Amit: I am here with the Co-founders of Swing Education, an Owl portfolio company, to share some exciting news for the company. Mike and Asha, congratulations on announcing Swing Education’s $38 million Series C funding. Before diving into the road ahead and what this fundraising means for Swing Education, could you please start off by sharing what Swing Education does?

Mike: Sure. Swing is tackling the nationwide substitute teacher shortage, and we help schools find classroom ready substitute teachers and help substitute teachers find more work.

Amit: Great. Thanks, Mike. And what inspired you to start the company?

Mike: Yeah, I’ll start. I was working at a charter school called Rocketship Education, and essentially was seeing the problem firsthand - how much of a challenge it was for our schools to find enough substitute teachers, and then talking to the substitute teachers that were coming to our campuses on their lunch breaks and whatnot. Just seeing how much of a challenge it was for them to find the work that they wanted, when they wanted, the kind of administrative work that the substitute teachers had to go through to make it work for themselves and so I ended up trying to help Rocketship with that problem. Reconnected with my high school friend, Asha, and another high school friend of mine, Oz, and they basically started helping me with, I’ll call it my nonprofit work. And it just became really exciting, I think, seeing the problem and how big it was and how much of an impact I think we could have there. So we went that direction.

Amit: Thanks for sharing that Mike, and I think as you just alluded to a fun fact about the two of you is that you’ve known each other since high school. And so maybe Asha, how did you decide to co-found this company with Mike or Mike, how’d you decide to kind of do this with Asha?

Asha: Yeah, I think a little bit of it was luck and the right timing. So, I think Mike mentioned he was working on this problem at Rocketship and helping them coordinate substitute teachers and I think he started to see the opportunity space that there must be a better way to do this. At the same time, I quit my job and I didn’t really know exactly what I wanted to do and I ended up reconnecting with Mike and having lunch with him. It really started as a side project, which as we then started to get into it, we realized there’s a massive problem space here. That’s when we ended up applying to the accelerator program that we did. But I think it was just kind of, I don’t know, I mentioned the luck part. We’ve been friends for a long time.

But I think in those early days of Swing, we also realized that we actually complement each other pretty well from a professional perspective as well in terms of our skill sets. So it just ended up happening to work out really well. And I think it’s been a key to our success.

Mike: Yeah, I think on one hand, I think about how awesome it’s been to start the company and work with Asha as also a close friend, but also I think there’s a lot of friends, (and I think Asha might say the same about her friends) that I wouldn’t start a company with, so it’s definitely worked out well.

Asha: Yeah, we won’t name them, but they know who they are.

Mike: Yeah, they know who they are.

Amit: Well, I can attest as somebody that’s seen the two of your working chemistry, the friendship definitely is evident and has been quite helpful in your dynamic as co-founders of this company as well too. I guess, you know, diving into a little bit more of a focus on substitute teachers and the shortage that we’re facing. Can you kind of share a little bit more details on the substitute teacher shortage and how has this issue developed since you started?

Asha: Yeah, I can start. Sneaky big is the way I describe it in that it’s a space that people don’t necessarily immediately gravitate towards. I think everyone knows there’s a teacher shortage, but they don’t necessarily think about the substitute teacher shortage. But when you unpack it, there’s $12 billion spent on substitute teachers today. And it was a problem when we started the company. I think COVID really exacerbated that problem just by making it even tougher to become a teacher and to get into the classroom. And so for us, we’ve always seen the opportunity space. I think we see even more opportunity now, which is an exciting place to be for us.

Amit: Yeah, and in terms of the kind of the size and scale where Swing is at right now and the impact that it’s having on this issue, can you share some recent stats on that?

Mike: Yeah, I think we’re working with over 2,500 schools across the country now. We filled more than 3 million absences. and I think, you know, we’ve been really excited to be able to do that with an extremely diverse corporate employee group, which is majority people of color, about 30% underrepresented minorities, and that’s been able to help us attract a substitute teacher pool that’s also majority people of color, majority female. So I think we’re really excited to be able to bring that perspective to this space too.

Asha: I think for us the thing that’s exciting is it’s very easy for us to measure our impact in terms of just the number of days that we’re putting a teacher in a classroom that would have gone unfilled. And so, to the point Mike mentioned, I think we’re over 3 million days now since we started the company.

Amit: Wow, that’s amazing! And I guess in terms of why schools choose to work with Swing Education, can you talk a little bit about that? Like how this many number of schools chosen to work with you and have you been able to put substitute teachers in that many classroom days?

Asha: You know, I think we approach it in a different way than maybe some of the incumbents in this space. But for us, it’s really about partnering with schools and saying, hey, you know, you probably have some way that you’re doing this today, but it’s not filling all of your absences. And it’s probably not filling the absences of where you feel the most pain. So for example, teacher who calls out sick the morning of, and there’s a big scramble at the school district. That’s something that I think we’ve gotten really good at helping schools with by leveraging technology and leveraging some of the things that you see in other marketplaces to bring more teachers into the classroom. At the same time, also investing in this idea of how do you create more supply? So not just necessarily doing a slightly better job of taking the existing teachers out there, but creating, galvanizing kind of this interest out there to make an impact in a younger demographic and really bringing them into the classroom as an option.

Amit: There you go. And this is a double-sided marketplace, so obviously the schools are choosing to work with you, but also substitute teachers are choosing to work with you. So can you talk a little bit about why substitute teachers choose to work with Swing Education?

Mike: Yeah, I mean, I think first and foremost, we offer a home to substitute teachers in an industry that largely they don’t really have one. We consider ourselves an advocate for them. And ultimately, I think we’re able to bring a level of empathy to the work that they’re doing, the challenges that they face, and want to help them make this a great job to have, to get into the classroom, if it’s something they’re interested in, and to make that successful and like a happy day for them. We really believe that that will pay off in terms of how the students feel about the day that they’ve had and how the teachers that they’re filling in for will feel about it as well. So I think it’s really exciting to be able to have that perspective.

Asha: Not to carbon date ourselves, but Mike and I remember, and most people probably remember what it’s like to have a substitute teacher. And it’s the person that you remember rolling in the VCR cart and playing a tape. And I think for us kind of coming into this, we always thought that there was a different experience that could be, especially when you consider how big of an impact subs have on a student’s education. So it’s really about helping schools find quality teachers, but also helping subs have a better experience, be more prepared to go into that classroom so they can be more successful.

Amit: Absolutely. On that point, as you consider the road ahead what is this funding round set up the company to do? And how are you thinking about what’s next for Swing Education?

Mike: It allows us to just bring what we’re doing to so many more schools and substitute teachers. I think that’s one of the most exciting aspects of it. But also, I think it allows us to extend our reach with what we’re doing for schools and how we’re partnering with them and with substitute teachers, as well and making the experience really one that’s unique and they’re not going to get anywhere else. And I think that idea of having that impact is amazing. We’re really excited to bring this to so many more people.

Asha: For us, we’re not happy with the status quo. So even what we’re doing today, we know there’s even more opportunity to get better and that’s what this investment is going to go towards. It’s how do we continue to build a better product and build a better experience for both our schools and our subs.

Amit: Great! Well, thank you both for taking the time to share a little bit more about this great milestone. I’ve had the privilege to work with the two of you and the Swing Education team since Owl Ventures co-led the Series B with Google Ventures. Congratulations again! I’m looking forward to the next chapter for Swing Education and the tremendous impact the company is going to have on the K12 sector.