There haven’t been any women entrepreneurs featured in this discussion so I thought I would try and find one that would fit in this founders forum. Despite this article saying that more women are involved in educational technology than ever before, it took some digging to find Kate Whiting and Kaitlyn Trabucco. They are co-founders of Educents, an online marketplace dedicated to getting discounted educational materials into the hands of teachers and parents. Users can browse through available materials such as workbooks, books and toys, and purchase items at significant discounts from retail prices.
Kate comes from a background in marketing and advertising and, in her words, “took a crazy idea, built a product, team and self-funded the business out of my living room and turned it into a successful and growing consumer marketplace company”. She is passionate about both education in general and, specifically getting kids excited about learning. Her entrepreneurial style is informal and unique as she calls her platform the “etsy for education”. Her co-founder, Kaitlyn Trabucco once worked at Tiffany’s then switched gears to travel to Haiti and work with an organization helping women entrepreneurs rebuild their businesses after the devastating earthquake. Both of those experiences led her to co-found Educents. Although it’s a few years old, she has some excellent points about entrepreneurial ventures in this article.
