Braintrust Tutors

There are 56.6 million K-12 students in the United States, of whom 1-in-5 has a learning difference (including dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, dyscalculia, executive function disorders, ADHD, or other learning and/or attention issues). These kids often have above-average intelligence, but they learn differently and require specialized support to succeed. Yet seven out of 10 are in general education classrooms with teachers who do not have specialized training. As a result, a third of students with learning differences have repeated a grade, and their dropout rate is nearly three times the rate of all students.

Furthermore, as of 2019 only 41% of fourth graders in the United States were considered “proficient” in math. This figure drops to 34% by eighth grade. For reading, only 35% of fourth graders and 34% of eighth graders met or exceeded the proficiency benchmark.  These numbers are troubling as once students are behind, it can prove quite difficult for them to catch up, which can impact their professional prospects through adulthood.

The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated these issues. The pandemic has created significant challenges for students, who have faced a severe disruption to their learning and have endured significant unfinished learning, and even more-so for students with learning differences, who benefit greatly from a structured routine that was effectively stolen from them.

To combat these educational issues, students have a very clear need for supplemental learning support beyond the confines of the classroom. Yet there isn’t a single provider of scale capable of providing cost-effective, high-quality private tutoring for children who require specialized support. Braintrust solves this critical need.

Braintrust partners with families, schools and school districts to deliver consistent, customized, high-quality private tutoring support from certified teachers and learning specialists. 

Each student we serve is individually matched to an expert Braintrust educator via our AI-powered matching algorithm and/or concierge support, based on more than just the basics of location and scheduling; we secure the best possible match based on specific academic struggles and/or diagnosed disabilities.

At the outset of each support relationship, Braintrust educators perform an initial diagnostic assessment of every child to whom they are matched, in order to identify areas of strength and challenge, and, on that basis, create individualized instruction plans which are engaging and capable of holding each child’s attention. Such plans include a recommended number of weekly sessions based on the unique circumstances of each child (as well as the financial constraints of each family or partner), in addition to a scope of skills to cover during tutoring sessions. Consistent with our whole-child approach to tutoring, we generally recommend high-dosage support consisting of 3+ sessions per week, and a minimum of 30 minutes per session. Lessons are designed not only to accelerate learning but also to create confidence, inspire curiosity, and help kids discover their love of education.

During the term of each support relationship, Braintrust educators provide parents, educators, schools and other professionals in each child’s support network with access to our purpose-built technology platform, which affords them access to, among other things: (i) scheduling reminders; (ii) collaboration tools, so that parents and school staff can always stay in direct communication with their child’s tutor(s); and most importantly (iii) proprietary, metric-driven reporting tools, which break down every element of a child’s learning need and measures progress towards each goal that are automatically shared with all members of each child’s support network after each meeting. These real-time tools promote a more customized and transparent tutoring experience.

We believe this meticulous attention to evidence-based support provides a superior learning experience for each student and promotes accountability at all levels.

We started out by targeting families directly but, given the overwhelming need, we have expanded our target audience to include schools. We have secured district contracts of all sizes – from large (Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina), to medium-sized (Clarkstown Central School District in New York), to smaller (Harrington Park School District in New Jersey), and are now beginning to operationalize them. We are also an approved evidence-based tutoring support provider through various state certification programs, including designations as a TEA-Approved Provider for the Texas Education Agency, Partner for the Tennessee All Corps Tutoring Program, Partner for DC Public Schools, etc. Through these and other relationships, we provide K-12 private tutoring support to individual schools throughout the country.

We are committed to empowering the youngest and most vulnerable members of our population by providing them a better way to learn. We are building what we believe can be a sustainable model for accelerating student learning, not just for the 1-in-5 who has a learning difference or the 2-in-3 who struggle with reading or aren’t proficient in math, but for every child. With greater understanding comes greater curiosity. Greater curiosity can change lives, in unimaginable ways. 

Today, more than 11 million students are estimated to have at least one learning difference. These students need specialized support, yet 7 in 10 spend at least 80% of their time in general education classrooms with teachers not trained to deliver specialized support. Children with learning differences therefore often feel frustrated that they cannot master a subject despite trying hard, and may act out, act helpless, or withdraw. A third of students with learning differences have repeated a grade, which increases the risk of dropping out. Students with disabilities are more than twice as likely to be suspended as those without disabilities. More than half (55%) of young adults with learning differences have been involved with the justice system.

