Creating the Data-Driven Classroom

I am incredibly pleased to announce True’s investment in Always Prepped, an education technology startup focused on classroom data management for the K-12 marketplace.

The rise of technology in schools and the proliferation of educational apps and software have fundamentally changed the way teachers manage their classrooms. They now rely on innovative assessment tools, behavior tracking apps, attendance systems and other pieces of software to monitor student progress.

But, as Always Prepped Founder Fahad Hassan puts it, “the problem is, the data is everywhere.”

Always Prepped aggregates and analyzes student classroom performance, attendance and behavior metrics from several online programs in a single dashboard—solving a major problem for teachers and leading the wave for the next generation of data-driven classrooms.

We’ve all heard rumblings that we are in an ed-tech boom, but we at True believe that Fahad has created something truly unique—both in the product and how he is approaching the marketplace. Many ed-tech startups target school districts with their products, spending little time actually iterating with teachers in the classroom. But Fahad has worked with teachers first, allowing them to adopt the product, try it out and help improve it. The result is not only a beautiful, user-friendly product, it’s a company with exponential growth opportunities. Always Prepped has already partnered with Kahn Academy and Engrade, and the hundreds of teachers using the product can’t wait to link other data sources. With Always Prepped in hundreds of classrooms tracking the progress of tens of thousands of kids, Fahad is truly onto something special.

I first met Fahad in 2007, when he was a senior at Virginia Tech and seeking funding for Daylert, a higher education-focused startup. While we passed on the opportunity, I became something of an advisor to Fahad, working with him through the sale of Daylert to Intelliworks in 2008 and into the development of Always Prepped. Fahad inspired us with his passion for improving education from day one. His ultimate goal is to build schools around the world for underprivileged children, and building Always Prepped to improve student performance in classrooms is a step closer to that goal. It has been a true delight to watch Fahad in business over the past six years, and I am pleased to be supporting him by funding Always Prepped.

Fahad, welcome to True. Let’s change the world together.

Read more about Always Prepped in TechCrunch.