Client: Littera
Project Sponsor: Justin Serrano, Founder & CEO
Year: 2023
How Littera Turned a Three-Person Vision Into a District-Ready Tutoring Platform
Coding for
Learning
Edtech
Littera
Scaling a K12 Tutoring Platform in less than a year, without losing speed, quality, or mission.
Education Management Littera enables K12 school systems to design and deliver equitable, high-quality, and effective tutoring to every student who needs it.
The Challenge
When Littera first approached Edify, the team had a clear mission but lacked a strong technical foundation. As Luis Ledezma, Edify’s Software Architect Lead, shared:
“Littera was very small at the time. Just three people. They had the idea and the business model, but not the technical background. Edify had to take the broad strokes of what they wanted and figure out what was realistic in three months, what the team needed to look like, and where we had to compromise.”
Scoping
The earliest challenge was scoping. Luis said, “From the beginning, the job was balancing the big idea with reality. Time and resources were limited, so we had to keep an eye on scope. It involved a lot of negotiating about what we could actually deliver in those early months.”
It was the classic startup paradox. The desire to build fast enough to grow, but stable enough to scale.
Three major technical hurdles
Littera’s idea required three core components, none of which existed yet:
- Web conferencing solution with shared whiteboards for tutors and students
- Back-office system to manage tutoring programs
- Scheduling + optimization engine to match students and tutors at scale
Plus a fourth component:
- LTI integration so districts could launch tutoring directly from their LMS
A high-stakes timeline
Littera needed something tangible by March and real users by September to align with the U.S. school year. In a three-month MVP and a six-month launch, Edify needed to make daily scope decisions. They also had to design a strong foundation that could handle district use without failing.
The Solution
A functioning MVP in under three months
Edify worked closely with Littera to architect and build the first version of the platform. It started with the essentials needed to prove value to districts and investors.
The early build included:
- Scheduling + matching engine for pairing students and tutors
- Program management back-office system for district teams
- Video conferencing integrations for online sessions
- Foundational data models to support multi-district scale
- SaaS infrastructure that could grow with demand
- Support for future LMS integrations (LTI-compatible architecture)
All of it was delivered by a lean team of 6–8 developers under the technical leadership of Luis. He remembers those early months as both intense and energizing:
We had to design the stack, define the data model, and make sure something worked—fast. That first MVP was scrappy, but it worked. And it worked because we prioritized the right things.
For Littera, its credibility was equally as important as the MVP deadline. They were simultaneously building the product, courting investors, and showing early demos to districts. “From day one, there was a lot of ambiguity. We were unsure of what to build first, how to phase features, and how to support very different district contexts. Edify never acted like a transaction. They were in the trenches with us, asking good questions, stress-testing our assumptions, and helping us make smart trade-offs so we could release without putting ourselves into a corner.”
Britta described the pressure in those early days. The MVP needed to prove feasibility for districts and partners:
Edify helped us get something real in front of users without creating a mountain of technical debt we’d regret later.
Key features
Steady delivery under shifting requirements
As with many early-stage products, the designs evolved. Vision shifted as user feedback arrived. Priorities changed as new districts showed interest. Edify continued to maneuver changes while protecting Littera’s stability. The challenge wasn’t resistance to change; it was knowing when to pause and commit. Without that discipline, the team risked chasing perfection instead of delivering something usable.
Luis recalls how intentional he was with the product’s growth. “At one point, the designs were changing so much that we had to be courteous and settle on something because of the limited time. That was a big part of my role, guiding them through the reality of what we could land in time.”
Edify wasn’t there to agree with everything. They pushed when the product needed it and held the line on decisions that would affect stability down the road. Britta echoed that. “What made Edify different was that they didn’t just take tickets and build. They asked the right questions, pushed where it mattered, and helped us make hard choices.”
Technologies used
- Lumerit’s LMS: PHP, MySQL
- Content Conversion Scripts: Groovy
- Common Library: Java, Groovy, Node.js
- Data Storage: MongoDB, Redis, Elasticsearch, Amazon S3, OrientDB
- EdTech Standards: SCORM, IMS Common Cartridge, LTI (Learning Tools Interoperability)
Why Edify was chosen
Littera needed a partner who understood K–12, could move at startup speed, and could help them make the right choices under pressure.
Britta Tremblay, Littera’s VP of Product, shared, “We needed a partner who could help us move quickly without losing any of the critical functionality districts expect from a platform like this. Edify was crucial in helping us understand tradeoffs and make decisions.”
Edify brought:
- deep experience building for schools,
- strong architectural judgment,
- the ability to make sense of ambiguity, and
- the willingness to challenge decisions that would create downstream problems.
It was the combination of K–12 expertise, technical rigor, and principled partnership that made Edify the right fit. Britta reflected:
“Edify helped us turn a very ambitious idea into a working platform without losing sight of the realities of district life, funding, and implementation.“
Edify understood district priorities, student data needs, and tutoring use cases. So, they helped Littera prioritize decisions about:
- what had to be in the MVP,
- what could wait,
- what districts would ask about during demos,
- what would break if built too quickly, and
- what needed to be architected right the first time.
This saved the team months of rework and kept momentum during Littera’s earliest (and most fragile) stage of development.
OUTCOMES
A platform districts could rely on from day one
After the first March showcase, Edify and Littera prepared for the true milestone of going live with real students and teachers in the fall. That transition from demo to classroom required re-architecting critical components, strengthening infrastructure, and preparing the LTI connection so districts could launch tutoring directly from their LMS.
Luis described the September launch phase. “For that September launch, it was like a real product release. There would be people actually using it. That required certain re-architectures and changes to the tech to hold up under real use.”
Adapting to real-world district conditions
Once tutoring went live, the team finally saw the real-world complexity that no amount of planning can predict.
Luis reflected on the messy reality of district use. “Real users introduce edge cases you can’t predict. A teacher might show up, but the student doesn’t. Someone wants compensation. Someone can’t join because of their browser. You see the complexities only once institutions actually use the product.”
A maturing engineering organization
As Littera grew from a three-person founding team to a whole engineering organization, Edify helped establish the internal processes needed for sustainable scale. This included:
- agile development and sprint rhythms
- QA and release management practices
- automated testing and multi-environment deployment
- scalable DevOps and infrastructure foundations
Luis explained, “They didn’t have processes at the beginning. We introduced agile development, sprints, retrospectives, and release methodology. As the team grew, we had to mature everything: release management, QA, automation, infrastructure.”
This foundation allowed Littera to accelerate development without losing stability. Britta shared, “Edify helped us build something durable. Something that could keep up as districts, data needs, and programs evolved. They set us up for long-term success.”
A foundation strong enough for hypergrowth
Because the platform was built on solid architecture rather than shortcuts, Littera was able to scale across districts, programs, and use cases without losing stability or speed.
Littera was able to:
- secure early partnerships
- build investor confidence
- demonstrate real functionality in live environments
- prove the tutoring model could operate at district scale
- grow from a three-person team to a full engineering organization
Britta reflected on the long-term impact:
Edify helped us move fast without losing the rigor our districts expect. That combination is rare, and it’s a big reason we could scale as quickly as we did.
Britta Tremblay
Littera’s VP of Product
As Littera grew, the foundation Edify built grew with them. And its EdTech ethos: Coding for Good. As Luis put it:
The end result was altruistic. It helped children who wouldn’t otherwise get support. It was nice to see the testimonials and know that the thing we imagined actually helped people.