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Startups are generally considered to be new, technology-focused companies that are less than five years old. For the most part, they aim to disrupt industry with innovations, grow in terms of users and revenues and provide value to customers and shareholders.

It may not appear that startups have much in common with English Language Teaching (ELT), but there is, in fact, plenty to learn from startups and the way they work.

By understanding how startups think and looking at their best attributes, we can bring more creativity to our classrooms. Not only can we find new ways for our students to learn, collaborate and grow together, but we can also help our students develop much-needed leadership and critical thinking skills.

What is startup thinking?

At its core, startup thinking is about problem-solving and growth. User-focused and data-driven, startup teams theorize, research, plan and test their products on new markets. Their strength is in their agility, being able to "pivot" quickly: change products, services and technology based on feedback from their customers.

They also operate on a number of key principles, all of which can be applied in the classroom:

1. Be entrepreneurial

Startups are entrepreneurial by definition. Their staff work in teams, but also have no problem going it alone, finding solutions and taking responsibility for new projects and initiatives. These are all excellent traits to encourage in the classroom as they will not only help your learners in an educational context, but in their professional lives too.

By learning to be accountable to themselves, measuring their own progress and seeing their achievements, autonomous learners develop self-confidence and progress faster as a result.

It’s therefore important to encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning. Rather than being solely reliant on their teacher, autonomous learners seek out ways to practice and improve their language skills in ways that appeal to them.

To do this, brainstorm strategies with your students to help them find ways to use English outside the classroom. They could, for example, keep a journal in English, watch English language films and take notes, read short stories or news articles, or even set their technology and social media language settings to English.

2. Collaborate and learn from each other

Startups have a common goal: to establish a business model and achieve a product-market fit. This goal focuses people’s attention and develops rapport among team members. As an additional benefit of working together, startuppers learn their own strengths and weaknesses and begin to collaborate with team members with complementary skills.

By learning about your students’ interests, objectives and needs, you can find inspiration to design relevant class projects. These give your students a common goal and the chance to collaborate effectively. What’s more, project work is rich in language learning opportunities and makes students accountable to one another. This in turn increases motivation and provides a genuine context for language learning.

3. Reward effort

Startups are not afraid to get things wrong. In fact, all entrepreneurs embrace mistakes, as they are part of coming to the right solution. As Thomas Edison once said "I have not failed 10,000 times – I’ve successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work." ��Some startups go as far as to reward and celebrate failure – saying that it’s a sign that a person is trying to succeed.

Encourage students to see mistakes as learning opportunities. Creating a safe space in the classroom where everyone is treated with respect and mistakes are viewed as natural learning experiences. This will help your students learn the language at their own pace, without fear of ridicule.

4. Foster a growth mindset

Startups are famous for focusing on growth and believing in improving their products. They see both negative and positive feedback as opportunities to grow. By always seeking to optimize their products and services, they improve the user experience and earn loyalty.

Similarly, it’s key to foster a growth mindset in your learners. ��A growth mindset perceives intelligence and ability as attributes to be developed, whereas a fixed mindset sees intelligence and ability as innate and unchanging.

Students with a growth mindset will therefore believe they can improve, be more motivated and see more progress as a result.

5. Mentor and support

Startup founders mentor and support their team members when they face challenges, when they need to grow and when they are not reaching their potential. This increases the value of the workforce and enables them to be more productive.

Teachers are often already naturals at this. We know how important it is to offer support to our students, especially when they are feeling frustrated or disappointed with their progress. With our encouragement and support, our students can achieve things they never thought possible. So perhaps, in this final point, startup leaders could learn a thing or two from us.

The Global Scale of English (GSE) Partner School program by ����app stands as a beacon of innovation and excellence. This initiative is not just about enhancing English language ability: it's about transforming the educational journey for both teachers and students. Today, we celebrate the success stories of two institutions: Batari School and Maitreyawira School, both of which have embraced the GSE Partner School program with inspiring results.

We love sharing stories of English learners and educators whose lives have been positively transformed by the language. One such inspiring story comes from Rodrigo Tadeu in São Paulo, Brazil. Discover why he holds a special appreciation for mastering English.

Motivations for learning English?

Rodrigo grew up speaking Portuguese in South America. As a child, he never thought about learning another language. However, when he became an adult��and began aspiring to a career, he realized that expanding his language abilities would help him achieve these dreams.

"I worked as an accountant for an American company," he said. "So, to communicate and achieve professional success, I had to learn English!"

Rodrigo has changed jobs since then. And even though he’s no longer required to speak English with his new company, he still feels a responsibility to himself to continue his education.

The road to English fluency

There are many tools that you can use to improve your English language skills, and Rodrigo used several – some he’s still using to this day. First, he started learning English formally by taking classes in high school. However, his shy disposition made it difficult for him to practice because he was afraid of failing in front of others. At the time, he didn't have��career goals motivating him to learn the language either.

Later, however, our adventurous accountant decided to learn English in earnest, so he traveled to Canada to study and become a��confident speaker. When he returned to Brazil, he kept studying and continues to do so. Reading books and articles, listening to podcasts and copying other English speakers have also helped develop his conversational skills. Among his favorite podcasts are "English as a Second Language" and "Freakonomics".

English learning is not without challenges

Rodrigo noted that he struggles with pronunciation most.��“The way English speakers say words is very different than the way you would say something in Portuguese.”

He thinks the issue is the same for Spanish speakers as well.��"In Portuguese or Spanish, if you know the words,��you can basically speak exactly what you read. In English, it's totally different. You cannot speak the words that you are reading. So you have to know about this!"

This might be the most challenging part of learning the language for Rodrigo, but he assured us that he’s not giving up.

English for enjoyment

Rodrigo may have initially studied English as a way to progress his career, but the language quickly became something he enjoyed.��And instead of being content with the skill that he has now, Rodrigo dreams of continuing his English-speaking education so he can travel and further enjoy his life.

"These days, English has become fun!" he said. "Now it's better to watch movies and TV in English."

He also mentioned that he eventually would like to visit Europe. But when asked about his dream destination, Rodrigo said that:��“I’d like to move back to Canada, maybe live in Vancouver for a year or two!”

Advice for English language learners

After working hard for years to learn English, Rodrigo now offers advice to fellow Brazilians (and others) who wish to speak another language:

"You have to be confident, and don’t give up. You have to keep your dreams. It's difficult to ... speak one language that's not your mother language ... If you can imagine, you can achieve, and you can do. So 'don't give up' is the perfect phrase."