For the mission-led company, Komodo, the idea wasn’t always to optimise wellbeing outcomes during schooling years. Since first launching in 2020, founders of Komodo, Jack Wood and Chris Bacon, have found true product market fit in supporting student and staff wellbeing at school. But only after previous iterations involving athletes and a Premier League Football Club.
Enjoy this conversation with Chris Bacon, co-founder and CEO of Komodo, as he explores how the team has expanded from New Zealand and where they plan to go next.
Let’s start with how Komodo first got started.
“The story of Komodo, from my side anyway, originates with a Master's Degree in Sports Science and Performance and a job at a Premier League Football Club.
Komodo started as an athlete monitoring platform focusing on youth athletes. We worked with youth athletes to help pre-empt and prevent physical injury. While doing this, we found the source of where their attention was focused (and where we should be focusing ours).
So, after 2 years of working on an athlete monitoring platform, we evolved our core focus to the place where we could provide the most leverage and impact to better students' health and wellbeing - at school.
Instead of providing a vitamin to a problem, we focus on being the painkiller to a mission-critical challenge in schools. We support a child's development at the core - in helping teachers through our school wellbeing management platform.
So, in 2020, we evolved to a focus on supporting schools - an industry where we could be a genuine ‘pain killer’. In this respect, our service wasn’t a luxury (as much as it might have been seen to be the case by some with youth athletes).
Komodo meant that for the first time, in some cases, schools were able to regularly have visibility and insight into preventive and consistent mental health signals for students.
The short story is that the software was able to solve a core customer problem, and we have found product market fit in a sector that has greatly benefited from Komodo's offerings.
The stories we hear daily from teachers are impossible to ignore - and help us move forward.”
How did the name Komodo come about?
“The name genuinely came from the concept of the Komodo dragon. The Komodo dragon is part of the family of lizards known as the monitor lizards. The very best monitor lizard, as such, is the Komodo dragon, so that’s where it came from. We are the very best at monitoring wellbeing - so we have to be Komodo.
There are a lot of stereotypical names in the wellbeing and ‘EdTech’ space - and our name is catchy and cool for students. We now have kids saying “It’s Komodo time!” when they recognise our logo.”
What are the main levers Komodo uses to grow?
“For us, this depends on the region. Growth has been driven mainly by referral and the value teachers have gained from our expert Psychologist-led content.
I remember when we first started out, it was all about getting in front of customers. It might sound stereotypically obvious, but a big part of what we do is about connecting teachers with the resources they need to make sure each students wellbeing is looked after. And our tool helps them do that. So a large piece for us was being at the right events, speaking at the right events and allowing greater opportunity for new connections and education on how Komodo supports students and teachers' needs.
We continue to meet teachers from thousands of schools in over 23+ different countries, and we get the chance to listen to their stories and understand the problems they face. A focus on this consistent connection has allowed us to grow and remains consistent in engaging core audiences and servicing their needs.
After the market-proven business need for Komodo globally - we have grown our teams accordingly - ensuring we can best support the development of schools in local areas.”
What does ‘success’ look like for schools/teachers when using the platform?
“The ‘success metrics’ for stakeholders at each school looks different depending on their focus.
For a senior leader at a school, for example, they applaud the increased visibility/insight into what’s going on beyond the surface, empowering them to make proactive and strategic decisions on wellbeing across the whole school. This helps a school figure out where the resource budget should be implemented, and more importantly, to empower a dynamic approach to the whole-school wellbeing strategy.
The anti-promise we make teachers is - you’ll see more wellbeing issues than you’ve ever seen before.
A key mechanism where teachers can benefit from Komodo is learning that the student in the corner, who is academically performing well, is actually struggling with separate issues outside of school.
Other things that can come up in the initial discovery phase includes (but aren’t limited to):
You only know what you know. So a key benefit is schools get a clear measured look at what’s going on.
The obvious and key layer of ‘success’ is the student themselves - Komodo gives students the avenue to open up about what's happening in a confidential, safe way. This empowers students to open up in a way they would have otherwise not been able to do e.g. walking up to your teacher in person can be very daunting (for many)!
Catching an issue early enough means that the child can thrive and won’t succumb to future negative mechanisms.
The only other piece, which is what is enabled as a result of all of this, is around the compliance and regulation side. All schools need to be compliant and regulated - ultimately saving a school and their bottom line. Because if you're ranked on a lower level, enrolments drop, staff leave etc. For many, understanding it from this lens can be an unlock as to the importance of the issue, beyond the other reasons mentioned earlier.”
What trends have you seen change in the school wellbeing space over the years?
“A few years ago, everything was oriented around the transition to online learning, especially during the COVID era. And I think luckily, to a certain extent, those days are over.
The two most common things we see in schools everywhere around the world, no matter the age - are sleep and digital wellbeing issues, or if I better phrase it, device usage and ‘I'm not sleeping as much because I'm on my device’. We see this in every single school. It doesn’t matter if you're at the best school in the world or a lower decile school, every school shares a lot of similar wellbeing issues.”
What tools help teachers the most (when managing their students wellbeing), aside from Komodo?
“The Anna Freud Foundation has a range of good resources - https://www.annafreud.org/.
If we were to speak about our Komodo resources here, all of the resources we create are made by our Psychology Team. Which makes what we share both valuable, and informative for teachers.”
What (if any) quick fire advice would you give to founders two steps behind?
“To a founder at the start of their journey I would say - start with the problem you’re solving, not the product. People know the problem, not the product.
Understand the size of the problem - and be conscious that people don’t always know what they need. Understand personal motivation.”
Is there anything else you’d like to add / what’s coming up for the team?
“We are very excited about the continued growth of Komodo, each new school that uses our product represents the changing tide of awareness and focus on student and staff wellbeing. For us, it will always come back to our why and our purpose, it’s all about ensuring every education environment is a place where everyone can thrive. We are democratising the access to wellbeing support at a whole school level to create the best learning environments for all.
Our team is growing globally which is brilliant and we are now running Komodo-led events focusing on bringing schools together to share their wellbeing challenges and successes. We are just about to embark on a global roadshow of wellbeing workshops for schools to learn best practices; it is so rewarding getting to visit schools in person and hear the impact that our product is having in schools!”
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