Over the last few years, product-led growth has become one of the most repeated phrases in education technology. The idea is appealing: build something exceptional, let people experience its value directly, and growth will follow.

But higher education does not work that way. Universities do not adopt software because it trends on social media or because an interface is beautiful. They adopt it because it earns their trust, aligns with their mission, and reflects how teaching, learning, and accreditation truly work. In this sector, a product may open the door, but relationships, credibility, and outcomes keep it open.

I learned this long before I ever worked in ed-tech. I spent fourteen years at Arizona State University, one of the most forward-thinking and entrepreneurial institutions in higher education. During that time, I watched ASU transform from a traditional public university into a global model of innovation and inclusion, a place that viewed growth not as a byproduct but as a responsibility.

Deloitte’s The Hybrid University report (2024) captured this transformation well, describing how institutions like ASU created innovation ecosystems that blend technology, partnerships, and new business models. Being inside that transformation taught me two lessons that have guided me ever since. First, innovation succeeds only when it is tied to mission and measurable impact. Second, universities are complex ecosystems where change requires both vision and trust.

Understanding how faculty, committees, and academic administrators make decisions, and how differently each defines success, became foundational to how I now think about growth. That experience, combined with my later work leading business revenue, product and market strategy in education technology, convinced me that growth in our sector cannot rely on one engine alone. You need both: the precision and ambition of a product-led mindset, and the empathy and partnership of a customer-led one.

When Product-Led Works Until It Doesn’t

There are companies that get this balance right, at least for a time. Canvas by Instructure and Turnitin both grew because they solved clear problems beautifully. Faculty could figure them out without training, and students saw value immediately. Both became fixtures in classrooms almost overnight.

But even those successes eventually reached a turning point. Instructure built advisory councils and opened its roadmap to educators. Turnitin developed partnerships with deans and legal teams to address concerns around privacy and integrity. Each company realized that elegant design was not enough, that institutional trust mattered just as much.

And then there are the other stories, the ones that serve as quiet warnings. Several ed-tech startups built stunning products that faculty and students adored, yet failed to reach institutional adoption. They assumed excitement in the classroom would lead to contracts in the provost’s office. It did not. The missing ingredient was not innovation, it was partnership.

Harvard Business Review noted this same pattern in a 2023 article, observing that even the most innovative product-led companies plateau when they fail to integrate customer insight and trust into their growth strategy. In higher education, that plateau can become decline very quickly.

A Personal Lesson: When Product Leadership Outpaces Market Relevance

Earlier in my career, I worked with a global assessment product that had long been viewed as the gold standard for graduate admissions. It was meticulous, research-driven, and trusted by programs around the world.

But over time, graduate education began to shift. Institutions wanted to measure readiness differently, looking at broader competencies and values alongside academic ability. We eventually adapted the product, but by then the conversation in the marketplace had already moved. The changes came, but too late.

That experience left a deep impression on me. Even the most respected products lose momentum when they stop evolving with their customers. We had been confident in our quality, perhaps too confident, and failed to see that market trust had drifted elsewhere.

It taught me that growth requires both conviction and humility, the conviction to build with excellence, and the humility to listen early and often. In education, where decisions are shaped by values as much as by technology, that balance is not a luxury, it is survival.

When Customer-Led Becomes Complacent

The other extreme can be just as limiting. Some legacy vendors in higher education built their entire success on relationships, annual meetings, advisory boards, and handshakes at conferences, but their products stopped evolving. They were so customer-led that they stopped leading.

For a time, those relationships sustained them. But when new, cloud-based solutions entered the scene, even long-term clients started leaving. Loyalty alone cannot protect a stagnant product.

So the industry keeps repeating the same cycle: the innovators who forget the institution, and the relationship builders who forget innovation. Neither one endures.

The Hybrid Mindset

The organizations that find lasting success, such as Instructure, Turnitin, Watermark, EAB, Handshake, and Workday’s education division, are the ones that integrate both disciplines. They pair the precision of product innovation with the patience of institutional partnership.

In these cultures, growth is not an isolated function. Product managers listen directly to customers. Success teams contribute to the roadmap. Engineers and salespeople share metrics. Everyone is accountable for value, not just output. The rhythm of the company mirrors the rhythm of education itself, iterative, collaborative, and centered on long-term outcomes.

McKinsey’s 2023 study From Product-Led Growth to Product-Led Sales reinforced this point, showing that hybrid organizations that connect product insights with human relationships outperform pure product-led or sales-led companies by more than thirty percent in sustained revenue growth. In a sector like higher education, where reputation and trust are as critical as functionality, this hybrid model is not just optimal, it is essential.

Culture Is the Hard Part

Every organization claims to value collaboration, but few change how they measure it. The hardest transformation is not structural, it is cultural. Too often, Product and Customer operate as parallel universes. One protects innovation, the other guards relationships. True hybrid organizations bridge that divide.

EDUCAUSE’s 2024 research on digital transformation found that the most successful higher education technology partnerships are those where faculty, IT, and business leaders share ownership of outcomes rather than operating in silos. The same is true for companies serving them.

They align incentives so that Product success is measured by adoption and satisfaction, not just delivery speed. They make Customer teams accountable for insights that drive the roadmap. And they make Growth a shared mission across every department.

The Deeper Lesson

As AI and data transform how universities assess and support learners, education technology faces a familiar crossroads. Some will chase speed, releasing features faster, hoping the product speaks for itself. Others will slow down, listen deeply, and co-create with their customers.

I have worked long enough in higher education to know which approach endures. The winners in the next five years and beyond will not be the ones that talk loudest about innovation. They will be the ones that build innovation with the people it serves.

Growth in this sector does not come from disruption; it comes from relevance. It comes from understanding how decisions are made, in faculty committees, in dean’s offices, in the quiet deliberation of provost councils, and meeting those realities with empathy and clarity. That is what builds adoption. That is what sustains trust.

Final Thought

I have seen extraordinary products stall because no one paused to understand the customer’s world. I have also seen strong relationships collapse because the product could not keep up. Both are preventable if we stop debating segmentations and territoriality within companies. The key is to focus on what really drives progress: creating value people believe in.

As AI and data-driven tools reshape how universities operate, companies serving higher education must embed this awareness into their strategy. AI is no longer a distant concept but a structural shift in how insight, service, and impact are delivered. Growth will belong to those who combine technological foresight with human understanding.

True growth happens when innovation meets empathy. That is the hybrid mindset higher education needs, not someday, but now.