EdTech Startup Showcase

Scott Schuette: [00:00:00] You're listening to the ed tech startup showcase, an original series produced by the Be Podcast Network. Hey everyone. And thanks for joining us. I'm Scott Schuette, co host of the fabulous learning nerds and your host for today. I'll be taking you through some of the stories of the wonderful emerging companies in ed tech.

In this episode, we're. Going to check back in with connected class, learn how they're doing, what they've learned and where they're heading in the future. And back with us is one of the visionaries behind connected class. Crystal Reeves, Crystal, welcome back to the show.

Christel Reaves: Scott. It's always such a pleasure to connect with you.

I'm so excited to have a conversation today.

Scott Schuette: Absolutely. And you're one of the more, let's just put it this way. I love talking with you, Christel. We always have a great conversation. We're always looking to have fun. [00:01:00] We're all about putting the fun back and learning. And that's why I'm excited to catch up with you and connect to class.

So talk to me. What exciting has happened in the last six months?

Christel Reaves: It's been a big six months. We actually got our very own office space. And in the last six months, we've doubled the products and services that we sold from the year before, which is so exciting. So we're moving and shaking.

Scott Schuette: Okay. So you, all right, we're going to back up.

You got an office space. Did you get your own parking spot? You got your own parking spot?

Christel Reaves: I do. I have my very own parking spot. And guess what?

Scott Schuette: What?

Christel Reaves: We have a doorbell.

Scott Schuette: No. And

Christel Reaves: we also have a street sign. It's so exciting.

Scott Schuette: That is so exciting. It's almost like you really made it. Not like you weren't legit before, but you got your own parking spot, your own ring doorbell.

Um, do you have a copy machine that someday you may throw out in the back and destroy it with some hammers?

Christel Reaves: I [00:02:00] totally do.

Scott Schuette: That's fantastic.

Christel Reaves: It's perfect. So exciting.

Scott Schuette: So, hey, let me talk to our audience. What's been your biggest learning from the last few months since we last spoke?

Christel Reaves: Wow. So, you know, I was focused so much on scaling, um, in doing the behaviors to scale that I didn't stop and ask specific questions like, can I handle all the new business that is coming in?

So I, uh, I always take part in different learning organizations on how to be a CEO and be better at it. And they always say, hire before you need that person. So I think one of the biggest lessons for me is that I really wish in the last six months that I hired a little bit sooner than I did just to relieve.

The amount of work hours per week to keep up with the pace of the growth. [00:03:00] Um, we're getting Right now, at the time of the recording, we're getting close to the holidays, and actually I was bragging about how I have a zero inbox in my email right now, which is like the first time ever in the last six months.

But I think really the biggest lesson that I've learned Is make sure you have, you know, that foundational piece set all the staff that, um, you need for that next level trained and ready to go, or be prepared to work a hundred hours.

Scott Schuette: All right, let me pause right there because I'm really interested in that.

Like, let's say I'm starting my own business and I'm thinking about scaling. I'm thinking about growing and you're right. I don't think about the other people that can help me. In your journey, what would have been helpful for you to identify what you needed ahead of time so that you were maybe a little more prepared?

Christel Reaves: That's a great question. I honestly think for me is I [00:04:00] need more administrative help. And what's hard is if you're a founding CEO and you started by yourself. Most likely you're a mover and a shaker, and you're used to being able to accomplish a lot quickly. But then you get to a point where it's beyond your capabilities of the time that you have.

For me, having someone who can help With the organization and the clerical pieces of things coming in that I can delegate and pass off, that would have been really awesome.

Scott Schuette: Yeah, so thinking about those people who can help you with the smaller tasks. Yeah, the day to day. The things that get in the way from the important things, like for me, it's always like the most important thing for me is what's the vision?

How do I vision? How do I innovate? How do I, how do I grow all that stuff that, that takes a tremendous amount of time. But if I'm stuck [00:05:00] in email jail and I have a hundred emails and I'm not at inbox zero, congratulations, by the way, that's really awesome. Right. Then I'm never going to have the opportunity to do the, the really big stuff.

So I think that that's really great. Did you. Did you solve for that with, say, full time folks or did you go find a service to help you out?

Christel Reaves: You know what? I have a combination. So some full time and some part time. I really like to have team members so that they're a part of the culture and we have specific values that we've identified in Connected class.