Furthermore, more than 35 million students struggle to read. By fourth grade, 65% of them are reading below proficiency. Research has linked proficiency in reading by the end of third grade to a child’s potential for academic and professional success. This is in large part because after fourth grade, children are no longer taught how to read; rather they are expected to be able to read in order to learn. There are decades of research to support the fact that 60% of students need explicit, systematic phonics instruction in order to become proficient readers, but this type of instruction is not the norm in our nation’s classrooms, and we have a learning crisis as a result.

Further still, virtually all of the 73 million children in the U.S. are dealing with pandemic-impacted unfinished learning. According to a study published by McKinsey & Co. in July 2021, students were on average five months behind in mathematics and four months behind in reading by the end of the 2020-21 school year. At the time, McKinsey projected that, unless steps are taken to address this unfinished learning, the impact of the pandemic on their schooling could undermine students’ chances of attending college and ultimately finding a fulfilling job that enables them to support a family, lower their earnings prospects by an estimated $49,000 to $61,000 over the course of their lifetimes (the impact of which on the United States economy could amount to between $128 billion to $188 billion every year as this cohort enters the workforce), reduce their health, increase their incarceration rates, and more. The report further cautioned that, even if students reengage in effective learning environments when and as schools reopen for in-person learning, students would still be several months behind academically and may struggle to reintegrate into a traditional learning environment.

 These students require high-dosage, evidence-based private tutoring support. Braintrust is the first scalable platform to deliver it. We partner with families, schools and school districts to provide consistent, customized, high-quality private tutoring support from certified teachers and learning specialists. We drive improved outcomes for students, enhanced coordination and support for classroom teachers, and complete transparency for parents and schools. Our evidence-based programs help close the learning gap for the 1-in-5 who have learning or thinking differences, the 2-in-3 who struggle with reading and math, and the 73 million children in the U.S. dealing with pandemic-impacted unfinished learning, powered by our diverse team of specialized teachers.

Braintrust was founded by teachers and parents who deeply understand the learning crisis in the United States and are deeply passionate about leveraging their personal skill and experiences to solve it.

Mara, Braintrust’s co-founder and CEO, is a problem solver who has spent her entire professional career – as teacher, tutor, business owner, and parent – helping students and families understand and overcome their most difficult learning obstacles. Trained and experienced as a classroom teacher, learning specialist and director of elementary literacy programs, she continues to spend a significant portion of her time even to this day helping younger students with learning differences to learn how to learn in a personalized, one-on-one setting.

Jen, Braintrust’s co-founder and CBO, is very much a force with whom to be reckoned – a pathologically gregarious individual with 15+ years of experience in technology sales and business consulting roles, with a passion for executing complex sales transactions. However, everything changed for her when her daughter Kat was diagnosed with dyslexia. What ensued was a years-long journey down an educational rabbit-hole to get her daughter the help she needed. Despite resources and connections, she had a difficult time finding her daughter the remediation she desperately needed. Instead, what she found was a long, arduous and frustration-filled search with limited results until ultimately finally being introduced to Mara by a neuropsychologist. Jen experienced firsthand how truly transformational finding the right tutor can be in the life of a child.

At the time, Mara had already left the classroom to start tutoring full-time. She had started her own tutoring business and grown it into a highly successful enterprise local to New York. However, she had dreams of making a bigger, nationwide impact. After taking stock of the disjointed landscape, Mara and Jen started Braintrust to address and repair material deficiencies in the specialized learning marketplace.

Since our formation in late 2019, we have built a first version of our purpose-built technology platform, including what we believe are truly unique reporting tools that deliver unparalleled transparent and gain tracking. We have also acquired a diverse team of 800+ certified educators, each of whom has been individually cleared to provide support for individual vetted and approved to teach specific grades and skills, and support a range of learning differences, according to his or her training. Furthermore, we have seen incredible demand for the solutions we offer, both from families directly as well as from schools and school districts. The enormity of the opportunity to serve our sector is genuinely mind-blowing. What we need most is guidance and support from industry experts as to how best to refine and improve upon our technology platform and solution offerings, and the resources and connections to broaden our reach and amplify our unique message across the country (and beyond).

We have secured what we believe is a strong board of advisors to help us in that mission – including Dr. Jay Russell, Former Head of the Windward School (for students with Learning Disabilities); Dr. Brock Eide, founder of Dyslexic Advantage, a non-profit dedicated to reframing dyslexia in terms of its strengths; and Marc Murphy, celebrity chef, restauranter and outspoken dyslexic. However, strengthening our team, to open us up to new and innovative ideas and/or open doors is always our first priority.

Braintrust is the first and only scalable platform that delivers high-dosage, evidence-based tutoring. We distinguish ourselves based on our unwavering commitment to each student we serve – with 100% certified teachers, individualized matching, evidence-based tutoring aligned with school curricula, and unparalleled transparency and gain tracking powered by our proprietary technology platform.

