“Do Not Be Afraid To Break Norms. No One Has Written A Book About Your Company (Yet).”; Interview With Claudia Rademaker, Founder at Dugga
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?
My personal experience during my early school years. Being judged by my skin colour in school made me very insecure about my own learning skills. With Dugga students are assessed anonymously and purely on their skills and knowledge. Students have less stress and can be rest assured that their grade is not based on their skin colour, gender or last name. This takes away a lot of anxiety.
My professional experience as a researcher and teacher. My wish to improve quality in learning and to provide each individual with equal opportunities to learn and grow.
One in five students in each classroom have some kind of special need,. As such, in Dugga we have in-built features integrated to address these special needs. We believe in our mission by combining pedagogy and modern technology to improve learning outcomes for each individual.
Describe your company in one sentence.
Dugga Assessment is a total-solution platform for all types and levels of digital learning assessment: to be used in-class and/or remotely.
What should an aspiring EdTech founder know before initiating their startup journey?
Do not be afraid to break norms. No one has ever written a book about your company (yet). As a start-up there are no established processes in place since they change all the time in line with the company’s growth and needs. What works for other companies does not necessarily work for your company and the stage that you are in.
What can the EdTech industry do to improve the gender gap?
More initiatives such as these until gender is not even an issue anymore to consider.
A more equal view on gender of founders by EdTech investors: Too often female founders are being judged based on previous experience while male founders tend to be judged based on their future potential. We can see some changes into the right direction, although quite slow.
Can you tell us about a role model of yours?
Ella Fitzgerald inspires me to break norms in life and to stand up for being different. Being different is good and should be embraced by all. This is also one of our values at Dugga.
Can you tell us an example of when you had to pivot?
When Covid-19 hit the world with school closures, we wanted to help and offered our product for free so that students and pupils worldwide could continue their education.
What will you consider as success in 5 years from now?
Global growth and Dugga in top-of-mind of teachers and students worldwide.
To know more about Claudia Rademaker and Dugga, visit their company site:
or follow their social media accounts;
Linkedin @Dugga Digital Assesment| Twitter @DuggaAssessment
