Craig McKee: From the Head’s Office to SaaS Founder скачать в хорошем качестве

Craig McKee: From the Head’s Office to SaaS Founder

Episode Overview In this episode of the Education Business Podcast, Claire speaks with former head teacher and chair of governors Craig McKee about his journey from school leadership to building a portfolio of successful education tools. Craig shares how stepping away from headship in 2021 led him to experiment with building simple online solutions for schools — starting with safeguarding training and growing into services like website audits, policy management tools and AI-powered support for senior leaders. The conversation explores how lived experience in schools helped Craig identify real problems worth solving, the importance of launching a minimum viable product (MVP), and the lessons he learned about pricing, marketing and validating ideas with customers. Craig also talks candidly about the realities of building an education business — from early uncertainty and learning the basics of self-employment, to scaling a subscription product and navigating marketing challenges in the education sector. This episode is packed with practical insights for education founders, teachers considering starting a business, and anyone looking to turn classroom experience into impactful products for schools.   00:00 – Introduction to the Education Business Podcast 01:10 – Craig’s career in teaching and school leadership 02:30 – Leaving headship and the unexpected start of a business 04:00 – Building the first product: safeguarding training 05:30 – Pricing your work and valuing your time 06:20 – Solving real school problems through lived experience 07:30 – Ideas that didn’t work and lessons learned 08:00 – The development of SLT AI 09:30 – Building products with feedback from school leaders 12:00 – Lived experience vs market feedback 14:10 – When the business started to feel financially real 16:30 – Marketing challenges in the education sector 18:00 – Social media, timing and organic growth 19:30 – Marketing experiments and what didn’t work 20:30 – Networking and building trust in the sector 22:00 – Managing expectations in marketing 24:00 – Lessons about running a business 25:00 – Systems, automation and starting as a sole trader 26:00 – Final advice for education founders   All About Craig: Craig McKee - former Head Teacher and former Chair of Governors With over 20 years’ experience in education, Craig has demonstrated exceptional leadership at every level. His track record includes serving as Deputy Head and contributing to a school’s journey from “Good” to “Outstanding” in their Ofsted inspection, and achieving National Teaching School status. As a former Chair of Governors, he has again supported a school’s transformation to “Outstanding” in their 2023 inspection. Throughout his career as a Deputy Head Teacher in a Teaching School and Head Teacher within an Academy Trust, Craig has championed school improvement through: Designing and delivering impactful CPD programmes Conducting peer reviews to support school self-evaluation Collaborating with the Department for Education (DfE) on National Curriculum exemplification materials (2014) Participating in expert groups at the Standards and Testing Agency (STA) to develop SATs assessments Craig has designed, and now manages, a number of websites designed to support school leaders to increase their capacity and enable them to spend more time out of their office working with their staff, pupils and families. Website: https://sltai.co.uk (https://sltai.co.uk/) https://headlite.co.uk (https://headlite.co.uk/) https://schoolpolicytracker.co.uk (https://schoolpolicytracker.co.uk/) https://schoolwebsiteaudits.co.uk (https://schoolwebsiteaudits.co.uk/) LinkedIn:   / craig-mckee-486597239   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?... See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.