Meet Alison, who is a passionate violin coach and tech entrepreneur who excels at harmonising the arts and the sciences. With a deep love for teaching, she has nurtured numerous students as a dedicated violin instructor.
Explore her journey through the tech landscape, beginning with the launch of a disruptive e-learning platform and expanding into a venture-building powerhouse that transforms ideas into scalable businesses across multiple sectors.
What inspired you to develop your own software, and how did it align with your work as an educator?
I used to be an academic tutor for a while, and I’ve always felt something was amiss during my tutoring journey. I discovered that there was a lack of support given to tutors and students, despite the demand for enrichment activities.
Beyond the classroom, I’ve always been driven by a desire to build tools that simplify complex workflows and bridge gaps in communication, regardless of the industry. I see software as the ultimate medium for turning personal frustrations into scalable solutions that help people work smarter. Since then, I’ve always thought about wanting to be that pillar of support for them, and I’m still very thankful for this opportunity I’ve been given.
Since your company also specialises in the education industry, could you share the problem or gap that your software aims to address?
I find that the private education industry is still a little behind in terms of technological adoption. The irony is that education is often perceived as forward-thinking and quick to innovate. After all, it makes sense for us to “practise what we preach” to the younger generation. But in reality, many institutions still rely on outdated or fragmented systems that do not fully support the needs of modern teaching and learning. This creates unnecessary inefficiencies for educators and limits the potential for more personalised, data-driven student experiences.
Our software aims to bridge this gap by offering a streamlined, user-friendly platform that integrates key functions educators actually need. The goal is to remove the friction that currently comes with adopting new tools, automate repetitive tasks, and create a more connected ecosystem for teaching, learning, and administration. Ultimately, we want to help institutions embrace technology in a way that genuinely enhances daily operations and outcomes for their stakeholders.
How do you ensure your software meets the needs of your users?
This is actually quite a simple solution. As a business, we view all our users as individuals, each with unique needs and preferences. This is why we prioritise truly understanding their feedback. By actively engaging with users, we listen carefully to their experiences and challenges at different levels. We take their input seriously and ensure that we implement meaningful, user-driven changes to improve the platform. This iterative approach helps us continuously refine our software to better meet the evolving needs of our users.
What role do you think technology plays in shaping the future of education, and how does your software contribute to this?
We work very closely with technology, but I’ve always believed that it is ultimately just a tool. Technology is there to help us get somewhere, not to dictate what education should become. Education is often seen as a traditional field, but the real question isn’t how things are built; it’s whether technology actually enables better learning, teaching, and outcomes.
For example, technology can make classroom discussions smoother, streamline how we track student progress, and open up new ways for teachers and learners to interact. Today, we even have AI, blockchain, and all sorts of emerging tools. But in my view, these aren’t magic solutions. They’re simply tools. We don’t need to adopt every new technology just because it exists. What matters is whether it truly helps people do their work better.
At our company, we focus on adopting technology that meaningfully benefits every stakeholder in the organisation. If it doesn’t add real value, we do not even propose it to our clients.
How do you balance your time between running this company and being a violin teacher?
This ties back to my background. I’ve been a violin teacher for about eight years now, as of 2024. I taught throughout pre-undergraduate studies, undergraduate studies, and even while working full-time. That experience forced me to learn how to balance my time early on. When you’re juggling school, a full-time job, and teaching on the side, you can’t really survive without solid time management. Cliché as it sounds, it’s true.
Beyond that, passion is what makes it sustainable. I genuinely enjoy both the work I do in the company and teaching violin, and that’s ultimately what allows me to keep showing up for both.
How do you stay ahead of trends and technological advancements in education?
Personally, the most effective way to stay ahead of up-and-coming trends is by talking to people. Of course, you can follow the news or scroll through social media to see what’s emerging, but nothing replaces real conversations. Different people bring different perspectives, and I enjoy meeting new people or reconnecting with old friends to bounce off ideas or exchange thoughts on what’s going on in the world. Those conversations often reveal insights you wouldn’t get from any article or internet algorithm.
What advice would you give to others who are interested in developing their own tools or software?
This is a tough question, and there are often many schools of thought. I think the first step is to clearly identify the purpose of what you’re building such as what problem it solves, whether there’s a niche, and whether there’s a genuine need for it. If you’re building something purely for yourself, it’s simpler because you can DIY the entire process based on your own workflow or needs.
But if you want to create something that benefits a broader audience, the most important thing is to talk to people. Understand their pain points, their habits, and what they actually struggle with day to day. When you build from real conversations, you end up creating a tool that doesn’t just work for you. It becomes genuinely useful for others too.
Can you share one success story of how your software has positively impacted an organisation or individual?
One success story we’ve seen is how quickly users adopt and enjoy the platform we built in their day-to-day work. For example, one of our clients shared that their team found the software intuitive enough to integrate seamlessly into their routine, and that it actually made their workflow more engaging. Moreover, they had been struggling to upgrade their existing technologies before they met us.
Just as teachers feel a sense of pride when they witness their students experience those “eureka” moments, we feel the same when clients light up while using our solutions. Seeing people not only use the tool but enjoy the experience, and prefer it over their previous, more traditional methods, has been incredibly rewarding for us.
What strategies have been most effective in marketing your software?
One of our most effective marketing strategies has been leveraging our personal and professional networks. These relationships have taken years to build, and they’ve consistently proven to be our strongest channel, as people within these networks are aware of our values, working style, and business principles.
In the education space specifically, my team and I have been involved in the industry for quite some time. We also work closely with private schools and organisations we’ve partnered with before, and that familiarity creates a level of trust that traditional marketing can’t always replicate.
We do complement this with more structured outreach and occasional digital efforts, but at the end of the day, word-of-mouth and long-term partnerships continue to be the core drivers of our growth.
What is your vision for the future of your software, and how do you plan to expand its reach or impact?
When we first started, we focused heavily on Education Technology. Over time, however, clients from other industries began approaching us with requests for customised solutions, and that naturally expanded the scope of what our platform can do. Today, we provide software to support organisations beyond education, and that’s a direction we’re continuing to explore.
Looking ahead, our vision is to build a system of software that remains adaptable, scalable, and genuinely useful across different sectors. We want it to be a tool that grows with the needs of the people who use it, whether that’s in education, corporate training, operations, finance, or entirely different fields.
In terms of expanding our reach and impact, partnerships play a big role. We’re deliberately working with partners who are aligned with our values and long-term goals, organisations that truly care about improving the experience for their customers, not just implementing technology for the sake of it. Through these partnerships, we are already expanding our footprint, bringing the platform to more users, and continuing to refine our products based on real-world feedback.
At the end of the day, our growth strategy is simple: listen to our users, collaborate with the right partners, and build technology that actually solves problems.
Connect with Alison: LinkedIn.
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