Because I like to hire them for the long term, so I have like a connected core class, a connected class core team, I like to call them, and they're bought in, you know what I mean? They understand our mission, our vision, our values, and as we scale, they were, they were with me for the long hours while we were getting other people onboarded.

And [00:06:00] for the new work team,

Scott Schuette: fantastic. That's great. I'm glad you get a core team. Um, and it really kind of speaks to from a hiring perspective. And you and I had a conversation before we started, you know, before we started recording today about the importance of hiring for competency, right. Making sure that they could do the job.

That being said, there's another piece to the hiring process of. You know, are they a fit? Did they, did they buy into the vision or are they someone that's going to be, say a long term or help you deliver the value or are they just there for a paycheck in which case maybe you pass on them, right?

Christel Reaves: You know, I can speak to that as a challenge that we faced in the last six months.

I did have a higher, perfect resume, amazing experience, very, very bright individual. But then when it came down to it, it really. This person wasn't a cultural fit and there were, you know, some, some things that showed up [00:07:00] along the way that showed that the passion and the desire really wasn't in line. So it was better to.

Fire fast, you know, higher, slow fire.

Scott Schuette: Yeah, no, I think that that's important. I'm glad you made that decision because I feel like anybody can put together a really great resume, right? But if from a cultural fit, I think, you know, that's a little bit harder when you're thinking about those people that can aid you in your success from a cultural fit, what are some of the.

Things that you might be looking for.

Christel Reaves: Awesome. For me, obviously integrity is the very most important is, you know, above all else, make sure that you're, you're doing things that are ethical and appropriate. But for our values, we are customer centric. So we always put the schools first. My team, [00:08:00] we go the extra mile.

We always have a sense of urgency and flexibility and we're learners. So it's really all of those pieces is what I'm looking for for members that join our team. Is they're like, you know, here's a challenge. We have a school they're sharing. They have X, Y, and Z going on and we want to be able to help them.

So we need to be flexible. We need to be able to learn. We need to make sure that we do it in an ethical way. And we always just put them first.

Scott Schuette: Yeah, really important. One of the things I love about you is how Your clarity of vision and what you're trying to accomplish is really, really sharp, not, not all people that start their own business, whether they're in a tech startup or not, have as crystal, see what I did there, clear of a.

Idea of where they're going and what they need. And I believe that, you know, foundationally, if you have that, it can, it can really help [00:09:00] you identify opportunities when they, when they come up, but they also can help you identify those people that can really help you grow and really help you get where you need to be.

So that's really great.

Christel Reaves: I, um, I'm definitely, ideation is one of my strengths. So I can produce ideas. All day long. My challenge is they need more implementers to help me implement.

Scott Schuette: More implementers. That's fantastic. More

Christel Reaves: implementers.

Scott Schuette: Yeah. If you haven't done the strength survey, go out there and take it, folks.

It's really illuminating and I'm glad that you took that. I'm a, I'm a maximizer.

Christel Reaves: You are.

Scott Schuette: I am.

Christel Reaves: My number one is achiever. So, uh, I'm, I'm going to confess this, but at the end of the day, I go back to my to do list and I add the extra things that I did. Just to cross them off.

Scott Schuette: You achievers, man, I'm telling you right now, [00:10:00]

Christel Reaves: you're

Scott Schuette: giving a bad rap to the rest of us. I mean, you know what I'm saying? You're just getting a ton stuff.

Christel Reaves: Yeah.

Scott Schuette: So let's, let's go ahead and shift some gears unless you have any other stories around learnings and let's talk a little bit about what's on deck.

So what are some of the things that you're working on? Where's the business going now that you've got some people to help you, a very clear vision and your own parking spot.

Christel Reaves: Yeah, I mean, it's all fantastic. And you know, um, it's interesting as the world is quickly evolving and changing. As you know, we're getting ready for a new administration and there's definitely some thoughts and opinions on the U.

S. Department of Education and what that looks like. You know, I have my vision and then I line that up to what are some of those potential changes and what could that look like? And I almost feel like it's It's perfect because the focus is really giving parents choice and [00:11:00] voice in education. And if you look at our product Learning Link, which are two to six minute videos, they're game strategies and activities that are standards based in literacy and math, for teachers to use in the classroom to send a video embedded email home to parents.

