Field-Tested

When we started, I didn't see any reason we couldn't just begin.

No insurance. No entity. Teachers paid under the table. We were basically a soccer team — just show up and figure it out. We were so stoked about the idea and so confident it would work that we built first and asked questions later.

And honestly? It worked. For a while.

But here's what I know now that I didn't know then: almost every contract we eventually had in place came into existence because something happened and we realized we weren't protected the way we needed to be. An incident. A conflict. A moment where we got lucky — and knew it.

We were building blindfolded in a dark room, trying to find the light switch.

That was eight years ago, when the microschool movement wasn't even a thing I had a name for. You don't have that excuse anymore. And I mean that with the most love possible.

Founders are launching faster than ever. ESA dollars are flowing. Families are hungry for alternatives. It's an incredible moment.

It's also a moment where one unprotected incident, one aggrieved employee, one governance gap, or one community rupture can take down a school that was genuinely changing kids' lives.

I know because it happened to us.

Thinking about risk, legalities, and liability can feel like a non-starter — especially if you're a creative builder who got into this because you love kids and learning, not because you love contracts and compliance. I get it. That used to be me.

But Field-Tested exists so you don't have to figure any of this out from scratch. It's all here. Some of these tools you'll use actively and often. Many you can set and forget — and as long as they're in place, they're doing the heavy lifting for you in the background.

There's no reason to reinvent the wheel. There's certainly no reason to start — or keep running — without having your basic vulnerabilities covered.