Careers at AltSchool

Mission

AltSchool’s mission is to enable every child to reach their full potential.

History

AltSchool was founded in 2013 by Max Ventilla who is the acting CEO. Ventilla left his career at Google early on in 2013 when it dawned on him that he had a passion for education. However, his vision of education was quite different from the traditional mode of learning that we are used to. Ventilla intended to design a technologically enabled network connecting parents, teachers, and students in order to deliver a personalized and wholesome education. AltSchool’s approaches education in such a manner that it focuses on character, self-awareness, and collaboration skills, necessary for the successful navigation of the real world.

Max Ventilla believed that the education system has been redundant, remaining the same since the early 90’s while the times and children of today had undergone such dramatic change, hence, making the system outdated. He, therefore, decided to pioneer an updated system where the child was the center of education, a technologically supported system of education, this was the foundation of AltSchool.

Ventilla was also of the view that students vary in skill level in different subjects and that the grading system that we are used to is a confining approach for performance analysis. He believed that since each student learns at a different level/pace, there was a need for specialized attention for each student.

The AltSchool business plan was also quite simple. This was to establish a school that offered personalized learning infused with technology and automated administrative services that would ensure cost reduction.

AltSchool raised $3 million in its seed funding from Baseline, Harrison Metal, among other investors after which the school was registered as a benefit corporation. In its Series A funding, AltSchool raised a further $33 million, which was led by Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Jonathan Sackler, among other investors. In its Series B funding, AltSchool secured $100 million, which was led by Founders Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, Mark Zuckerberg, and Priscilla Chan, among others.

AltSchool’s first school was established in the Dogpatch area of San Francisco in 2014. By 2016 AltSchools had six schools in San Francisco, AltSchool SOMA, AltSchool Alamo Square, AltSchool Dogpatch 1, AltSchool Dogpatch 2, AltSchool Fort Mason, and AltSchool Yerba Buena. AltSchools also has one school in Palo Alto, the AltSchool Palo Alto. The Company also has three schools in New York, which are, AltSchool Brooklyn Heights, AltSchool East Village, and one impending school, AltSchool Union Square, which opens its doors in fall of 2017. The Company also announced its intention to open its first Chicago school, the AltSchool Lincoln Park, also opening in fall of 2017.

AltSchool currently makes and estimated revenue of USD 1m. It is unclear just how many employees work for the Company but what is uncontested is that the AltSchools franchise is revolutionizing how we perceive education by introducing a personalized and technology infused system. With the massive success of the schools, it will not be a surprise to see other schools adopt Alt Schools’ approach to education in the near future.

Benefits at AltSchool