Introduction
Adam Pisoni, a co-founder and former CTO of Yammer, quietly raised a $4.5 million first round of venture funding for his new education tech startup in January. This week, he revealed what Always Be Learning Inc., known as Abl Schools, is working on.
Background of Abl Schools
Most edtech startups in the U.S. today— if they’re not building schools from scratch like AltSchoolor D.Tech Academy—are creating things for use in the classroom like parent-teacher communication apps, or digital-curriculum, -gradebooks, -testing and -tutoring platforms.
San Francisco-based Abl Schools (pronounced ‘able’ schools) is developing cloud-based software to help school administrators create and tweak master schedules for their schools. Scheduling and resource allocation software should help schools save time and money, and ultimately make them more adaptive to the needs of their students, Pisoni says.
The Abl Schools App
The Abl Schools app, still in development, can help principals and superintendents figure out how many teachers, coaches and counselors are available within their system, and who has what specialties. The app then helps administrators schedule educators and plan courses or activities responding to students’ needs as they change over time.
Pisoni said he was inspired to put his technical expertise to work in the field of education, reflecting on his own decision to drop out of high school.
“I grew up in a normal neighborhood outside of Phoenix. At school I found myself bored and thinking ‘This is a waste of time.’ So I left. We should not waste a valuable developmental period in people’s lives, or resources especially in cash-strapped public schools,” he said.
Pisoni sees Abl Schools’ technology as analogous to the software used by hospitals to ensure that patients get the attention they need from the right doctors and specialists when they need it.
The Startup’s Mission
The startup intends to deliver reports to school districts or principals about how well they used their human capital in the past, and what it would take to alter a school’s schedule to make room for things the community wants and students need.
Funding and Investment
Education-specialized fund Owl Ventures led the investment in ABL, joined by another education investment firm, Reach Capital, and First Round Capital.
Owl Ventures’ Jed Smith said he expects ABL to use the funding to get to ‘proof of concept’ for its scheduling technology. “We believe this is a game-changer for how schools allocate resources,” he said.
The Role of Adam Pisoni
Adam Pisoni’s background as a former CTO of Yammer, a popular social media app for iOS and Android, gives him insights into the challenges of building scalable education tech solutions. His experience in managing large-scale systems will be crucial in bringing Abl Schools to market.
The Market Potential
The cloud-based scheduling software has the potential to disrupt the traditional school administration process, which is often paper-heavy and time-consuming. By automating schedule creation and adjustments based on student needs and community demands, Abl Schools could significantly improve resource allocation efficiency.
Conclusion
Abl Schools represents a promising new direction in education technology, combining Pisoni’s deep industry experience with innovative tech solutions to address some of the most pressing challenges in modern schooling environments.
