Wonderschool

Wonderschool is launching a three part engine for child care access and workforce stability in partnership with the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families and regional experts. We're recruiting new providers and connecting them with in-state pre-licensing partners, giving them local support plus Wonderschool tools once they're open. We're also providing CCMS (Child Care Management Software) access and onboarding to 200 existing providers at no cost. When programs've got technology that works for them, they can stabilize operations, keep more classrooms open, and focus more time on children and families. Finally, we're supporting the launch of a substitute teacher pool in the Northeast region so child care providersd can find qualified substitutes for when staff are out so families don’t lose care. Together, these efforts support new program creation, strengthen existing programs, and help address teacher shortages in one of the hardest hit regions. It's a powerful example of what happens when a state treats child care as essential infrastructure. We're grateful to Wisconsin's leaders and providers for embracing new tools and approaches alongside Wonderschool. #earlychildhood #education #wisconsin #workingfamilies #wonderschool

Florida and New Mexico just ranked #1 and #2 in the nation for state child care finders, and both are built on Wonderschool technology. This is a big deal. The Hunt Institute's new National Child Care Finder Scale rated state platforms on: - Design & integration - User experience - Search filters - Provider profiles Florida and New Mexico didn’t just earn “Exemplary” ratings, they came out on top overall. Their state finders, powered by Wonderschool, help families: - Search on any device, in minutes - Filter by schedule, cost, quality, language, and more - View clear, human provider profiles - Move from search to enrollment with less friction We’re honored to partner with these states to build modern “front doors” to their early childhood systems, tools that reflect what families actually need on a Tuesday night when they’re searching for care on their phone. If you’re a state or local leader looking to upgrade your child care finder or move up the scale, we’d love to connect and share what’s working in Florida and New Mexico. hashtag #childcare #earlychildhood #government #workingfamilies #tech

Big news today: Primrose Schools have the option to use EarlyDay to help find great early childhood education talent, and we’re thrilled to share it. Primrose is one of the largest early learning networks in the country, with more than 500 locations serving families who rely on steady, well staffed programs. Primrose schools are locally owned, operated by Franchise Owners who care deeply about quality and consistency. That’s exactly the type of ecosystem we aim to support. If you’re a Primrose Franchise Owner and want to start using EarlyDay, reach out to us at emma@earlyday.com  #earlychildhoodeducation #childcare #education

Today, meet Annie Barry, our GM of Marketplace. Annie comes to this work not just as a leader, but as a parent. She has two young daughters under two years old, and has felt firsthand how hard it is to find high quality child care, from searching, to assessing fit, to budgeting, and to adapting as each child grows and changes. She joined Wonderschool because she wanted to help solve those challenges not only for her own family, but systemically for parents across the country. On the marketplace team, Annie focuses on the two sides of access: helping more providers get licensed and helping more families secure care. One stream of work, led by Vladimir on her team, connects and automates key steps in the licensing journey. They build tools that pre-fill and simplify forms, answer questions 24/7 in clear language, and guide providers through 30–60 step processes with reminders at the right time. The goal is to make it easier to become a licensed provider so more high quality programs show up on the Wonderschool marketplace. The second area, led with Geoff on the product team, focuses on how families pay for care. Annie’s team builds an experience where a parent can search for programs they like, narrow to a few options, and then reserve a spot on their phone with the same ease they bring to any other online purchase. In places where waitlists stretch past two years, she wants families to have a clearer, more intentional way to secure a seat. Annie also thinks a lot about how all the pieces fit together. Wonderschool operates as a “compound startup,” building and supporting multiple product verticals and software capabilities under one roof. She sees that as a strategic advantage for governments, providers, and families who increasingly look for an all-in-one place to handle everything related to child care: from licensing and enrollment to payments and ongoing communication. Looking ahead to 2026, Annie feels especially excited about how far enhanced payment options can go. Conversations about money often create tension between parents and providers. By letting Wonderschool sit in the middle of those payment flows, she believes we can reduce friction and free up more energy for what matters most: the care and learning happening in each program. She also watches a meaningful shift in how families search. Parents increasingly look for care online, but traditional search has favored large, established centers with the resources to build a strong digital presence. On Wonderschool’s marketplace, Annie’s team gives smaller, in-home programs the same quality of online storefront as big centers. That means a parent can discover the full range of options in their community. From large centers to intimate in-home programs, in one place. Leaders like Annie help ensure that as our marketplace grows, it does more than list programs. It removes friction, widens access, and brings families and providers together.

