How is VooVo preparing to expand into Polish universities? [consulting]

Client

VooVo is an education platform from Hungary that helps students study consistently and boost exam results. The tool leverages proven pedagogical methods: active recall, spaced repetition, topic interleaving, gamification, and personalized pacing. As a result, students learn more efficiently, more regularly, and with greater engagement  not just the night before an exam.

Challenge

The VooVo team needs support to prepare for expansion into Poland. Key barriers are:

• Lack of insight into decision - making structures at Polish universities.
• The need to localize content (language, cultural context, communication style).
• No social proof or brand awareness in Poland.
• Complex university structure (rectorates, faculties, departments, courses, LMS).
• Multiple decision layers and language barriers.
• Necessity of Polish language in outbound campaigns

Solution

Preparing a GTM strategy for the Polish market

Our objective was to design a complete go‑to‑market plan for Poland’s academic sector, built on five pillars:

1. Segmentation of institutions and courses.
2. Identification of “innovators” within university structures.
3. Localized messaging (copy, pitch, Unique Selling Proposition).
4. Finite database of Polish institutions with Clay‑based scoring.
5. Pilot deployments to generate social proof.

Market entry strategy: top‑down & bottom‑up

• Top‑down - Account‑Based Marketing: targeting large universities such as Wrocław University of Economics. We mapped institutional structures and reached decision‑makers via LinkedIn, cold email, and web scraping.
• Bottom‑up - classic lead gen: identifying innovative lecturers willing to test VooVo in their courses. We focused on high‑entry‑barrier subjects (e.g., Microeconomics, Anatomy, Roman Law) with large student cohorts and high difficulty.

Identifying innovators

Adapting proven Hungarian methods to the Polish context:

• Surveys in student Facebook groups (faculty or university‑level).
• Outreach to student organisations and academic clubs.
• Analysis of lecturers active outside academia (e.g., supervisory boards, EU projects, startups).
• Data web scraping via platforms like “RateMyProfessor” ‑ type rankings and Polish student polls (let’s see an example).

Prospecting framework (Clay)

We built a three‑tier prospect dataset:

1. Institutions: university type, student count, learning‑management system (Moodle, e‑Portal), courses taught in English.
2. Faculties / Courses: subject, student count, programme importance.
3. Lecturers: position, teaching activity, LinkedIn presence, external projects.

Each course received a gateway score (e.g., Microeconomics 9/10, Anatomy 7/10) making it easier to prioritise real prospects for VooVo’s outreach.

Local USP per persona

We crafted tailored messaging for three stakeholder tiers:

• Rector / Vice‑Rector: student retention, pass rates, digitalisation of teaching, prestige.
• Lecturer: supports semester‑long learning instead of last‑minute cramming; LMS integration; gamification.

Student representative: easier studying, personalisation, reminders, quizzes, visible progress, ability to share feedback with lecturers.