David had a great conversation with Raphael Gang who is a Program Officer at the Stand Together Trust (STT) where he makes investments focused on supporting a dynamic education marketplace for families, educators, and entrepreneurs. Prior to joining STT, he worked at 4.0 Schools, a nonprofit national incubator for early-stage education impact ventures, where he coached education entrepreneurs and led 4.0’s communications, fundraising, and research. He helped launch and implement the statewide school voucher program, oversaw charter schools statewide, and managed policy for supporting choice at the Louisiana Department of Education. A former elementary school teacher, he has worked in policy and in leadership at two networks of schools. As a father of two young children, Raphael believes strongly that if we want a future of learning that is for all children, we need to build it.

David and Raphael discussed how important it is to engage families in the process of building your microschool. We think that building schools is an intellectual process, but entrepreneurship is about doing and not thinking. In that spirit, Raphael recommends you start small, start fast, and start cheap by starting to talk with families and make that your top priority. They also discussed the transition from educator to entrepreneur which can be a big one for many educators! Finally, they discussed the need for microschools to be sustainable and to build a business not a charity to ensure your microschool stays around for years to come!

You can find Raphael on X here: x.com/raphaelgangedu

Here are some things that Raphael shared if you want to explore these topics further:

1. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/i-started-successful-school-just-27000-sam-rogerson/

2. Lean Startup by Eric Ries - https://theleanstartup.com/

3. Tom Arnett'sk, Families on the New Frontier report - https://www.christenseninstitute.org/publication/microschools-families/

4. Raphael's - Build a Business, not a Charity blog - https://microschoolingcenter.org/news-blog/gang