Unlike other platforms, each student is matched to a consistent tutor based on unique learning differences or challenges in order to facilitate positive tutor-student relationships and a stronger understanding of students’ learning needs. Tutoring is focused on the whole child, with a focus on helping each student discover a love of learning. Every child is unique, so our tutors tailor their curriculum and approach to meet each child’s unique learning style and needs. After each meeting, our tutors deliver detailed reports that break down all elements of the child’s learning need and provide real-time assessments on the progress of each such element until full mastery is achieved to parents, schools, classroom teachers and any other member of each child’s support network through Braintrust’s proprietary reporting platform/ This level of detail, and commitment to each student, is unparalleled in the industry, particularly amongst the largest players who employ varying delivery models that are more focused on short-term success than long term gains (e.g., chat boxes, 24x7 solutions from varying tutors of varying qualifications, etc.). Ours is an innovative approach with no direct competitors. 

Our approach has been proven to be successful through decades of research. Studies have clearly and consistently shown that high-impact tutoring has the potential to accelerate learning multiple times over. A recent meta-analysis reviewed studies of tutoring interventions that have been evaluated by randomized controlled trials over the past several decades and found that, on average, tutoring increased achievement by roughly an additional three to 15 months of learning across grade levels. Another review of almost 200 rigorous studies found that high-dosage tutoring—defined as more than three days per week or at a rate of at least 50 hours over 36 weeks—is one of the few school-based interventions with demonstrated large positive effects on both math and reading achievement. But effectiveness is highly dependent on tutor quality, personalization, pedagogical approach, frequency, transparency, and cost effectiveness.

That’s what Braintrust delivers. We built Braintrust to make it easier for parents and certified educators to connect for a more inclusive, impactful, and transparent tutoring experience. We have successfully launched our solution and have achieved strong signal acquisition right out of the gate. Our next conversative milestone is for an active learner base of 2,000 students, which we project will drive gross profitability in excess of $2 million. At that point, we would envision launching a significant financing round to help us to achieve a 5-year growth plan of 100,000+ users; this represents just 0.25% penetration of our target audience but – with our high learner LTV, high-margin business model – will enable us to generate substantial profitability for our investors while transforming the lives of a high number of students. Ultimately, however, our goal is to reach every one of the 73 million children who would benefit from the support we provide.

Braintrust has various benchmarks against which to measure progress toward our goal – both at an individual student level and at an overall company level.

At the individual level, our progress will be measured not just by the expansion of our evidence-based programs to support all K-12 students in all subject areas, but also to expand that which makes us truly unique – our proprietary reporting platform that provides each partner and student we serve with unparalleled transparency and tangible gain tracking.

At the overall company level, our progress will be measured by the growth milestones we have set for each of the next five years across each of our target markets – families directly; schools and school districts; and community centers, camps and other institutions – and each of our products – 1:1 and small group (2-4 students), and our ability to respond and adapt to any changing dynamics we encounter.

Our roadmap also includes various longer-term goals, including expanded services (e.g., to include speech language pathologists, occupational therapists, neurophysiologists, and other complementary services), expand products (e.g., workforce integration opportunities with colleges and universities to provide teachers with specialized training as well as flexible employment opportunities, subscription-based service for tutors who seek to use our proprietary platform to manage their existing clients; etc.) and international expansion.

At the highest and least tangible of levels, we will always measure our progress on the feedback we receive from the students, parents and schools we serve.

There are decades of research to demonstrate that our solution – individualized, high-dosage, evidenced-based tutoring – is proven to be successful. It’s not always the most profitable (e.g., teacher-led tutoring is proven to drive the best academic outcomes, but it comes at an added expense; larger class sizes can be significantly more profitable, but its contracts the core principles of evidence-based learning), the easiest to operate (e.g., staffing tutors to fill times lots rather than providing an individualized long-term tutor match and then offering partners, for example, 24x7 availability is a far easier approach to manage, but it doesn’t provide a consistent or evidence-based experience for the student), or optimal to achieve certain goals (e.g., question-and-answer chat boxes might produce more short-term academic success on an upcoming test, even if the child hasn’t actually learned), and thus is not an approach often taken in the industry, but it is unquestionably the best approach for the child.

Braintrust’s whole-child approach to tutoring transitions away from a focus on narrowly defined academic achievement and shifts to one that promotes the long-term development and success of each child we serve. 