Over the next few weeks, we’re re-introducing the leaders guiding Wonderschool’s next chapter. Today, meet Jason Moss, Head of New Government Initiatives. Jason joined Wonderschool - a16z & Goldman because he wanted to aim technology straight at the hardest problems in child care. Affordability, access, sustainability.. not in theory, but in the daily reality of families, providers, and states. Wonderschool’s commitment to technology-first solutions for those challenges is what pulled him in, and it’s still what fuels his work. A project we’ve spoken about a lot recently is Tri-Share, a model that splits the cost of child care among employers, the State, and employees. The cost of child care is one of the biggest barriers families face, and Jason has been paramount in pushing Tri-Share forward. The result is what Jason calls a “quadruple win.” - Employers improve retention, recruitment, and productivity at a fraction of what they might otherwise spend. - Parents can save up to 66% on child care, staying in or returning to work knowing their children are safe, happy, and thriving. - Providers enroll families who might never have been able to afford care and gain more reliable cash flow. - States see stronger economic growth as more people work and rely less on public assistance. Jason also sees a shift in how states think about early education. Across the country, more government leaders are asking tougher questions about how to use existing dollars better and how to modernize systems that have been manual and fragmented for decades. He leans into those conversations, helping states move toward data-informed, tech-enabled infrastructure that actually works for the people on the ground. Looking ahead to 2026, Jason feels especially energized by our work to help existing providers keep their doors open, avoid burnout, and operate at full capacity by launching and building substitute teaching pools across the country. Our long-term vision is clear: every child should have access to quality early care and education just five minutes from home. Substitute networks are a critical part of that puzzle. Leaders like Jason help turn big policy ideas into concrete programs that lower costs, strengthen providers, and modernize systems. His work pushes Wonderschool closer to a future where child care doesn’t hold families and economies back. It drives them forward.

Over the next few weeks, we’re re-introducing the leaders guiding Wonderschool’s next chapter. Today, meet Jay Kim, our Chief Financial Officer. Jay was drawn to Wonderschool by a rare combination. The chance to help build a significant, enduring company and the opportunity to tackle an urgent societal challenge making child care more accessible, affordable, and higher quality for families. That blend of scale and impact is still what motivates his work every day. As CFO, Jay is focused, among other things, on lending his expertise to building financial infrastructure that actually works for the people running programs. He’s partnering across our teams to give providers modern tools to keep their books, invoice and collect from parents, understand their P&L, and manage taxes and insurance without losing hours they should be able to spend on children and families. Jay is also a key voice in how we adopt AI and automation. As a leadership team, we’re leaning into technology where it can remove friction and reduce errors for providers, families, and partners while preserving the human, relationship-driven support that remains core to Wonderschool. Looking ahead to 2026, Jay is especially focused on bringing more visibility and predictability to our government partnerships and sales cycles. When we can see those commitments clearly, we can allocate capital more efficiently, invest in the right tools and services, and show up as a long-term partner to states and communities expanding access to early education. For Jay, financial clarity is not just an internal dashboard. It’s how we decide where to invest so more families can find and afford the care they need, and more providers can pursue this work sustainably.

Today, meet Will Ellis, our Head of People. William comes to Wonderschool from the space industry, where he led people at LeoLabs. Moving from tracking objects in orbit to focusing on child care sounds like a big leap on paper. For William, it felt like the most grounded move he could make. Space inspires and stretches the imagination. Child care shapes everyday reality. It determines whether families can work, whether providers can thrive, and what kind of start children get in life. William wanted his work to sit closer to that daily impact. Wonderschool’s mission gives him a way to take everything he learned about building high performing teams in a cutting edge field and apply it to families, providers, and communities. At Wonderschool, William focuses first on the team that carries the mission. He makes sure we place the right people in the right roles. He pushes for clear responsibilities. He creates conditions where employees lean into what they do best on behalf of providers, families, and partners. When our internal team aligns like that, everything downstream improves. We move faster. We solve harder problems. We build products and processes that feel smoother and more supportive for the people who rely on Wonderschool. William also brings a sharp lens to how we work. As a company, we know what we aim to do. He helps define the story for how we get there together. He focuses on the infrastructure, norms, and ways of working that support focus, accountability, and collaboration instead of getting in the way. That internal clarity should show up externally as simplicity and confidence. Families and providers know what Wonderschool offers, what to expect at each step, and how we support them. A recent executive off-site reinforced William’s confidence in our direction. The time together gave our leadership team space to understand each other’s strengths, gaps, and working styles. Daily executive stand ups now build on that foundation and create a rhythm of alignment, focus, and shared ownership. Looking ahead, William believes Wonderschool stands on the verge of becoming, in many ways, the face of child care. That moment raises the bar for who we are as a team. He champions a culture filled with people who care deeply about the future of child care, who stay ambitious and resilient in a complex space, who feel curious about technology and AI, and who collaborate while owning outcomes. Leaders like William ensure that as Wonderschool grows into that role, we do it in a way that honors the people at the center of child care every day: children, families, providers, and the teams who support them.

