# Dylan Makani

Dylan Makani is a founder at Ner Chat, which makes Glint, a tool for creating visual supports and communication boards for special education. Their posts focus on how schools and speech-language professionals can use assistive technology and how districts evaluate and buy it.

- Profile: https://b2binfluencer.marketing/creators/dylan-makani/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylan-makani
- LinkedIn followers: 3,257
- Based on 11 dated posts, latest 2026-10-08

## Summary

Dylan Makani is useful for reaching special education practitioners and district buyers through practical assistive technology posts.

- Best for: Assistive technology or AAC vendors selling to school districts and seeking founder-led co-marketing.
- Not for: Consumer brands or broad-reach campaigns aimed at parents or a general audience.
- Check first: Confirm follower demographics, recent post performance, and reach among special education buyers.

### Takeaways

- Five-verse church board let a boy who does not speak answer in Bible drill.
- District post asks how to justify another tool to a board, weighing staff time.
- Glint became an approved vendor on a Wisconsin statewide CESA Purchasing contract.

## Main ideas

- **Start with participation, not the technology**: Makani presents assistive technology as a way for someone to join an activity others may take for granted. The point is not simply that a tool can produce a message; it gives the person a chance to take part in a shared moment.
- **Make the case for staff time and purchasing realities**: Makani argues that school leaders need more than another product demo: they need to see how a tool addresses staff workload and fits the district’s buying process. They say paperwork can delay a purchase long enough to cost a school year, while time saved for specialists is part of the value to weigh.
- **Treat a setback as evidence to change course**: Makani’s founder story turns a polite but noncommittal response into a signal that the company needed to change its approach. They frame progress not as steady validation, but as moving from being considered an option to hearing a clear request to start.

## Work to read

- [A church communication board and a boy who finally answered](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dylan-makani_speechtherapy-specialeducation-aac-activity-7475884292934479872-g4fn)
- [How do I justify another tool to my board?](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dylan-makani_specialeducation-assistivetechnology-schoolleadership-activity-7467546608663187456-TDno)
- [Glint becomes an approved vendor on a Wisconsin statewide contract](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dylan-makani_specialeducation-speechtherapy-edtech-activity-7490379771961389056-R7_b)
- [The word “option” and what it changed](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dylan-makani_buildinpublic-startuplife-edtech-activity-7462472306582319104-AQOz)
- [Hiring for a Customer Success role at Ner Chat](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dylan-makani_hiring-edtech-specialeducation-activity-7503847588572479488-Fk1e)

## Brand relationships

- **Ner Chat** (mention)
- **Glint** (mention)
- **CESA Purchasing** (disclosed_partnership)

## Partnerships

Dylan Makani’s partnership work described in the posts runs through Ner Chat, the company behind Glint, a tool for building visual supports and communication boards for special education. The clearest example is a CESA Purchasing agreement announced in August 2026: Glint became an approved vendor on the co-op’s statewide contract, allowing Wisconsin districts to buy without running an RFP. Makani says purchasing, not product quality, is where special education teams usually lose deals, and that the contract removes months of paperwork. Another format is hands-on conference work. At AETC in Huntsville, they built visual supports live with teachers and speech-language pathologists and sent each to attendees’ phones by QR code before the session ended. In district conversations, the pitch starts with staffing math—specialists on staff, students per specialist, weekly planning hours—on the premise that directors are buying reclaimed SLP time. For a paid content collaboration, ask for the sponsorship policy, media kit, rate card, and official partnership inquiry route; none is listed in the posts. The work described is a founder-level business and distribution partnership, not an influencer placement.

## Alternatives

- Josh Chernikoff: A better choice when a vendor needs sales and retention capability rather than classroom credibility. The posts target education founders and sales teams: one argues that the worst decision an education leader can make is sticking with a solution that is not creating value, drawing on a conversation with a superintendent. The other announces lead sponsorship of the Dragon's Den EdTech Startup Challenge at the Canadian EdTech Leadership Summit, with coaching for applicants and finalists and a prize package described as $40,000+ in coaching, tools, and visibility, plus a year inside an EdSales ecosystem. For a campaign about what happens after the signature—onboarding, renewal, or a founder-and-channel offer—these posts are more directly usable than a practitioner build-along.
- Shannon Terry, Ed.D: A better choice when the decision is about teacher evaluation, rating consistency, and retention rather than assistive technology adoption. The posts argue that two principals can rate the same lesson differently because the variability lies in interpretation, not intent, and that districts need support for ratings that hold up when questioned. They tie this to TIA-aligned incentive models, where small margins decide designations and compensation. Shannon Terry serves as President of the RefynED Advisory Board, and the posts address principals, instructional leaders, and district administrators heading into summatives. A vendor whose product supports evaluation workflow, evidence review, or teacher retention will find a closer-matching voice here.
- Antoinette Banks: A better choice when a campaign needs a family and disability-justice voice, or a founder story tied to equity and AI in special education. The posts describe a $1 million Black Ambition prize received in 2023 that helped build Expert IEP, more than 4,500 families supported across 13 states, selection for an Alumni Edge Program in partnership with Cinematica Labs, and a role on an ASU+GSV HBCU Partnership Advisory Board, alongside a roundtable with students and HBCU leaders and a panel on AI and learner variability. For a family-facing advocacy, equity, or parent-advocate component, this voice is closer to the audience than Makani's district-buying material.

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AI-assisted summary of public posts. Audience demographics are not available. Engagement appears only where we checked recent posts. Method: https://b2binfluencer.marketing/methodology/