Samir and Ian started debating education technology at their friend's wedding in 2019. They never really stopped.

Ian Bravo began teaching in New York through Teach For America in 2005. Three years later, he joined KIPP Infinity, where he worked alongside many exceptional educators, including another fifth-grade teacher named Leyla. They married. He went on to serve on the founding leadership team of a new school in Washington Heights, was later selected for KIPP's Fisher Fellowship, founded Florida's first School of Hope in Miami, and then helped design a Yass Prize–winning mixed-income microschool model at a Series A startup, leading the launch of eight campuses across Florida and Arizona.

Samir Rayani co-founded Next Big Sound in 2008 and served as CTO until the company was acquired by Pandora in 2015. He and his co-founders were featured in Fast Company, Billboard, Bloomberg Businessweek, and The New York Times. He also spent seven years as a guest lecturer at NYU Steinhardt, co-teaching a course on data analysis in the music industry.

Ian spent two decades in K–12 education. Samir spent two decades building data-driven technology. After years in separate lanes, they kept returning to the same question.

Could tech built alongside educators grounded in learning science enable more kids and teachers to thrive?

In 2025, they got to work.

Today, Samir lives in Austin (where Ian was born) with his wife, newborn son, and cat. Ian lives in Miami (where Samir was born) with Leyla and their two daughters. They're locked in, building for all kids, based on what they'd want for their own.