VILLAGEx 2022 Founder Friday: KidKred
Founder Fridays is a series that spotlights VILLAGEx founders and their startups
Claire Smith, a 7th grade St. Bernard Parish math teacher turned entrepreneur, understands that K-12 public school educators need support systems to thrive and continue supporting their students more fully. However, many K-12 public educational institutions don't offer adequate support systems that prevent teachers from feeling undervalued, burnout, and unsupported. For Smith, valuing teachers through support systems is crucial, which is why in 2021, she decided to help support her fellow teachers by founding KidKred, a peer-to-peer recognition and rewards platform for educators.
Smith’s interest in recognition and reward systems as a tool for motivation and encouragement began in her first year of teaching in 2017. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, her passion heightened after seeing her students, other teachers, and herself undergo high levels of stress and anxiety, leading to burnout. At that time, Smith developed an online reward system to help teachers keep students engaged during a time of uncertainty. Soon after, she realized that teachers also needed to feel supported and rewarded. “Now, more than ever, our teachers not only need more robust systems to make sure they feel valued and supported- they deserve them,” Smith said. "The truth is, supporting our teachers is supporting our students.”
KidKred envisions helping schools revolutionize the recognition and rewards systems by ensuring that their teachers and staff are actively appreciated, visibly valued, and meaningfully motivated. Using KidKred schools can help increase teacher support and decrease teacher turnover, ultimately benefiting students.
Over the last few months, Smith, 2022 VILLAGEx founder, officially partnered with her Technical Co-Founder, Kristen Taft, who has over 8 years of experience as a full-stack developer at a leading healthcare company. Together, they have focused on product development in addition to the in-classroom learning tools. More recently, their team has interviewed 80 school educators around the Greater New Orleans region for their feedback using KidKred, which will help redefine and meet their needs more precisely on the platform. Ahead of Demo Day 2022, KidKred plans to secure more school partners for the 2022-2023 school year.
Q & A
(Responses have been edited for clarity)
Why startup in New Orleans?
Claire Smith: “New Orleans is the perfect place for KidKred to start because the problem is immense, but so is the opportunity to find a solution. Louisiana has the third highest teacher turnover rate in the United States (over 20% annually) and the cost of teacher turnover in urban districts like New Orleans can be up to $21,000 per teacher. So while the problem is profound, what’s promising is that educators in New Orleans are known for their commitment to innovation and the people of New Orleans are known for their commitment to their community.”
What does it take to be an entrepreneur?
Claire Smith: “HELP. So many people in our corner have not only been there to help us, but have also pushed us to ask for help- something that is not always easy! We are extremely grateful for everyone in our corner and for all of the people at The Idea Village who have helped to make that corner quite a bit bigger.”
Top 3 pieces of advice for someone pitching their startup for the VILLAGEx judges?
Claire Smith: “1. Post-pitch questions might feel intimidating, but they really are designed to help you. 2. Passion is important, but it really helps to put some numbers behind it. 3. Pressure makes diamonds.”