From Pitch to Scale: Coaching a Series A Startup in EdTech

I was invited to join the Board of Advisors for Voyage (formerly dISC), an EdTech venture initiated under Circle (circle.education), the educational research and consulting institute founded by Dr. Phil Cummins. The venture’s mission was to help students globally connect, discover opportunities, and navigate international education pathways with greater confidence and support.

Voyage is now an employment marketplace for international students and an “online marketplaces for education services” platform. 

Today their mission is to bridge students with employers, with tools that combine community, marketplace, and insight. 

Situation & Challenges

• The startup needed to present a clear, compelling vision for investors—balancing community, discovery, and monetization.

• The founders had strong domain knowledge (education, podcasting) but limited experience in product structure, investor pitching, or scalable roadmaps.

• Stakeholders included Draper House Singapore, Mission Plus (development partner), a Vietnamese UX studio, and prospective investors.

• The product’s domain was broad — combining community, job discovery, scholarship/grant insights, and international study pathways.

• The challenge was turning early concept into a pitchable, usable prototype, while validating assumptions and managing limited runway.

Role & Actions

• As advisor and product strategist, I coached the founders on product narrative, investor communication, and positioning.

• I led product workshops to clarify core value streams (e.g. employment matching, peer community, scholarship discovery) and define an MVP scope.

• I worked with design partners to build realistic Figma prototypes and clickable flows to help investors see and feel the vision.

• I advised on feature prioritization, conceptualizing which elements made the platform investible and defensible.

• I helped translate product goals into metrics and milestones for investor decks (user growth, engagement, monetization vectors).

• I coached the founders in pitching settings—how to tell the story of their mission, challenges, and path to scale.

Strategic Insight & Differentiators

• We leaned into the insight that students already use Facebook groups and informal networks, so rather than re-invent community, we layered value (jobs, insights, scholarships) on top of that social fabric.

• The focus on underserved student populations and cross-border education differentiated the positioning.

• My contribution was not passive — I was deeply involved in concepting, prototype validation, aligning technical partners, and shaping investor confidence.

• I ensured the product narrative and prototype were aligned so that the pitch was backed by design, not just vision.

Outcomes & Learnings

Through this engagement, I sharpened my ability to operate at the intersection of product, design, and fundraising, translating design strategy into capital execution. I was a pivotal member of the founding advisory team, helping Voyage reach its fundraising goal and move from proof of concept to a production-ready platform—effectively bringing the company from zero to one.

My contributions generated significant momentum and trust among partners and stakeholders. As a result, I was offered an extended board seat, an opportunity to become a partner in a leading design agency, and a strategic design leadership role with our development partner.

As I was preparing to relocate to Europe and shift my focus toward the EMEA and LATAM markets, I decided to step back from the board. Continuing at the level of engagement the team required would have meant compromising the quality of my involvement, something I wasn’t willing to do.

Today, Voyage is operating and publicly active in international student marketplaces, connecting students with global education and career opportunities.

This experience strengthened my ability to coach early-stage teams, shape investor confidence, and translate vision into executable roadmaps—skills I continue to apply in leading design and product initiatives today.