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    • 2024-09-04 Agenda & BizDev WG Meeting notes

    Owned by Stefania Trabucchi, created
    Last updated: Sept 18, 2024 by Vineet Manuja
    5 min read

    All public Working Group meetings follow the Recording Policy for Open edX Meetings

     Date

    Sep 3, 2024

     Participants

    • @Stefania Trabucchi - Moderator

    • Vineet Manuja – Moderator

    • 22 attendees

    AGENDA:

    1. RECAP OF LAST WEEK

    • Introduction of the Biz Dev Working Group - (5m)

    • Genesis: Originated from the Stellenbosch Conference workshop and SWOT analysis.

    • Focus Areas:

      • Aligning platform development with market needs.

      • Expanding adoption of Open edX.

      • Identifying and sustaining revenue streams.

      • Building strategic partnerships.

    1. WELCOME NEW MEMBERS - (5-10m)

    2. DISCUSSION ON BIZ DEV FOCUS GROUPS (15-20m)

    • Market Penetration and Expansion: Exploring new geographic regions and industry sectors.

    • Product-Market Alignment: Ensuring platform meets market demands.

    • Partnership Development: Strengthening partnerships to enhance the platform.

    • Revenue Growth: Identifying innovative revenue models within edTech to support partners.

    Common Focus Group:

    • Community Engagement and Transparency: Promoting inclusivity and ensuring communication and documentation are transparent and well-coordinated.

    4. POLL: INTEREST IN JOINING OR LEADING A FOCUS GROUP (10 mins)

    5. PRODUCT REVIEW PROCESS (15 mins)

    • Introduction: Product Development WG, by @Jenna Makowski

    Goals for Today’s Session:

    • Clarify the roles of focus group.

    • Finalize Focus Groups and gather interest.

    • Set the stage for collaboration between Biz Dev and Product Development teams.

    Next Meeting:

    • Focus: Deep dive into initial Focus Group activities.

    • Follow-up: on activities within the Focus Groups.

     Discussion topics

    Time

    Item

    Presenter

    Notes

    Time

    Item

    Presenter

    Notes

     

    Recap and Group Focus

     

    • Purpose: The Biz Dev Working Group serves to bridge the Open edX community and the global market, aligning platform development with market needs, expanding adoption, and identifying & creating sustainable revenue streams. Our focus is on market expansion, product market alignment, and building strategic partnerships to ensure the platform's long-term success..

    • Linking with Marketing WG: It is part of the Marketing WG and the guiding principle is to align with the structure and community focused approach of the Marketing Working Group. Although linked,

      • BizDev focuses on Market Penetration and Expansion, Partnership Development, Revenue Growth, Product Alignment to Market Needs

      • Marketing WG focuses on Brand awareness and promotion, Content creation and social media management, Lead generation and customer engagementm, Event participation and public relations.

    • Operating Principles:

      • Communication and Transparency: Maintain open lines of communication with the Product Development, Engineering, and other related Working Groups, ensuring they are fully aware that Biz Dev’s goal is to support and align.



    Main Discussion Points



    1. Aligning Platform with Market Needs

    • Current Issue: Many developers and contributors need more clarity on the Open edX roadmap.

    • Next Steps: Jenna will present a plan at the next meeting.

    2. Expanding Adoption of Open edX

    • Focus: Exploring potential options to broaden Open edX’s adoption and identifying new directions for growth.

    3. Identifying & Sustaining Revenue Streams

    • Discussion: Strategies to generate and sustain revenue for the platform.

    4. Building Strategic Partnerships

    • Opportunities: Partnerships with major players like Microsoft Azure and AWS were discussed as crucial for future growth.

    • Challenges: Past partnerships (e.g., Google, UC Berkeley) had mixed results, highlighting the need for careful selection and management of future partnerships.

     

    Key Contributions from the Chat:

     

    • Juan: Proposed a Partner/Platform Adopter NPS score to track partnership health and suggested building a network of major users, similar to the Educator Working Group, to foster collaboration between institutions.

    • Omar: Warned of the risks from past partnerships and advocated revisiting such collaborations to ensure long-term benefits.

    • Douglas: Highlighted the importance of analyzing historical partnerships to avoid repeating mistakes and suggested BizDev could help identify medium to long-term trends.

    • Vineet: Suggested that the Partnerships focus group should establish guidelines for long-term commitments and work closely with Axim/Legal to ensure sustainability.

     

    Additional Insights:

     

    • Challenges with Adoption:

      • Omar: Pointed out the high cost of adopting Open edX, which could be a barrier to wider use, despite its scalability.

    • Product Roadmap and Collaboration:

      • Sarina: Encouraged BizDev members to participate in the Core Product Working Group to align efforts with overall product development.

      • Marco: Stressed the need to identify missing themes and trends within the current focus areas.

    • Support on Mandate: 

      • Multiple: Concerns were raised about broader support for the Biz Dev group, questioning the influence it has on the product roadmap.

    • Community Clarification:

      • Sarina and Cecilia: Reminded attendees that Open edX is a community-driven project, not a single organization, emphasizing the importance of community alignment in decision-making.

     

    VOTING

     

    • 1. Marketing Penetration and Expansion: 9 votes

    • 2. Partnership Development: 8 votes

    • 3. Product Market Alignment: 6 votes

    • 4. Revenue Growth: 7 votes

     

    Detailed Survey Results Sorted by Focus Area

     

    1. Marketing Penetration and Expansion (11 votes):

    • Manish (ManpraX Software): Marketing Penetration and Expansion, Partnership Development, Revenue Growth

    • Régis Behmo: Marketing Penetration and Expansion, Partnership Development, Revenue Growth

    • Guest User: Marketing Penetration and Expansion, Product Influence and Alignment

    • Omar Al-Ithawi: Marketing Penetration and Expansion

    • Adel: Marketing Penetration and Expansion, Revenue Growth

    • Marco Morales: Marketing Penetration and Expansion, Product Influence and Alignment

    • Esteban Etcheverry: Marketing Penetration and Expansion, Revenue Growth

    • Stefania Trabucchi: Marketing Penetration and Expansion, Product Influence and Alignment

    • Abdul Ahad: Marketing Penetration and Expansion, Partnership Development, Revenue Growth

    2. Product Influence and Alignment (8 votes):

    • Carlos Gomes: Product Influence and Alignment, Partnership Development

    • Vineet Manuja: Product Influence and Alignment, Partnership Development

    • Douglas Draper: Product Influence and Alignment

    • Guest User: Marketing Penetration and Expansion, Product Influence and Alignment

    • Marco Morales: Marketing Penetration and Expansion, Product Influence and Alignment

    • Stefania Trabucchi: Marketing Penetration and Expansion, Product Influence and Alignment

    3. Partnership Development (9 votes):

    • Carlos Gomes: Product Influence and Alignment, Partnership Development

    • Manish (ManpraX Software): Marketing Penetration and Expansion, Partnership Development, Revenue Growth

    • Régis Behmo: Marketing Penetration and Expansion, Partnership Development, Revenue Growth

    • Ege: Partnership Development

    • Vineet Manuja: Product Influence and Alignment, Partnership Development

    • Cecilia Liu: Partnership Development, Revenue Growth

    • Juan Camilo: Partnership Development

    • Abdul Ahad: Marketing Penetration and Expansion, Partnership Development, Revenue Growth

    4. Revenue Growth (7 votes):

    • Manish (ManpraX Software): Marketing Penetration and Expansion, Partnership Development, Revenue Growth

    • Régis Behmo: Marketing Penetration and Expansion, Partnership Development, Revenue Growth

    • Adel: Marketing Penetration and Expansion, Revenue Growth

    • Esteban Etcheverry: Marketing Penetration and Expansion, Revenue Growth

    • Cecilia Liu: Partnership Development, Revenue Growth

    • Tahir Latif: Revenue Growth

    • Abdul Ahad: Marketing Penetration and Expansion, Partnership Development, Revenue Growth

     Action items

     Decisions

     Goals

    NEXT STEPS:

    • Focus Areas: Based on the voting results, the primary areas of focus will be Marketing Penetration and Expansion, Partnership Development, Product-Market Alignment, and Revenue Growth

      • The suggested framework, as outlined by Vineet, will be published here and on the Wiki shortly. In the community-led spirit, each focus group will define their own scope and OKRs, to be presented for acceptance.

      • Biz Dev WG - Focus Groups.pptx

    • Product-Market Alignment: Define collaboration with Core Product Working Group, ensuring no overlap with their existing mandate.

    • Invite Jeanna to confirm her Product Review Process presentation.

    • Clarify the stage for collaboration between Biz Dev, Product Development teams and Axim; Ask Ed to engage.

    • Building Strategic Partnerships – Establish user groups/segments (e.g., university hubs like Spanish projects).

    • Set 2024 OKRs for Biz Dev focus groups.

      • Each Focus Group to self-organize and publish

    Additional

    • Next Meeting: Scheduled in three weeks. Additional input can be provided via Slack in the meantime.

    • (from the kick-off meeting) Market data: collect data for residential learning

    • (from the kick-off meeting) Paper reading group

    • Propose shifting the meeting time from 9 AM to 10 AM ET.

    Conclusion:

    The meeting provided valuable insights into how the Biz Dev Working Group can better align with the Open edX community’s needs, focusing on key areas such as strategic partnerships, product alignment, and expanding platform adoption. Collaboration with other working groups and careful management of partnerships were emphasized as crucial for community success. The session highlighted the importance of these initiatives in driving the platform’s growth and ensuring its future sustainability through collective efforts.