Case Studies
Our Ed Tech Case Studies
The Client:
The Dewey Community
Dewey is an online, multilingual learning platform that is designed to empower and equip parents, caregivers, and students with the requisite resources they need to successfully navigate the new normal that is our reality due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath. At its core, Dewey is focused on deepening the connection between the school district, its caregivers and its students.
The Challenge:
Born out of the pandemic and founded in late 2021, Dewey was and is focused on positively affecting as many districts as possible in as short a time period as possible, essentially scaling the business strategically without burning through the capital that is being deployed to develop the platform. Thus, Rogue has been tasked with raising capital over the next 12 to 18 months on Dewey’s behalf to expedite their continued growth and expansion.
Rogue's Deliverables/ Scope:
Rogue and Dewey have partnered to conduct a full market and competitive analysis of the United States K12 Education market to understand the dynamics at play and to evaluate who the major players in the space are. In addition, Rogue is providing recommendations on company infrastructure and organization.
Rogue’s most important mission is to assist Dewey in evaluating strategic partnership opportunities to enhance its distribution network. To that end, Rogue has developed a comprehensive list of companies and commenced outreach and subsequent conversations with many of the market’s biggest technology vendors.
Finally, Rogue is providing Dewey with financial advisory on a variety of fronts, for example on the building out of a business model, subsequent projections, and inflection points where additional capital could be necessary to enhance the go-to-market and growth strategy.
Currently, Rogue is still assisting Dewey with all of the above. The Rogue and Dewey Founders have known each other for nearly a decade, and in addition to the mutual professional respect they have for one another, they are friends.
The Client:
Edsembli, Inc.
Edsembli or a North American Student Management Ecosystem/Operational Hub System consisting of a Student Information System (SIS), a Finance & Accounting Solution (FIN) and a Human Resources and Payroll Solution (HRP) that has been in business for over 35 years whose main purpose is to assist school districts in managing their core business activities, so that the district’s main focus can be providing the best educational experience possible for their students, their teachers, and the caregivers in the community.
The Challenge:
The challenge facing our client was and continues to be simplistically straightforward, but the solution is beautifully complex. As an entrenched and well known entity in its existing geographic region, the Canadian K12 Education Market, our client is faced with the challenge of how to expand their customer base in an environment that is becoming increasingly saturated by the major technological ecosystems in the market, ie PowerSchool, Synergy, Aspen and such. Our client is also focused on entering the United States K-12 Education market as their assumption is that the market, offers significantly more opportunity to seize market
Rogue's Deliverables/ Scope:
Our client tasked their internal teams with evaluating the growth options for the Canadian market with Rogue offering input as requested. Therefore, Rogue’s main focus is the United States K12 Education Market and our task is three-fold: 1) To determine if our client’s assumption is correct, 2) to fully understand the market factors, influences, and competitors, and 3) to develop and then execute an entry strategy.
As of October 2022, Rogue and our client have been partnered together for nearly two years and are on the precipice of entering the US market. In collaboration with our client, Rogue first conducted a competitive analysis and market segmentation analysis of the major players, which ultimately proved that our client’s assumption about growth opportunities was correct.
We then embarked upon market analysis to understand the buying cycle, the federal and state legislation governing student data and privacy, the impact of Covid 19 on district spending and available funds, and statewide buying contracts and consortiums. Next, we synthesized that information and commenced evaluating specific geographic regions and states to determine where the best entry points would be. We also evaluated the competition's customer base to fully understand the types of districts that they occupied and where we felt our client could gain traction.
Finally, we evaluated whether or not our client should pursue a grassroots strategy, i.e. developing a sales team and responding to RFPs, or if they should enter via a strategic partnership, i.e. leveraging a component of their ecosystem or their entire ecosystem with an entrenched company that has a gap in their offering.
To date we are collectively pursuing the strategic partnership avenue which we kicked off in the summer of 2022. Rogue is also providing our client with financial advisory services insofar as evaluating alternative methods for market entry.
Our Health & Fitness Study
The Client:
Premiere Spine & Sport (PSS)
Now based in Eagle, ID, Rogue met PSS when both were headquartered in Silicon Valley, CA. Premiere Spine and Sport is a diagnostic and treatment clinic specializing in musculoskeletal (muscle and joint) injuries and human performance they work with clients to re-establish proper muscle function, restore proper joint mechanics, and return clients to their daily activities while minimizing the risks of recurring injuries and doctor visits. In an effort to help their clients achieve their full movement, potential PSS deploys an integrated healthcare approach involving muscle and joint manipulation, rehabilitation, and therapeutic exercises.
The Challenge:
The founder of PSS built a hugely successful business based solely upon referrals and word of mouth marketing, a testament to his and his team’s unique and thorough approach to body mechanics and human performance. The Covid 19 pandemic changed the dynamics for PSS mainly because it limited people’s ability to interact with others in any setting, active or otherwise. Hence, those who knew PSS still came through the doors, but the net new patients decreased dramatically.
Rogue's Deliverables/ Scope:
Rogue was tasked with developing a social media strategy to market without selling the PSS brand and scope of services. Having been a client of PSS our CEO was uniquely positioned to understand the full scope and benefit of the PSS services. Hence, Rogue first conducted a series of interviews with the PSS team to understand their client base, essentially what their client base looks like, and its corresponding characteristics.
Upon synthesizing that information, we evaluated a number of Silicon Valley athletic and professional organizations that were composed of the identified client characteristics. We then started delivering targeted messages either directly or via mentioning to those organizations of Facebook, IG, and Tik Tok. We also collaborated with PSS to post weekly tutorials and tips for specific body movements and activities, in addition to hosting a weekly Q&A with the founder. The outreach worked so well that PSS was able to secure individual sessions with a couple of members of the local professional football team in San Francisco.
As of October 2022, Rogue and PSS still continue to collaborate in the body movement and well being space. Rogue has introduced PSS to some of our other clients that are building new technologies to help the practitioners enhance their patient evaluations and progress. One Rogue client in particular, has relied heavily upon PSS for QC testing and feedback as it continues to evolve its offering and enter the market. In their words, the feedback that they’re received from PSS has been nothing short of spectacular.
In addition, Rogue and PSS have decided to create a company called The Blox Method that will launch in early 2023.
Our Real Estate Study
The Client:
Fox Management Company (Fox)
Fox Management, Inc. is a full service property management company that specializes in single family homes, multiplexes, small apartment buildings and small commercial buildings in the greater Portland Metropolitan area.
The Challenge:
The Founders, a husband and wife team, were concerned that they weren’t growing, in terms of new units managed, as quickly as they had in years past and were unsure as to why. From their point of view they had all of the tools in place to grow and grow quickly: headcount, technology, equipment, reputation and being in a housing market that was and is, for lack of a better term, exploding.
Rogue's Deliverables/ Scope:
Our task was to evaluate the business to uncover and understand why growth wasn’t occurring in the manner that the founders thought it should. Rogue ultimately ended up spending roughly six months on-site working with the Fox Management team, the first several of which were spent learning the intricacies of the business, the roles and responsibilities of each of the business units, the roles and responsibilities of each of the employees within said unit, and the technology being utilized to assist in the day to day operations.
Once we understood all of the components, in the aforementioned paragraph we presented our findings and recommendations to the founders, whereupon they gave Rogue the green light to implement the proposed changes. The meat of our recommendations was a reorganization of the employees, their roles and responsibilities, and recategorization of the business units. With a few small structural tweaks, the bottlenecks were alleviated, communication improved, and growth occurred. The founders even took a three-month sabbatical and allowed Rogue to run the business whilst they vacationed.
Upon the founder's return from vacation, Rogue and Fox entered into a discussion about Rogue acquiring the business. Conversations were productive, a Letter of Intent was executed and diligence had started to occur. However, the arrival of the Covid 19 pandemic put a halt to the discussions. Whilst we ultimately didn’t revisit the conversation as our strategic goals changed post-pandemic, we did consult Fox in the sale of their business in late summer 2022.
Our Automotive & Travel Study
The Client:
Johnson RV (JRV)
Johnson RV is a family-owned business that has been serving customers for nearly 25 years in the Pacific Northwest. More recently, Johnson RV has expanded into Washington and California and is in the process of evaluating expansion opportunities in Idaho, Nevada and Utah. They are the leader in premium pre-owned RVs, with the largest selection of motorhomes in the west. JRVs mantra is to assist their customers in achieving their lifestyle, travel goals and dreams.
The Challenge:
The Rogue and JRV founders entered into business discussion that continued for a number of months, at which point the JRV founder asked Rogue to come and spend a couple of months on site because he felt as though something was “off” with the business. The founder, who at that time, had turned over the day to day operations to his staff, was concerned that the business wasn’t going to make its year end revenue projections, which in JRVs history was highly unusual. The founder’s assumption was that some of the business units were running heavy in terms of headcount, which was contributing to a lack of productivity.
Rogue's Deliverables/ Scope:
Rogue was tasked with evaluating the business to find any inefficiencies and to make recommendations to the founder and his leadership team on what steps to take to put the business back on course to meet the end of the fiscal year revenue projections.
Hence, Rogue embarked upon a two-month journey, all of which were on-site, at JRVs Oregon Headquarters to learn everything we could about the RV industry and particularly how the JRV business operated. We conducted a multitude of interviews with each of JRVs three business units to understand not only what their responsibilities were, but also to understand how they tied into the other business units. We also conducted a technological audit, insofar as we familiarized ourselves with the different solutions that were being deployed to run the business, in order to understand if said solutions were being underutilized or used incorrectly, thereby contributing to operational inefficiencies. Lastly, we tried to uncover any perceived animosities or conflicts between the business units that could be affecting operations.
Ultimately, we made a number of operational and structural suggestions to JRV that prohibited anyone from losing their employment. In our estimation, the bottlenecking that was occurring was simply the result of a lack of communication between the business units. Thus, our recommendations were all tailored to increase communication, visibility, and accountability. The founder implemented a number of our suggestions and JRV ended up hitting its revenue projections.
To date, the JRV-Rogue relationship has transcended the boundaries of business as the two founders have become very good friends. The founders still regularly seek each other’s insights, and Rogue has also introduced the founder to early-stage companies that meet his philanthropic interests. Business aside, the founders are friends and regularly hang out, play golf, and share experiences.
Our Payment Processing Study
The Client:
Mid Market in the FinTech (Financial Technology Space) Space
The Challenge:
The Company, albeit both very successful and well-established, had never taken the time to create the requisite infrastructure for growth and the corresponding processes, methodologies, and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to track not only their growth but also its overall business performance. In addition, because growth for the company happened so quickly, they didn’t have anyone crafting a vision for Corporate Development, particularly in relation to strategic acquisitions.
Rogue's Deliverables/ Scope:
Rogue was charged with developing and implementing the processes that would capture the monthly KPIs. Rogue then oversaw the development of the reporting process of those KPIs to the major stakeholders of the company, ie. the Board of Directors, Equity Holders, and Debt Holders. Based on those metrics and the data collected, Rogue was also tasked with creating and maintaining the company’s financial model, which is shared every month with the aforementioned stakeholders. Finally, Rogue assisted the company with crafting a Corporate Development Strategy, which Rogue has also implemented and executed against. It has not been uncommon for Rogue to oversee the strategic acquisition process and to actively engage in both the evaluation and diligence process. To date, Rogue continues to advise The Company on such matters.