What higher ed can learn from startups about agility, design thinking, and content velocity

Higher education faces mounting pressure to be both a steward or custodian of tradition and, at the same time, a leader in digital transformation. Students, parents, and faculty expect seamless digital experiences reminiscent of their favorite apps and platforms. However, entrenched processes, committee-based decision making, and a risk-averse and digitally “shy” culture often conspire to slow progress and frustrate stakeholders.

Startups, on the other hand, are built to move fast. Their culture is rooted in action, continuous iteration, and putting users front and center. Being surrounded by the start-up world every day and having served higher education customers for 16 years, I keep thinking: While colleges and universities don’t need to abandon what makes them unique, they do stand to gain a great deal by adopting principles that drive startup success.

Let’s explore how higher ed institutions can borrow proven practices from startups to create digital experiences that are more agile, user-focused, and continuously improving.

Agility drives progress without perfection

Startups thrive by iterating quickly. They know their first product rarely solves every problem, so they prioritize launching quickly, listening closely, and evolving constantly. Delivering a “minimum viable product” (MVP) is the norm, not the exception.

The higher ed way vs. the startup way

Traditional higher ed web projects often resemble cathedral construction. Teams sometimes spend years in committees, gathering input from every corner of campus, striving for a monumental launch that leaves nothing to chance. But this “all or nothing” approach leads to:

• Extended timelines (often stretching multiple academic years)
• Overengineered sites weighed down by competing priorities
• Content that’s outdated by launch

Startups, facing scarce resources and short runways, break big goals into manageable pieces. They tackle high-priority areas, gather real user feedback, and adjust before moving on. Progress is visible and learning compounds.

How colleges can get agile

• Think in sprints. Instead of rebuilding your whole site, roll out improvements section by section. Admissions, Financial Aid, or department microsites are great starting points for agile pilots.
• Prioritize feedback loops. Use heatmapping, quick usability tests, and analytics to see how real students, parents, or faculty interact with new changes.
• Iterate openly. Make it normal to launch, learn, and relaunch until you hit the sweet spot.

Design thinking centers on real student needs

Startups are obsessed with users because their livelihood depends on it. User personas, experience maps, interviews, and A/B tests aren’t boxes to tick, but they’re how startups survive and thrive.

The pitfalls of internal structures

Educational websites tend to mirror the institution’s organizational structure. The navigation is full of divisions, offices, and schools. But users (prospective students, parents, donors, job seekers) care more about solving their needs than your internal chart. They want intuitive, supportive pathways to their goals.

Putting design thinking to work in higher ed

• Start with empathy. Run workshops with students, families, and staff. Map their journeys, looking for friction points and moments of hesitation. (suggested reading on empathy in higher ed: Hype over heart by Jamie Hunt)
• Create clear personas. For example, a 17-year-old first-generation student hunting for scholarship info has different questions and barriers than a 36-year-old veteran seeking to transfer.
• Test real tasks. Ask those personas to complete key tasks on your site. Count the clicks. Watch for confusion. Listen to what’s missing.
• Write and design for empowerment. Use plain language and supportive visuals to help visitors take action confidently.

Content velocity powers sustainable growth

Startups treat content as fuel for growth: driving organic traffic, deepening engagement, and building trust. Fast-paced publishing, honed playbooks, and lightweight approval processes keep the engine running at all times.

Where higher ed content slows down

Content in higher ed often moves at a glacial pace:

• Endless approvals, even for minor updates
• Unclear governance, leaving creators hesitant and risk-averse
• Content creators lacking both training and authority

The result is often stale, inconsistent, or irrelevant information, especially when distributed across large, decentralized sites.

Acting like a content startup

• Offer structured templates to make it easy for non-expert contributors to add content confidently and consistently.
• Train and empower staff and faculty to use the CMS and playbooks, so updates happen locally, not through a bottleneck.
• Streamline approvals so minor edits can happen within a day, not a month.
• Adopt modern CMS tools that support reusable blocks, personalization, and easy updates without sacrificing brand cohesion.

Cascade CMS and content velocity

Platforms like Cascade CMS give you the foundation for content velocity with reusable blocks, approval pathways, and versioning–all supporting flexible yet controlled publishing.

The Content Flywheel

Every time you publish:

• You gather feedback
• You learn what resonates
• You refine further

The more you publish and engage, the more effective your web strategy becomes.

Building a culture that fails forward

Risk aversion is rooted deep in higher ed. But startups know that failure, when used as a feedback mechanism, is a rocket booster for learning.

What fail forward really means

Failure isn’t about recklessness or lack of preparation. It’s about:

• Testing ideas with low risk and high learning value
• Quickly seeing what works and what doesn’t
• Sharing lessons across teams to encourage continuous improvement

Ways to cultivate a learning Culture

• Monthly retrospectives to surface lessons from both wins and losses in digital initiatives
• Celebrating “micro-failures” and the improvements they drive
• Encouraging experimentation in content, UX, and marketing

Moving forward with startup DNA and higher ed values

Startups and higher ed don’t need to be at odds. They share core missions around impact, service, and legacy; their difference lies in execution and adaptability.

Borrowing from startup culture doesn’t mean sacrificing the thoughtful, principled foundation that defines higher ed. It means:

• Acting quickly but thoughtfully
• Centering decisions around users
• Encouraging participation and learning at every level

Steps higher ed can take now

• Pilot agile web or content projects in a single department this semester
• Run an empathy design workshop with actual students and faculty
• Empower five new staff to contribute approved content directly
• Discuss one learning from a failed initiative in your next team meeting

Colleges and universities already have the expertise, content, and values needed for digital excellence. Add startup-inspired agility, design thinking, and a bias for rapid iteration, and you create digital experiences that keep pace with your audience’s evolving needs.

What about you? Has adopting start-up principles helped your organization?