Wonderschool is a company that is on a mission to ensure every child has access to high-quality early childhood education within five minutes of their home, and do this by empowering early educators to build sustainable businesses that meet the unique needs of families across the nation. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Wonderschool CEO and founder Chris Bennett to learn more about the company.
Chris Bennett’s Background
What is Chris Bennett’s background? Bennett said:
“I grew up in Miami as a first-generation American and was the first person in my family to attend college. My parents immigrated to the US from Honduras, and I spent my childhood watching them work incredibly hard, hustling as minorities and immigrants to allow my sister and I to have every opportunity we could.”
“I actually went to a home-based child care program, and had a really incredible experience that I can now see was instrumental in putting me on the path that led me to where I am today. I watched my teacher, Yoli, grow the program to eventually have her own center, and even as a little kid, I was so inspired by her dedication to growing the business and building a successful career as a child care provider and entrepreneur. From this, I knew I wanted to do something truly impactful with my own career.”
Formation Of Wonderschool
How did the idea for Wonderschool come together? Bennett shared:
“From my own childhood, I was inspired to be an entrepreneur, but there were a few key factors that made the idea for Wonderschool come to fruition. I attended a TED conference in Vancouver and learned that most skills a person acquires happen before the age of five. Learning how critical these first few years of life are to a person’s long-term development and success made me think back to my own early childhood–even as a child of immigrants, I was very privileged to attend a home-based child care program with a passionate, driven provider, who was really successful.”
“At the same time, I was seeing more and more issues around the lack of access to quality child care in the country, and so many of my friends were struggling to find child care for their families. I realized that a solution to the deficit of supply in child care could be found in an increase in home-based programs. I founded Wonderschool to help solve the child care crisis and create more options for parents and families around the country, and at the same time empower individuals to become entrepreneurs in the child care industry, like I saw my own teacher do.”
Favorite Memory
What has been Bennett’s favorite memory working for the company so far? Bennett reflected:
“Starting the first Wonderschool with a director in Los Angeles called Green Stem Schoolhouse. We put a lot of energy and thought into it and it was a wonderful experience. The school was high quality, the families loved it, a lot of other programs followed that were inspired by it, and I am still working on our mission with that director today in a different capacity.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Bennett explained:
“The Wonderschool Platform offers innovative tools and services to assist prospective child care providers and parents in need of child care, and partners with governments and employers to offer the platform’s benefits to communities on a larger scale.”
“1.) For Providers – Wonderschool offers a suite of tools to help individuals run the operational and administrative side of their at-home child care business. The platform provides business coaching and is easy-to-use for providers to market their programs, automate billing, manage their program’s children and additional staff, and communicate with parents–improving profitability, and saving time by alleviating the often complex, logistical activities that go into running a business.
2.) For Parents – Wonderschool functions as a digital marketplace for families to easily navigate through the often overwhelming process of searching for child care programs in their area, to ensure they are able to find a program that meets their family’s unique child care needs and provides.
3.) For Governments – Wonderschool partners with civic leaders and government sanctioned education departments at the local, state, and federal levels to implement free training programs to arm citizens with the resources they need to become at-home providers, and increase the availability of child care options for local families.
For Employers – Wonderschool partners with employers to offer a one-on-one concierge service to guide them through the process of finding the best options and creating custom programs to support their employees’ child care needs.”
Challenges Faced
What challenges have Bennett and the team faced in building the company? Bennett acknowledged:
“We’ve noticed that many individuals wanting to start small (child care) businesses struggle to navigate the different nuances of local and state regulations, and are aiming to solve this by analyzing what the key barriers are, using relevant and timely data, and then working directly with state leaders to create state-specific programs to accelerate and streamline the process of building a business for new entrepreneurs.”
Evolution Of Wonderschool’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Bennett noted:
“We started with helping providers get enrollments and navigate the licensing processes. Since then, Wonderschool’s platform has evolved to encompass all major aspects of operations required to run a business- billing, communications, payment, etc. We are a resource for both child care providers and programs, and families seeking child care. I think our biggest leap in the past few years is building technology that can be used by governments for a larger-scale impact, and being able to offer new solutions for this audience, such as the Substitute Teaching Pool, which helps governments match with qualified substitute teachers to help solve the critical staffing shortage in early education.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Bennett cited:
“As hard as the pandemic was, realizing the majority of our programs on our platform were able to remain open compared to other programs nationally was a big milestone. Building strong partnerships with states to support staffing solutions like Substitute Teaching Pool and Lead Teacher Recruitment was another really monumental part of our journey.”
Success Stories
When asking Bennett about success stories, he highlighted:
“Nini Diouf grew up in Senegal, where early childhood education (any education prior to age 7) was considered an extreme privilege. She was lucky enough to have the ability to go to preschool from a very young age, and sees the incremental benefits that early education had on her own life and development compared to the many around her who didn’t have this ability. This drove her passion for the child care and early education industry, and she ended up working for a child care facility after moving to the US for school.”
“Because her role as a child care worker didn’t provide the financial stability she needed, she started driving rideshares on her days off, and through passengers learned about Wonderschool, and was able to connect with Chris. Wonderschool armed her with the tools and resources to become an entrepreneur and start her own child care program – Jolie Jardin – empowering her to have a full time career in her dream industry, as a business owner.”
“Nini’s full story can be found in this episode of Childhoods by Wonderschool, the podcast in which Wonderschool’s CEO Chris Bennet explores how early childhood development and education influence the habits and goals of successful leaders in every field.”
Funding
When asking Bennett about the company’s funding details, he revealed:
“Our last funding round was $25M Series B led by Goldman Sachs, putting us at a $165 million post-money valuation.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Bennett assessed:
“The child care industry is a $61.7 billion market.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Bennett affirmed:
“We focus on helping child care providers increase their income through our product. We understand their P&L and provide tools to help them increase the quality of their operations. With Wonderschool, providers can start, stabilize, and grow their business regardless if they are a small family child care program or building their own child care center. For governments, we’re a totally different type of operator, our platform has a modular set of solutions – and we don’t just offer products, we commit to better outcomes for our state partners.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future company goals? Bennett concluded:
“We want to build on our momentum to serve more providers and parents everywhere – from rural communities with a few hundred residents to major cities – to help increase accessibility to high-quality child care experiences.”