Braintrust delivers its solutions via a multi-layered app engineered for learning. Our application consists of multiple purpose-built layers including:

•  Curation Layer: Identifies the best possible certified teachers and learning specialists. In order to join our team, prospective educators must undergo a rigorous process to be cleared to support the students and schools we serve. They must first provide their certifications during the initial application process. They must then undergo a criminal background check, to ensure the safety and security of each child we serve. Each candidate is then individually vetted and approved to teach specific grades and skills, and support a range of learning differences, according to his or her training. They are then cleared to be included on Braintrust’s marketplace as well as our various partnership engagements.

• Matching Layer: Optimizes matching based on specific academic struggles and/or diagnosed disabilities, taking a whole-child approach that focuses on accelerated academic achievement, skill-building, confidence, and social-emotional development.

• Interaction Layer: Enables real-time communication and collaboration between tutor and student, automated session reminders, and other tools to ensure the best possible learning experience.

• Reporting Layer: Includes proprietary, metric-driven session reports, which assess skills addressed in each session, level of mastery, strengths, challenges, and next steps; progress reports, which provide continuous, real-time assessment of overall learning goals, and illustrated gains; and Braintrust reports, which assess progress as compared to peers, which matures and compounds its intelligence after every learning interaction to deliver increasingly better results for the learner.

Braintrust is a certified, woman-owned business founded by two women, Mara and Jen, who is also an immigrant.

We employ a diverse team of certified teachers who come from a wide range of cultures and have a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. We continuously monitor teacher impact and provide individualized support as needed through session reports and ongoing professional development opportunities to ensure its programs are consistently accurate, up-to-date and culturally relevant.

Braintrust's tutoring platform is accessible to all students in need, and is designed to close the achievement gap for disadvantaged children. We serve a socioeconomically diverse population of students in the U.S. throughout their developmental learning lifecycle, from kindergarten through twelfth grade. Through our contracts with schools and school districts, many students now have access to high-quality, high-dosage tutoring free of charge. We have also recently created a 501(c)(3) arm to further support students in need. Our tutors lead sessions with equity at the center, and reflect the communities and lived experience of the students they tutor.

Braintrust employs a flexible business model that supports families directly as well as indirectly through partnerships with schools, community centers, summer camps and other enterprises. We offer our tutoring services both 1:1 and in small groups of two to four students, aligned to evidence-based learning methods, and collect a commission on each session between a student and tutor we match.

We are not homework helpers; we target students who have a long-term need for high-quality support, which enables us to produce high LTVs despite charging parents and schools cost-effective rates and empowering our tutors in part by providing them the highest payout ratio in the industry.

Depending upon the nature of the engagement, we can charge either upon completion of each individual session or for packages of multiple sessions for which payment is collected in advance and initially booked to deferred revenue. In either scenario, revenue is generally recognized upon completion of each session and the subsequent delivery of a post-session report, promoting transparency at all levels. 

Braintrust employs a high-margin business model with a highly variable cost structure. Our most significant costs are for sales/marketing and technology/development, each of which can be controlled, as necessary, to drive profitability even at our current early stage.

However, our plan is to invest heavily to fulfill our development roadmap and accelerate our growth. To do so, we have launched a $1.5 million Seed round (expandable to $2.0 million), of which we have already successfully raised $525K. The proceeds from the remainder in our round will be utilized in large part to fund our sales and marketing efforts – including to fund the salaries of key sales personnel (some of whom have already been identified), who will target both our families direct and partnership channels, as well as our marketing plan, which includes digital advertising and social media spend, content creation, and other related marketing efforts – which, at our projected blended CAC cost, will fuel our growth to our next milestone of 2,000 active learners. At that point, we would envision launching a large Series A round to help us to achieve our 5-year growth plan of 100,000+ users.

Given the tremendous need for the solutions we provide, we have an opportunity for sustainably high long-term revenue growth with projected free cash flow margins of 25% - 30%.

As a very recent example of our success to date, DREAM Charter Schools engaged us earlier this month to provide high-dosage math intervention support to 100 students in Grades 3 - 6 across three of its member schools (East Harlem Elementary School, East Harlem Middle School and Mott Haven Middle School). At the outset of the engagement, we requested and received school assessment and IEP data on each student and, on that basis, assigned a certified teacher or learning specialist to each based on his/her specific academic struggles and diagnosed disabilities. Each student is now receiving personalized support of between 30 - 60 minutes per day, for 4 days per week, in small groups of 2-4 students. At the conclusion of each week, each Braintrust tutor provides the designated school contacts (classroom teacher and administrator) a detailed progress report for each student that includes topics covered (and an assessment of mastery thereof), strengths/challenges, next steps, etc. through Braintrust's proprietary reporting platform.

Less than one week ago, one of our tutors received this unsolicited message from her sixth-grade students: