Time flies! Our education startups dinner is next week (Tuesday 26th) and we wanted to introduce our partner for the evening, Fluency.io. We met Fluency.io’s co-founder, Sinead Mac Manus whilst we were both pitching at Vator Splash in London and the rest is history!

What’s the elevator pitch for your startup?

Fluency is a learning platform and crowd work marketplace that gets young people into work. We teach 18 to 25 year olds in-demand digital skills – and then connect them to the small businesses who need them.

What were you doing before you launched your startup?

My background is a digital coach and trainer to small businesses. For the past four years I have been working with them to overcome stresses about engaging in digital and showing them the potential that the web and social media can have for their business. But many of my clients were just too busy to implement much of my advice so I back in 2011 I saw a gap in the market for providing outsourced digital services and, with help from UnLtd and then the Nominet Trust, started training low income women in east London with these skills.

Where did you meet your co-founder?

I met my co-founder Ian at the beginning of 2013. I was looking for a co-founder to take the idea to the next level and advertised on WorkinStartups.com. I got quite a bit of interest but Ian stood out in that he had years of experience but also wanted to create a company that could not only succeed commercially, but could also make a positive impact on the world. We jointly applied to be part of the Bethnal Green Ventures social technology incubator and were accepted in July last year.

What’s your biggest ‘hindsight’ moment?

I think like most founders looking back there are lots I would do differently! I wouldn’t have started building the bespoke learning platform right away – I would have used an existing LMS to get a minimum viable product out there and concentrate on building and testing the marketplace side of the business more.

What will 2014 bring?

Lots. We have just hired our fifth team member – a Head of Digital Learning – who is working on further developing the learning platform and making the learning sticky and fun. We are working with some great partners including The Prince’s Trust and Accenture to get unemployed young people trained up and working in digital. We are in the middle of raising our seed round of investment which will enable us to expand the development team and build out the crowd work marketplace place. By the end of 2014, our goal is to have the platform as the go-to place for a new small business to come and get all their digital needs sorted.

1 piece of advice for someone starting a business in the education space?

My advice for others working in the edtech space is to solve a real problem that you have direct experience of. Too many times I see edtech platforms and solutions that I am not sure anyone really needs. I had first-hand experience of work-based learning and the small business market and knew there was two real problems to solve – it wasn’t just a hypothesis – Fluency was born out of years of research and experience.

Convince someone to use your product/service in under 50 words.

Confused by the digital space? Let Fluency turbocharge your digital presence using our young digital talent. Let us take care of promoting your business online while you get on with doing what you do best – building your awesome business.

What’s your favourite startup in the education space (not including your own)?

Hard one. There’s lots of great people doing great work. I personally love Treehouse who teach coding online. Their content is great and is taught in an easy to grasp way. They also let learners try out their new skills in a safe ‘sandbox’ way – something we emulate at Fluency. They have also been incredibly successful commercially and have not only raised significant investment to grow but started making revenue early on.

What’s your favourite London restaurant?

That’s easy! Myself and my partner Alex are huge fans of Vietnamese food. We both live and work in Shoreditch and ‘little Vietnam’ i.e. Kingsland Road is around the corner from our house. Our favourite place to grab some food is the Viet Grill – the sister restaurant of the very popular Cay Tre on Old Street. The Viet Grill has the same amazing food but it’s easy to get a seat. Try the pork belly. It’s to die for.

Thanks to Fluency.io for their post. You can also click through to read spotlights on StepUp.io and Tutor Fair.