Beth Lawrence and Deena Seifert of InferCabulary
An exclusive Tech Tribune Q&A with Beth Lawrence (co-founder and CEO) and Deena Seifert (co-founder and COO) of InferCabulary, which was honored in our:
Tell us the origin story of InferCabulary – what problem were you trying to solve and why?
Deena Seifert and I specialize in helping elementary, middle, and high school students who struggle with language and literacy by teaching them strategies. An astounding 65% of K12 students would fall into this category! We also train teachers in best-practice techniques and how to incorporate creative strategies in their instruction. One of the things we know is that people don’t tend to use the sophisticated words they know in conversation, so students typically encounter those types of words by being avid readers. In 2013, Beth worked with an 8th grade girl who was struggling to understand the novel, Animal Farm, by George Orwell, mostly due to the significant number of tough vocabulary words.
After using tried and true methods to teach these vocabulary words to her student, Beth’s epiphany was that these approaches all rely heavily on using language to teach language – even with students who struggle with language (two-thirds of students in the US struggle to comprehend what they read for a variety of reasons!). This student’s ability to infer and problem solve was high, so she became the muse for a new approach we developed called Semantic Reasoning. Shortly after that, we had language and literacy experts encourage us, we authored a norm-referenced test, started winning business plan competitions, and have raised money.
What was the biggest hurdle you encountered in your journey?
Building and maintaining an educational technology company is expensive, and Ed-tech sales is a challenging space. We have been able to raise funds, and sales have been increasing – in particular since offering InferCabulary for free during COVID-19.
What does the future hold for InferCabulary?
Education has changed drastically because of COVID-19, and demand has increased for high-quality content that teachers and students can access online. The literacy gap in American schools was significant even before the pandemic, and the press is on to ensure students have the foundational support to build their literacy skills within blended environments. We are prepared to support students and pivot where required based on the fluid nature of the current educational landscape. InferCabulary has added to its sales force to help support current customers and the inbound requests from schools and districts that used InferCabulary for free during the initial months of the crisis.
What are your thoughts on the local tech startup scene in Towson?
We benefited greatly from being part of the TU Incubator, under Frank Bonsal III’s leadership. Frank’s depth and breadth of understanding in the education space is remarkable. We cut our teeth there, learning about the business-side of launching and scaling our startup. TEDCO has supported us financially and with mentoring, including a monthly CEO roundtable where we started as the “newbies” and now are in a position to advise and support newer entrepreneurs. MD Momentum Fund has backed us financially in our seed round, and with excellent mentoring, too. There is an incredibly supportive vibe to the startup tech scene, where founders really support one another with advice, social networking, and collaboration. We are so glad we grew our company in Towson!
What’s your best advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?
Make sure there is a real problem you are solving, and that your solution really solves that problem. Do this by beta testing your idea with real potential users of your product. Stay lean as long as possible. Be flexible and willing to pivot. Get validation and outside research whenever possible. Keep going!