March 05, 2023

E61 | The Genesis of Paperly - Dan Dawson

42 minutes

Aristotle said, “The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.” This adoring quote sums up both the traditional teaching-learning setup and the modernized edTech for the school version of education brought by platforms like Paperly.

Speaking of edTech, in this episode, we had a chat with Daniel Dawson, the Co-founder and Director of Paperly, an education management platform which streamlines schools' processes onto a single platform. Daniel founded Paperly after working in two Perth schools, and seeing firsthand how inefficient admin processes affected teachers and the school community. He felt there was a better way. So he worked in consultation with teachers and his co-founder to develop the Paperly platform and functional modules, which are used by Independent Private Schools in Perth such as St Hilda's Anglican School for Girls and Aquinas College. His creation now saves teachers from admin overwhelm and burnout. Dan will touch on topics such as:

His professional journey in education before starting Paperly.

How Paperly works and why every school should use it.

Building Paperly from the ground up while also working a full-time job.

Trusting his team and delegating some of his previous core tasks so he can focus on building the necessary relationships to grow the business.

Challenges that come with building brand awareness for a small startup.

Driving Paperly towards becoming a global brand.

Traits you need to succeed in entrepreneurship.

The value of going through the Plus Eight Accelerator program.

What it was like to pitch his idea in front of 300+ investors and high profile individuals.

Key factors that informed his decision to leave his full-time job to focus more on building the company.

Keeping Paperly safe and secure for schools to use.

Moving towards more technology and inclusivity in schools in the next decade and beyond.

Dan’s valuable insights are very applicable in tackling some of the challenges that schools face. He’s proud of the fact that Paperly fulfils teachers needs to restore purposefulness, improve school morale and reduce high staff turnover from burnout. He encourages leaders to be more focused on finding solutions to problems instead of just complaining about the problems. He also points out that businesses must be focused on serving the exact needs of customers in order to thrive in the marketplace.

You can connect with Dan on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-dawson-5b620758/ ……………………

Edleaders is available on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts or on the link below. #leadership #education #schooleaders #edtech #innovation As always if you have questions, feedback, or a suggestion from a leader you'd like to hear from - send us a message!

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You can also connect with us personally at LinkedIn:

Luke Callier - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ljcallier/

Mathew Irving - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathew-irving-b6b91430/

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By Luke Callier and Mathew Irving