教育科技行业隐现风投泡沫

    数字教育系统的美好前景已让众多风投资本纷纷转向快速发展的教育科技类初创公司。无数软件门户网站开始设定宏伟目标，要提高当前学校系统的效率，打造更多数字化工具，提高课堂教学的效率。不少教辅类初创公司和慕课（MOOC）这样的大规模在线开放课程已经吸引了大笔风投。还有各种代数游戏，没错，形形色色、数不胜数的代数游戏。

    过去五年来教育科技初创公司的蓬勃发展让很多人开始觉得，我们正在接近教育科技浪潮的顶峰。因此，人们又开始把“泡沫”这个词挂在嘴边。2012年，风投投向教育科技初创公司的金额约为6亿美元，是2002年同类投资额的近四倍。

    与此同时，行业观察人士对最新出现的教育科技创新成果却并没有表现得过分激动。

    麦格劳•希尔学校教育集团（McGraw-Hill School Education）总裁彼得•科恩在近期于纽约举行的DeSilva& Phillips交易人大会上说：“我不再需要另一款代数应用了。我就是不再需要了。硅谷的所有人都觉得他们打造了史无前例的一款代数应用。而这并不是最大的问题所在，尽管代数本身还是一个问题。”

    并购公司Providence Equity Partners资深顾问布莱恩•纳派克表示，很多教育科技类公司的目标都定得太低了。“他们是不是真的打造了一款能解决一些人需求的产品？决策者是不是真的觉得这是一个问题？”他说。“市面上已经有很多教材了。别跟我说是你开发了第一款数字化教材，没人会把它当回事。”

    “小题大做”这个问题并不是教育科技业所独有。大家只要看看各种跟风的照片分享和音乐软件领域就会发现，很多此类初创公司的产品都开始趋同。风投公司Upfront Ventures投资人马克•舒斯特和First Round Capital公司的克里斯•弗拉里克用“FNAC”这个词来描述那种理念只是一种“产品特性，而非公司”（a "feature, not a company）的初创企业，这个词现在已在业内流传开来。

    但不管怎样，教育领域中那些基于一些细小特性打造的公司还是显得特别有吸引力。而长期以来，把持这个领域一直是被那些与教材巨头有着深厚关系的公司，以及那些科技中坚公司。这类公司如STI教育数据管理解决方案公司（STI Education Data Management Solutions）或复兴学习公司（Renaissance Learning），后者已成立了29年，近期刚获得谷歌公司（Google）全新私募基金投资子公司谷歌资本（Google Capital）四千万美元投资。而学校之所以在采用新技术上行动迟缓是因为它们别无选择：它们的采购流程僵化复杂，包括很多环节，如签订合同、提交请求建议书（RFP）、聘请律师、多轮评审、审核批准以及合规审查。因此，小型初创企业要想把自己的产品卖进学校难上加难。光这个采购周期就长得足以让这类企业把钱烧光了。

    纳派克表示，对这些教育科技初创企业来说，不了解自己所面对的这个市场是它们最常见的通病。而学校之所以是这么难缠的客户，原因在于它们没有赚钱的动力——它们的目标是教育学生，而不是赚钱。

    The promise of a digital-first education system has driven venture capital dollars into the fast-growing category of education technology startups. There are countless software portals aiming to create efficiencies in school systems and even more digital tools for streamlining the classroom. There are tutoring startups and MOOCs, or massive open online courses, that have attracted massive venture funding. And there are algebra games. Oh yes. Many, many, algebra games.

    The explosion of ed-tech startups in the last five years has led many to speculate we're approaching peak ed-tech. The word "bubble" has been thrown around. Venture firms invested around $600 million into ed-tech startups in 2012, which is approximately four times as much as they did in 2002.

    Meanwhile, industry observers aren't terribly excited about the most latested-tech innovations.

    "I don't need another algebra app," said Peter Cohen, president, McGraw-Hill School Education, speaking at the recent DeSilva& Phillips Dealmakers conference in New York. "I don't need another one. Everyone in Silicon Valley thinks they've created the first algebra app ever. That's not actually the biggest problem, although algebra is a problem," he said.

    Brian Napack, a senior advisor to buyout firm Providence Equity Partners, said many ed-tech companies are aiming too low. "Do they have a product that's actually a solution for someone's needs, and will the decision makers recognize that it's a problem?" he asked. "There are lots of gradebooks out there. Don't tell me you've got the first digital gradebook, and also nobody is viewing that as a problem."

    The "small problem" problem isn't unique to ed-tech. Look no further than the sea of derivative photo-sharing and music apps to see how many startups' offerings start to blend together. Venture investors Mark Suster of Upfront Ventures and Chris Fralic of First Round Capital popularized the term "FNAC" to describe startups whose idea is a "feature, not a company."

    Regardless, companies based around small features are particularly tempting in the education sector, which has been dominated by longstanding relationships with textbook giants, and tech stalwarts like STI Education Data Management Solutions, or Renaissance Learning, a 29-year-old company which Google's (GOOG) new private equity arm, Google Capital, just invested $40 million into. Schools are slow to adopt new technology because they have to be: Their procurement processes are inflexible and complicated, involving contracts, RFPs, lawyers, review cycles, approvals, and compliances. This makes it difficult for small startups to sell their products into schools. The procurement cycle alone lasts long enough for a startup to run out of money.

    Napack said not understanding the market they're selling to is the most common mistake for ed-tech startups. Schools make complicated customers because they're not financially motivated -- their goal is to educate students, not make money.