Michelle Brown recently moved her edtech startup CommonLit from Boston to Washington, D.C., for the chance at new opportunities. That decision is already starting to pay off now that AT&T has chosen her company as one of the half dozen for the latest Aspire Accelerator program.
"It's a really great mark of legitimacy," Brown told DC Inno in an interview. "I'm thrilled about it."
CommonLit, now based in the 1776 startup incubator, is a non-profit firm, offering a digital platform to help teachers create reading lessons and keep track of how students are getting along with the work. Since its launch, the company has grown to the point where it is now used by more than 70,000 students a day during the school year.
Brown and her team will get $100,000 in investment from AT&T along with another $25,000 to defray the costs of travel and other parts of the six month program. The program is mostly done remotely, with regular mentorship from AT&T, tech and education experts and other services.
"It definitely broadens our scope," Brown said. "Being part of the program can speed up the timetable for our expansion. It's the kind of boost any startup would want."
The other companies in the program are based around the country but will regularly meet up in California and online. Partly because of the nature of education companies, there's much more of a collaborative rather than competitive feel about the group, Brown said. In that regard, the impact of Aspire may extend well beyond the six months of the actual program.
"I've been impressed with the companies I've met here already," Brown said. "There's a lot of possibilities in edtech companies working together."