It really gives parents an empowerment on how to support their child at home, as well as our product with digital safety. It teaches families how to shore up their devices to help their children at home. So really, you know, our main, our main vision at Connect2Class is about bringing everybody together who's in that life of the child to help them be more successful.

So even if, even if funding sources should change or the agency in which provides it, um, I feel like The resources that we've built [00:12:00] are timely. They're exactly what our country needs because, you know, I work closely with schools. I have 30 some schools that I've worked very closely with for the last 15 years.

And right now, this is, this is what I'm hearing for them. Crystal, the behavior of the students, it's very challenging. They're coming to school with social emotional issues. They're having meltdowns and breakdowns and parents aren't quite sure what to do. So we've been providing opportunity for social emotional learning through our live events as well as some webinars.

There's been a lot of Social media bullying. So our take three for digital safety learning link videos are supporting schools and families on what to look for, how to shore up devices, how to have conversations that might be kind of challenging with your child. Um, and you know, obviously the, the [00:13:00] academics like we've noticed that the math scores overall have declined since COVID.

So what, what can we do to help boost those scores? And we do these monthly getting my facts straight, uh, challenges. So it's a math back fluency challenge once a month. And we've seen. 37 percent learning gains in those four weeks by just the teacher playing 20 minutes in the classroom once a week and asking parents to play 10 minutes three times a week.

That's it. And it's actually getting parents to put devices down, looking at their children in the face and having fun games and conversations with each other, which also support that social, emotional learning.

Scott Schuette: That's, that's incredible. I'm going to go back just a little bit. Cause I love how you started this conversation around.

Opportunities and changes in the world and you know, I I feel like all of us I have this understanding that change is important and change is [00:14:00] necessary. My experience though is that a lot of people are allergic to change. Like, we don't want change and you know, I, I want things to stay the same cause it's really comfortable.

You know, I, I love your attitude around change may be coming, but we're ready for it. And to have a positive attitude around this is a really big opportunity. Like change can be a great thing. We just have to have the right. Attitude around it, and it speaks to something this morning I was reading about, which is this idea of one of the traits for whether you're an entrepreneur or not.

This idea of resiliency huge right moving forward. What's your journey been like as far as, you know? Increasing your resiliency and, and your belief in your product and really kind of honing in on that opportunity is as it might present itself to you.

Christel Reaves: Awesome. I feel like as I'm growing in my ability [00:15:00] to lead a company, the biggest area that I constantly focus on for myself is mindset.

It's naturally, it's very easy for me to worry because a hundred percent of the funding that comes. To my businesses through federal funds. So with this change, you know, at first I was like, okay, I can just freak out and cry, or I can just figure out what is it that we need to do next. So I think really it's, it's just setting that mindset, holding every thought captive, you know, sometimes as an entrepreneur, you're working long hours and sometimes you just feel like you're sucker punch, right?

And you just want to dwell in it. And. Go deep. And when I hit those moments, I have different resources, like different motivational speeches and YouTube videos that I listen to. And when in doubt, I just crank up really loud music and dance. That helps make my mindset a little [00:16:00] bit better. And you know what, Scott?

I run back through my mind different challenges. That I faced in the past that I thought was like a doomsday Scenario and how I ended up working out to be the biggest blessing in my life, so I'm gonna make that choice You know what? There's a lot of changes coming. It could be scary. But what do I know?

There's there's opportunity and challenges Absolutely. I just have to not freak out and look for it

Scott Schuette: You know a mentor tell me once that you know life is always working for us Not against us. I mean, it's in it and it's true. Like if you really look back at things that happen, I love your example of, Oh my gosh, this could be the worst thing that ever happened to me.

And it turned out to, to not, and it actually turned out to be a beneficial thing. I can look back at moments of opportunity in my life and, and say that exact same thing about each and every [00:17:00] one of them, all of them, all of them without fail, without exception. So if that is true. From a mindset perspective to be able to go ahead and curb jump into a, well, listen, it's okay.

Let's, let's respect the feelings that you have in the moment when you're faced with change. The resilient mindset is one of this is all going to work itself out in a positive way. So the, if I can focus in on the positive things here and now I can save myself. Weeks or months of grief and agony and sadness by, by just, okay, well, this is all going to work out.

And the innovation that comes from that, I think is just really, really great. So I'm super proud of you for doing what you need to do to, to, to have that change of mindset. And it's never a bad idea either to have accountability partners that can help you with that because no matter how good you are, sometimes sometimes you just need that person to remind us that, you know what, life is always working for us.

