Venture: Playworks
Playworks leverages the power of play to bring out the best in every kid
Expert: Nina Bilimoria Angelo VP Product & Customer Marketing at Top Hat
• Sr. Director, Product & Marketing, Pearson
• Lead, Education Business Development, HP
Playworks partnered with Rippleworks to create the go-to-market strategy for a new product
Through a combination of direct service programming and in-person professional development, Playworks has found that the delivery of safe and healthy play has direct impact on teaching and learning. Playworks has supported more than 1,200 schools and 700,000 students in improving play for students.
Playworks’ top priority was launching a new product offering (PlayworksU) that would support schools with online-based learning services. Playworks needed to ensure that its product offerings would be bundled, priced, and marketed in a way that would be attractive to potential customers (elementary school principals). Playworks partnered with Rippleworks to create the go-to-market strategy for PlayworksU.
Working with Rippleworks to develop and test a go-to-market plan for our new digital service, PlayworksU, did more than just get us on the right track. We had never before supported schools with an online service, so there was so much we needed to learn.
What we loved most was that Nina rolled up her sleeves and learned alongside us. The result: a whole new channel for having impact for kids.
—Playworks President Elizabeth Cushing
Playworks teamed with Rippleworks Expert Nina Bilimoria Angelo, who has led Product Marketing at companies such as Top Hat, Pearson, and HP. Together, they:
• Defined business models to balance impact and revenue targets built on organizational values
• Conducted user interviews to confirm solution efficacy, offerings, and pricing
• Developed the financial model, rollout plan, and experiments to confirm growth strategy
