Big Ponds vs. Niches

[Robin Andrews]

I'm wanting to turn my expertise as a teacher and Programmer into a business, and have made a start by committing to blogging and creating some initial digital products. My website is here: Compucademy

However I am confused by what appears to be some conflicting advice around niches vs scalabilty. In The Millionaire Fastlane , MJ talks about the Commandment of Scalability. yet this seems to be in conflict with the idea of choosing a specialist niche. I originally thought I would focus on providing resources for students and teachers of UK based Computer Science exams (which have also have international uptake), but now I'm thinking this could put a serious upper limit on my number of customers. I'm wondering if I should "niche out" and focus on for example:

• Python in Schools
• Computer Science for Schools
• Python for Computer Science (maybe the biggest pond, as it includes adult learners?)
• Python for Computer Science in Schools

etc.

...all of which have the possibility of extending out of my pond, over the pond to America, where I may well find vastly more customers. I want to try to get this choice right from early on so I can focus my writing, creating and SEO efforts in on the right audience.

It has been surprisingly hard to find exact data, but so far I've found the figures below relating to UK based Computing Education. My question for this forum is:

Should I continue to focus on GCSE and A Level Computer Science exams, thus potentially putting a serious upper limit on my number of customers, or should I "niche out" and focus on one of the alternatives I mentioned above?

(It might be relevant to mention that many teachers are reluctant to pay for teaching resources, and the majority of students at this level get their education for free.)

It is frustrating not having enough business experience to know how to make this kind of decision. If anyone who understands these things better than me could shed some light, I would be very grateful.

***

This is some data for UK exam entries in my field from Ofqual.

UK Computing Exam Entries:

GCSE Computing

2017: 69,350
2018: 72,360

A/S Level Computing

2017: 6,175
2018: 2,780

A Level Computing

2017: 7,710
2018: 9,685

As far as I can tell, there are between 4,000 - 8,000 Computer Science teachers. This is supposed to grow to about 12,000 as more teachers are trained over the next few years.

I don't know if these figures represent a large enough audience for a viable business in this field. They don't seem astronomical to me...

 

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[Stargazer]

As a teacher you can correct me.

Is computing not a compulsory part of The National Curriculum in England & Wales?

And therefore would not all 25,000 state schools be teaching across all Key Stages?

So should there not be approx 8 million kids doing it right now at some level depending on year group?

Your GCSE figures would indicate I am completely wrong.

Coding at school: a parent's guide to England's new computing curriculum

From the start of the new term, children as young as five will be learning programming skills in the classroom. By Stuart Dredge

www.theguardian.com

What am I missing here?

My line of thinking was schools will pay for a relevant resource to assist them in getting more children to the relevant levels just like they subscribe to many online resources in Maths and English such as MyMaths or Spagonline.

So if you had some structured course following Key Stage progression you have a nice tool for schools to buy.

Fake figure time but 10% schools and £100 annual licence is £250k per annum (gross)

I can't see kids looking for things on your website and parents definitely would not, they would not understand what they were purchasing.

Schools are your market if my first few paragraphs are correct and it is mandatory.

Dan

 

[Rawseed]

Hello @Robin Andrews!

I'm no expert, but I'll throw in my two cents.

The first thing I would suggest is that you read or reread Unscripted . Specifically Chapters 35 (Need) and 37 (Scale).

Also check out Kevin Kelly's Thousand True Fans: The Technium: 1,000 True Fans

Niching down is great because it serves three purposes:

First, it decreases the number of competitors because you are creating a specific solution to the specific problem of a specific niche. So, ideally your solution should solve the problem better.

Second, it makes your customers happier because you've solved their problem(s) better than the general solutions available. Happy customers increase word-of-mouth. These customers know how to find other people in your niche and they will market the product for you.

Third, it lets you focus on customer retention instead of customer acquisition. Instead of trying to solve everyone's problems, you can focus on solving all of the problems of your niche. This lets you focus on problem-solving and you let your customers market for you for free. This will decrease your costs and increase your revenue.

You'll understand scale better after you read Chapter 37. In it, he discusses mass vs. magnitude and he does it much better than I'm about to.

You can get scale through mass which is market size OR magnitude which is market impact. Mass would be McDonald's. Magnitude would be Franklin's Barbecue in Austin, Texas, USA.

To create magnitude, you should read Chapter 35 in Unscripted because it's all about engineering need and creating value.

That's another great thing about niching down. You'll understand the goals, desires, wants, needs, and problems of your niche better than anyone else. So, your products and solutions will be better and you can charge more for them.

 

[Robin Andrews]

Hi Dan,

I've done some checking and found the following info.

New computer science GCSE is already being reviewed

A broader qualification to attract more girls has 'not been ruled out'

schoolsweek.co.uk

"National figures also show 57,245 boys sat the computer science GCSE, compared with only 14,683 girls this summer. "

https://royalsociety.org/~/media/policy/projects/computing-education/computing-education-report.pdf

"Today, 70% of students in England attend schools offering GCSE computer science, which is a positive development. However, although the overall number of entries continues to grow, only a disappointing 11% of all students take GCSE computer science"

Re the number of CS teachers:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/educati...cience-teachers-trebled-chancellor-announces/

Apparently they want to treble the number by training 8,000, which means there are currently around 4,000. Does that sound like an audience worth chasing?

Do any of those figures change the advice you would give?

BTW, my expertise and experience is at GCSE and A level, rather than further down the age range.

 

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[Robin Andrews]

Hi Rawseed,

Have you got any tips about choosing between targeting my efforts towards serving:

• Teachers
• Parents - particularly of home-schooled children in the UK and abroad, and more affluent parents
• School administrators, inc. heads of Computing departments
• Department of Education
• Students

The actual possible products associated with these options include:

• Outstanding resources for teachers
• Tutoring agency
• Online courses for students
• Teacher training, that somehow doesn't rely heavily on my physical presence