And so that's really great.

Christel Reaves: Which is so true [00:18:00] and you know what's also is when you have opportunities for change like this It it presents opportunity that you may Have never thought of as well as maybe you were too comfortable to take it, you know, absolutely We're really We got set up as a step up provider in the state of Florida and we can sell directly to parents.

So we can get even closer to the homeschool parents and, and support in areas that, you know, before we didn't think of.

Scott Schuette: Yeah, no, the, the world is your oyster. You've, you've got tremendous opportunity in front of you. And I, I think about some of the stats that you were talking about and I think about the change that we're all going to go through.

With an education and all the other changes that just staring us right down the pipe right now the opportunity. It's just so incredible and, and the need is there, right? So the need has always been there, but I think the need actually for what you're trying to accomplish is [00:19:00] actually exponentially greater without the support that people were used to to begin with, right?

So if, if I'm always used to, well, you know what, this isn't my responsibility, I'm going to leave it up to the government or my community to take care of it. And now all of a sudden it's like, Whoa, wait a minute. Now this is my responsibility and I got to figure this out. Well, who can help me? Well, Connected Class can help me.

I just think that that's a tremendous opportunity. Groovy. Cool. Awesome. Great stuff. What else is going on as far as new and exciting things for you moving forward?

Christel Reaves: And well, you know, my heart is always to help others, especially training teachers and family members on how to engage with their children.

Really, I would love to start developing webinars to help parents determine what's the right [00:20:00] school for my child. Because, you know, in the state of Florida, there's a lot of choice now. And, you know, how do you know as a parent if you're not an educator? Well, is a public school better for my child? Is a private school better?

Is a charter school? What are the differences? What are resources out there? What are some, like, questions that I should be asking the school? Because I have two children and they're polar opposites and two different school settings and Each one is perfect for that particular child, because not every child learns the same way on the same day, and they can have the same parents, but that doesn't matter.

Scott Schuette: Yeah, no, totally get it. I think that's really awesome. What are, what are some of the bigger impacts that you're looking to provide, right? So you think about your vision, think about some of the new things you're going to be doing, like, what are we really trying to do? Do as far as not, you know, not just necessarily in the school setting, but maybe in our community in general.

Christel Reaves: I love it. [00:21:00] So I have a heart for, um, women and children that have been in abusive situations and just collaborating with more facilities to empower these families for healing, as well as to receive Ways to support their Children's learning and to, um, you know, just to connect and help each other more. We have this amazing team member.

Her name is Lisa Eubank and she's a licensed clinical social worker. And I actually found her for our own situation in our own family. And she was phenomenal. And I was like, listen, I, I need you in my schools that I support. And she's done all of these trainings on trauma and as educators and parents, [00:22:00] what do you look for and what are some strategies for healing and what are some of those behaviors?

And so like the big picture. Really, I want to be in the inbox of everyone's, uh, their email to help their children. But I want to use those resources to empower families that have gone through abuse.

Scott Schuette: That's a really bold part of your vision, and I think it's really great. And a lot of people, I think, miss the opportunity to create something with Deeper purpose, right?

So, Hey, I want to go ahead and develop this business and it'll pay the bills and I'll have a good time doing it. And so that's great. But I really feel like when you can. Really dig deep down and then be very purposeful around creating something with a deeper purpose that that's even more fulfilling and even more rewarding and I [00:23:00] think that the opportunities get greater because of that.

I think we're moving into a period of time where individuals and others are going to start to recognize that and shift towards providers, solution providers that do just that with a deeper sense of purpose. so much. Versus the, I can just take care of this for you at the cheapest possible way. So

Christel Reaves: you should feel

Scott Schuette: great about that.

Christel Reaves: Yeah. And it's very personal to me because I was in an abusive marriage the first time around, and it was really. You know, my, my foundation, having an education and being able to support myself and move forward. So I was in a situation that we didn't have children. So it was a lot easier for me to pick myself up where in situations where there's children involved, I couldn't even imagine as, as a mom, how hard that would be.[00:24:00]

Um, and I had so many others poured into me during that valley in my life that I want to give back. And I want to bless those women that have been in that situation and just give them that experience, strength, and hope through. Not only my victory, but other victories of other women that I met along the way that were in similar situations because, Scott, it's so common.

