market or segment and then replicate that in others.
Anything else You’d like to share?
I wanted to share something that I am very passionate about — social impact. In 2020, I successfully collaborated with a NY non-profit organization to launch a digital reading app titled Namibia Reads in the African country of Namibia. This countrywide access, valued at approximately USD 1 million, has now been listed as UNESCO’s COVID-19 Education Response National Learning Platform and Tool for the country of Namibia.
The Namibia Ministry of Arts, Culture and Education has been working closely to maximize the reach of the digital tool that proved to be very valuable at the time of school closures. I am very excited to lead the second phase of its expansion into Namibian schools in 2021. Another development that I am excited to share is our partnership with the NFL Alumni Association’s Caring for Kids initiative and the recent launch of the Read To Lead with NFL Alumni AssociationApp, a national reading and learning app for kids in the US. The NFL Alumni Association, under their newly launched Read To Lead campaign, will raise awareness about the importance of reading for all children in the US and provide access to this app for kids and families across the country. The goal of this partnered project is to aid parents in bolstering their child’s education, continue children’s literacy proficiency, and address any potential learning gaps caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in underprivileged communities.
The most rewarding part of an entrepreneur is when you hear stories of how your product is touching and improving the lives of people in a meaningful way. I am very thankful to my mentors, role models, advisory board, and my entire team who all share the same vision and are willing to go the extra mile to make Smart Kidz Club’s mission a success.
To know more about Smart Kidz Club or Surinder, visit their company site:
Or you can follow their social media accounts:
Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter; @Smartkidzclub and @SippiSharma
