Author: Steve Alcorn
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User Acquisition & Retention: The Next Battlefront in AI Education
by Chief Financial Officer Chia-Hua (Phyllis) Chen As AI continues to reshape the educational landscape, user acquisition and retention have become the new strategic battlegrounds for AI-driven EdTech startups. In 2025, the average customer acquisition cost (CAC) for education platforms has surged by 19% YoY, now averaging $42 per user. This uptick is largely due…
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AI Marketing Strategies
by BrainStream Chief Marketing Officer Ya-Hui (Laura) Kao In “AI Content Marketing 101: Strategies from Someone Who Lives It,” Mateusz Makosiewicz of Ahrefs delves into the transformative role of AI in content marketing. Drawing from personal experience, Makosiewicz illustrates how AI serves as an indispensable tool, enhancing productivity and creativity. He emphasizes that AI is…
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Why B.C. Is the Ideal Place for a Tech Startup
by Chief Operating Officer Tzu-Ying (Kimberley) Chen British Columbia has quietly transformed into a powerhouse for tech innovation — and the data proves it. The province’s tech sector now employs nearly six times more people than its traditional natural resources industries, with wages 75% higher than the provincial average. In fact, tech accounts for at…
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Looking Beyond the Hype of AI in Education
Based on Bauer et al., “Looking Beyond the Hype: Understanding the Effects of AI on Learning” (2025) As AI technologies rapidly reshape classrooms, a recent reflection by Bauer et al. (2025) in Educational Psychology Review urges educators and policymakers to temper excitement with empirical scrutiny. The paper introduces the ISAR model—Inversion, Substitution, Augmentation, Redefinition—to help categorize how…
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Mastering a Text with AI-Powered Study Tools
by BrainStream CEO Steve Alcorn AI is revolutionizing the way students engage with specific texts—whether it’s a Shakespearean play, a history textbook, or a science manual. Unlike generic study aids, AI-powered tools can guide learners through the entire content of a particular text, offering a personalized and structured path to mastery. These tools break the…
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AI Lesson Planners Need Improvement
A recent preprint titled Pedagogical Biases in AI-Powered Educational Tools: The Case of Lesson Plan Generators critically examines how AI-driven platforms like MagicSchool, SchoolAI, and GPT-4 generate lesson plans that often reinforce outdated, teacher-centered pedagogies. Analyzing 90 AI-generated lesson plans, the study found a consistent pattern: these tools tend to produce structured, predictable lessons that prioritize…
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AI Education Startups: Navigating 2025’s Evolving Revenue Landscape
by Chief Financial Officer Chia-Hua (Phyllis) Chen In 2025, AI-driven education startups are at the forefront of a dynamic and challenging market. The average revenue multiple for EdTech companies has declined to 8.1x, a significant drop from 17.6x in 2024, indicating a recalibration in market expectations post-pandemic. Despite this contraction, the AI education sector remains…
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Power to the People: How AI LLMs Benefit Regular People
by BrainStream Chief Marketing Officer Ya-Hui (Laura) Kao Throughout history, transformative technologies have trickled down from governments and corporations to individuals—think GPS, flight, or the internet. But large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT have turned that script on its head. For the first time, a groundbreaking technology is giving individuals the biggest boost. LLMs are…
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Building from the Ground Up: Starting a New Company in Vancouver
in Managementby Chief Operating Officer Tzu-Ying (Kimberley) Chen Launching a new company is equal parts thrilling and humbling. As the Chief Operating Officer of our new venture headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, I’ve spent the last year working on foundational decision-making, crafting the organizational structure that will support our long-term vision. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the…
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Empowering Canadian Education: A Marketing Plan for BrainStream
by BrainStream Chief Marketing Officer Ya-Hui (Laura) Kao Empowering Canadian Education: A Marketing Plan for BrainStream In today’s fast-paced, information-saturated world, students need more than just answers—they need understanding. That’s why we built BrainStream, an AI-powered learning companion that does more than tutor—it transforms textbooks into intelligent learning environments. With a unique focus on real course…