I mean, it's amazing. Yeah, really dig in and people open up and share some of the battles they go through and and things that are happening in the world.

Scott Schuette: Well, someone once said. Grow through what you go through, right? And you know, we all, we all go through things and I think it equips us to be there for others, but you have to have the right mindset and you, my friend do.

One quick question, only because I want to nerd out for [00:25:00] just a minute. Like the thing that I think is really amazing about the ed tech space or even just the educational space of which I'm a part of. The change is so fast. Our ability to deliver more, better, faster has never been more tangible in real.

So I'm wondering about, like, what's your experience been with, say, new technology, dare I say it, let's just say it, artificial intelligence that can, that can help you create more, better, faster. Um, what kind of experiences have you had? And if you wouldn't mind sharing some of those solutions that you found in the process.

Christel Reaves: Okay, so, you know, I've been working on the scope of my next build and in the midst of that, I've changed it like 15 times because, um, technology is just moving so fast. Um, what do I know? I know that technology is moving really fast, but [00:26:00] ultimately working close with people. Sometimes they don't need all the bells and whistles.

Okay. So, like, I, I have. The microwave or the coffee pot that can do way more things than I am even aware of. My car can do more things than I'm aware of. Oh, cell phones are a great example of that, right? So, as far as, like, my build is concerned, I'm gonna add, um, some AI to it eventually where right now I'm just logging data.

Something where it would help provide resources to teachers. faster. But ultimately, you know, our learning link video, video embedded emails, that's really low tech. But you know what? It meets families exactly where they are right now. You watch a two to three minute video that shows you visually how to play a game.

You don't have to have all the bells and whistles to do it. It's simple, right? [00:27:00] So, eventually, you know, maybe we'll make it a little bit more complex. I love AI for helping teachers save time and planning. So, I have AI webinars that I do with teachers after school. And we call it the Space Aliens Have Landed.

So, it's adding AI into your classroom. And, you know, we do everything for helping them develop lessons, rubrics, assessments, things to help them save time. Because you know what? 30 to 40 minute prep period does not give you enough time to play in eight subjects a day, nor grade parents, and connect with your families.

You know, After I'm done with supporting, well, I don't think I'll ever be done with that, supporting abuse shelters, I want to open up my own school where teachers teach half of the day and they get half of the day to lesson plan, grade papers, connect with parents. I just need double the amount of the regular school budget, so I haven't figured [00:28:00] that out yet.

Scott Schuette: Yeah, I'm quite sure that you'll get there.

Christel Reaves: Yeah, I'm getting there.

Scott Schuette: And I love My experience with tech and how fast it is is what was cool today is now obsolete tomorrow, which is a thousand percent true Yeah, I can't tell you how many times I'm like even the recording studio that we are using folks right now Just had an update this morning to provide new features and more whiz bang to it.

And I'm like what the You know, solving problems. I didn't even know I needed to have solved for me. So that that's been really great So I'm glad that you're that you're on board with that before we wrap things up I wanted to give you an opportunity to go ahead and either speak to our audience from a summary perspective on some of the things you talked about today or maybe there was something that Super important that you wanted to talk about that.

I didn't ask you the question about I'll give you the next couple minutes to just kind of talk about those important things and leave our audience with something inspirational. [00:29:00]

Christel Reaves: I mean, thank you, Scott, for this time today. Really, lately, I've been on this mission to build fact fluency. Why? Because everywhere I go, I have high school math teachers, middle school math teachers saying, can you just get kids to multiply?

So I said, you know, let's do this in a really fun, creative way. So again, we have those getting my facts straight monthly challenges. I'm really on a mission of just getting teachers to sign up, you know, try it out free for a month, go to connect to class. com and sign up underneath events. And just play one game a week, push it home to families, encourage them to play and just watch and see how those facts.

Increase so quickly because you know, we've seen that the data shows that mass scores have gone down since Cove it. And so we could get parents and families at home to practice those [00:30:00] basic math skills. It gets teachers time in the classroom to do the concepts of parents. I want to do it. So, you know, for the love of math, really, so even if you don't like math, you're going to like it playing these games.

So really just encouraging people to communicate with each other. And you can actually love them off at the

Scott Schuette: same time. Crystal, so much for your time today. It's always a pleasure speaking with you. I'm super excited to learn even more about what you and Connected Class are delivering in the new year. So, uh, until next time, thanks so much for being on the show.

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