Good morning [%first_name |Dear Reader%],

How are you this week? It’s edition #34. Let’s jump right in.

And I know, I know. What in the high hell is “dead-tech”, you’re asking. In case you think I’ve fully turned the corner on my most beloved sector, let me explain. A few months ago, during a discussion with friends, a book idea was proposed. They suggested I pool in all my misgivings about edtechs—potential scams, scary founder stories, the lack of any measurable impact (you know, the usual)—and write a book titled The Annals of, what they jokingly called, “Dead-tech”.

This isn’t years ago, mind you. Only a few months. Now, that funny, flippant conversation has turned into a full blown portent in my mind. The dark clouds of layoffs, slowdowns, and shutdowns seem inescapable. My trusted Google search dipstick, which I do before every edition, has been solemnly blue.

The swift turn in fortunes is spooky, but I’ll refrain from going into supernatural territory. My concerns are more earthly. Everyone’s behaving strangely, as though our good, common friend edtech has been murdered. All we have left are good memories of a golden era. An IPL ad or two. A celebrity endorsement.

Except for two things.

I can’t find a body.

Or a crime.

What has happened, really?

Casting a large shadow

Let’s get a few things out of the way first.

1. The layoffs problem is real, and cruel. But it’s clearly not restricted to edtech. 
2. Global macro trends—the war in Ukraine, increasing interest rates, the reopening of schools–are all temporal wormholes that edtech-like sectors have fallen into.

There are also individual testimonies on Twitter, like the one below from one of the founders of SuperLearn, which bravely list reasons for why a particular edtech idea didn’t work.

The whole thread is quite illuminating, and ends with the hopeful message of “learnings” from version 1.o for Bhatia and gang. It got me thinking about what a “fundable” edtech idea would look like. Is it about finding a niche? If that was the case, then SuperLearn had one. Here’s how Inc42 describes their platform: