Teach for America showed Janice Smith the need for teachers to learn from each other. Groundwork Labs helped the first-time entrepreneur develop a product to help that learning happen, and test the concept with teachers and administrators.

And her next move—participation in high-profile Silicon Valley accelerator Imagine K12—will offer introductions to venture capitalists and education technology experts who Smith believes can help get her startup Mission 100 Percent into schools around the nation.

“We’re obviously not staying there—we are really passionate about being a Durham-based company,” she says. “But we recognize that Silicon Valley is where a lot of money, resources and companies are. Being out there for three months will be an opportunity to network the crap out of San Francisco.”

Smith is the second Triangle edtech startup founder this year to join a national accelerator—Raleigh-based Karl Rectanus of Lea(R)n is in New York this summer at TechStars’ Kaplan EdTech Accelerator.

The full post can be read at ExitEvent.

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