Over the next few weeks, we’re re-introducing the leaders guiding Wonderschool’s next chapter. Today, meet RJ Kirkland, our Head of Revenue Strategy. RJ joined Wonderschool because he saw a rare kind of opportunity. On one side, the chance to support children in their most formative years. On the other, the opportunity to help build successful small businesses, the majority of them owned by women. When RJ first connected with Wonderschool, the company mission centered on coaching and tools for providers so they could create safe, loving, growth-oriented environments for children. That still matters deeply. What has changed is the scale of the ambition. Today, RJ thinks about Wonderschool as infrastructure for the entire child care ecosystem, supporting not only providers and families, but also the state and local governments that shape policy, funding, and access. A big part of his work is making it easier for every customer to understand exactly how Wonderschool helps. For families and providers, that means simplifying how we price and package our CCMS platform so the cost and value are immediately clear. For government partners, it means sharpening the way we position our solutions so states can see, right away, where we meet their most urgent needs. RJ also spends a lot of time on something that is less visible but incredibly powerful: data. He focuses on turning platform data into actionable intelligence for government partners, so they can collect, share, and report information across agencies, meet compliance requirements, and ground decisions in what is actually happening for children, families, and providers on the ground. He sees a dedicated marketing function as the next unlock. With clearer, more consistent messaging for each audience, providers, families, students, governments, agencies, non-profits, we can make every touchpoint feel aligned, professional, and focused on real problems we help solve. Regular leadership touchpoints give RJ confidence in where we are headed. A steady cadence of conversations keeps priorities aligned, surfaces issues early, and ensures our revenue strategy stays tightly connected to our mission. In RJ’s hands, revenue strategy is not just about growth for its own sake. It is about building the systems, signals, and stories that make high-quality child care viable, scalable, and sustainable for entire communities.

We’re still buzzing from our Neurocapitalism panel at SF Tech Week. The room was full of investors, engineers, child care providers, researchers, parents, and students, all gathering to explore one question: What if the biggest untapped driver of economic and human potential… is child care? Moderated by Rebecca Kaykas-Wolff of The Luminary Societies, the conversation moved fast and went deep. We covered everything from economic infrastructure to behavioral science to inclusive technology. Some of the highlights: 1. Child care as infrastructure: Lee J. from Long Journey Ventures reminded us that infrastructure has always been a smart investment, and that child care, when done right, is no different. With so many parents locked out of the workforce due to care gaps, this isn’t just a family issue. It’s a $100B+ opportunity to rebuild systems that actually work for working families. 2. Neurocapitalism and the science of care: Dr Juliette Tobias-Webb helped us think differently about the cost of stress, burnout, and unreliable care.. not just for parents, but for the workforce as a whole. Her question stuck with us: What could our economy look like if millions of people had access to reliable, high-quality care? 3. Inclusion by design: Jhilika Kumar, founder of Mentra, challenged us to think critically about accessibility. Neurodivergent families are often left out of traditional care models. Her work is proof that when we build with empathy and intention, we unlock opportunity for everyone. 4. Grounding innovation in real care: Gloria M., who’s been with Wonderschool - a16z & Goldman since our early days, spoke from experience about what providers really need. It’s not just about good intentions, but real support. She reminded us that running a child care program is deeply human work. Innovation should make that work easier, not harder. We left the event with more questions, more ideas, and more momentum.  HUGE thanks to Will Ellis on our team for helping lead this, and to everyone who joined us in conversation. This is what makes SF Tech Week so special. Real people, real ideas, and the chance to imagine a better future, together. #wonderschool #sftechweek #childcare #earlyeducation #neurocapitalism #futureofwork #economicinfrastructure #sftechweek #hiring