This former school teacher was frustrated by all the paperwork. His startup could fix that

For Rai Shahid, founder of edtech startup Milestone, inspiration for his venture came during a personal stint as a primary school teacher. Records for students, including mark sheets, attendance logs, and fees management was overwhelmingly done on a manual basis.

Teachers were required to personally mark attendance and input grades in a physical register, while office staff would maintain student payment and disciplinary history in log books of their own. Shahid felt this process was exceedingly cumbersome, time-intensive, and inherently risky as records could be prone to mismanagement and abuse. He felt there was potential in developing a product which guaranteed safety and security to school administrators.

“The maximum amount of automation teachers used was to rely on Excel sheets,” Shahid tells Tech in Asia. “The time they spent on manual tasks was unproductive and could be better utilized elsewhere. I was determined to help them.”

Despite having little knowledge of how to be an entrepreneur, Shahid proceeded to understand what features his software would need to include. The founder, who is also a software engineer by training, spoke at length with teachers, administrators, and office staff to determine what their pressing needs were.

Shahid continued to work at his day job in order to finance his venture. “I was completely cash-strapped. Salaries for my staff came out of my personal salary,” he adds.

Milestone was finally ready in January 2014. Since then the startup has managed to sign on 124 enterprise clients. The software, which is customizable according to specific needs, is marketed in three separate categories based on the range of features requested. Some of these are student record management, employee evaluation, and collaboration between students, parents, and administrators. Shahid reveals they have also tweaked the model on the basis of feedback from their customers and are now incorporating a cloud-based solution as well.

One of the more interesting aspects of the software is a biometric system whereby parents are informed, through SMS, when their child has entered school. An electronic tag is scanned on entry, and simultaneously a text message is sent to a number registered on the school database with the specific time. “This helps reduce truancy,” he laughs.

Milestone has recently been selected for acceleration at Lahore-based PlanX. The founder reveals his primary motive for applying to be part of the program is to refine his business and operational acumen, whilst also connecting with potential investors to scale his product.

The idea certainly has relevance in local and regional markets, where administration of schools and colleges is still done manually. Pakistani educational institutions are known for maintaining vast troves of physical data records with little emphasis on digital backups.

The fact that the startup has managed to secure over a hundred clients so far, despite concentrating marketing efforts in a single city, means there is clear need for the product. Shahid claims he is eager to take his product regionally, and points to the example of mySmacEd as indicative of demand for similar services in other markets.

Milestones’ success may well hinge on how it improves design and user experience, whilst also consolidating revenue streams. Currently, the software can be purchased upfront for a flat, one-time fee, as well as a monthly recurring subscription cost for ‘maintenance and support.’ It would be prudent for the startup to focus on innovation and include other paid services for maximizing revenue.