Susan Mahlburg
DiffyQ – MICRO Fall 2023
Published December 13, 2023
As part of our ‘Meet Our Founders’ series today, we introduce Susan Mahlburg, Founder and Strategic Lead of DiffyQ based in Durham, NC. DiffyQ accelerates equitable growth in K-12 schools via prescriptive analytics that provide dynamic, longitudinal insights tied to authentic learning experiences. Built by educators, for educators.
Q: What problem are you trying to solve and what influenced you to start your company?
A: DiffyQ was conceived during Susan’s dissertation journey, when it became clear that the biggest challenge to true differentiation and individualized learning was rooted in the time needed to analyze the incredible amount of disparate data points a teacher is exposed to each day. There are certainly other companies that have moved towards data-driven capabilities, but DiffyQ is unique in the way that we integrate best practices across teaching and learning into our architecture to ensure that educators are empowered in real-time to address student needs using the teaching and learning that occurs in classes each day.
Q: What are you most excited about right now? What keeps you up at night?
A: We have been fortunate enough to connect with diverse leaders in the education space, and the conversations we’ve had allowed us to ideate a super-charged version of DiffyQ that takes the advantages of the classroom insights and scales them at an institutional level. The best part: we’re doing so in a manner that rethinks the way schools look at and leverage data. Our passion lies in creating equity in a space riddled with systemic challenges.
Q: What is your favorite productivity app?
A: DiffyQ is built upon complex educational theory and as such requires complex technological development. Our team lives in Asana each day, which allows ongoing communication with our development team, clear roadmaps for future product considerations, and easy ways to index important updates and account credentials. Highly recommend!
While visiting Durham, Susan recommends:
- Catch a Durham Bulls Games; maybe you’ll see our friends from Eats2Seats.
Support DiffyQ and Susan by:
- DiffyQ values communication and partnerships within the educational community. Introduce us to a school administrator so we can learn more about their unique strategic challenges and discuss ways that DiffyQ can help!
