Journify Learning

Stanford Graduate School of Business

Industry: Education

MBA Founding Student Name(s): Mara Steiu

Brief Description of Solution: Journify Learning is the evidence-based AI assistant for special education in K-12 schools and districts across the United States. Journify maximizes the efficiency and effectiveness of special education teams – it saves educators’ time by automating progress tracking, compliance paperwork, and data integration among all the support providers, while driving student outcomes through personalized instruction and evidence-based practices.

Journify is now used in schools and districts across 15+ US states, supporting over 10,000 students. Journify has been recognized as the winner of the Tools Competition, the world’s largest edtech competition, and is certified by Digital Promise as a Responsibly Designed AI solution.

See Journify in action here (2 mins video).

Funding Dollars: $3.8M from major impact and edtech VCs like Reach Capital, Charter School Growth Fund, and Ulu Ventures.

What led you to launch this venture? Special education faces a critical imbalance. Between 2013 and 2023, the enrollment of students with diverse needs surged by over 16%, even as overall public school enrollment declined by 1%. At the same time, special educators have the highest churn among all teaching professions. This sharp increase has left nearly half of U.S. schools understaffed in special education, struggling to meet growing demands. On top of this, when looking at current special education teachers, they spend ~50% of their time on paperwork, being overwhelmed by tedious administrative tasks that could be easily automated. As a result, students often experience delays in receiving the timely and tailored interventions critical to their academic success, leading to persistent achievement gaps between students with disabilities and their peers.

Staffing shortages and inefficiencies lead to severe consequences. Districts face difficulties in complying with strict special education mandates (e.g., federal IDEA Act). As a result, special education has become one of the most litigious areas in U.S. education.

Addressing this gap is urgent. With the increasing challenge of hiring qualified staff – some districts even recruit from overseas, such as hiring from the Philippines – it is essential to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of existing special education personnel. This is where Journify Learning comes in, an AI platform for special education instruction and compliance.

What has been your biggest accomplishment so far with venture?

* We incorporated in February 2025 and have since quickly expanded across 35+ districts and schools as full-time customers or ongoing pilots, in 10+ states.

* We won the Tools Competition, the largest ed-tech competition worldwide, out of 1,000+ companies)

* We were the only special education company invited to the White House for the AI Education Workforce, alongside CEOs from companies like OpenAI and Microsoft.

What has been the most significant challenge you’ve faced in creating your company and how did you solve it? Ensuring alignment with the timelines, budgets, and implementation models of schools and districts, amid broader macro uncertainties.

How has your MBA program helped you further this startup venture?

* We have gone through the Lean Launchpad, one of the famous courses at Stanford – the methodology helped us validate the problem, build an MVP, and confirm that this is a problem worth pursuing.

* The Center for Social Innovation (CSI) has offered us funding and support through the IDIF Fellowship and the SIF Fellowship – this was very helpful as we set the foundations of the business.

* The entire network of investors, educators, researchers, founders that I have met through the MBA / MA in Education program at Stanford has been instrumental in helping us fundraise and validate our initial hypotheses.

Which MBA class has been most valuable in building your startup and what was the biggest lesson you gained from it?

* Angel and VC investing – learned valuable lessons on how to approach my pre-seed round.

* Product Launch – relevant insights on building, launching, and scaling products.

What professor made a significant contribution to your plans and why? There are a wide range of GSB professors who have really made a difference. Profs. Jonathan Levav, Brian Jacobs, and Ilya Strebulaev have been incredibly supportive through key moments and decisions,  offering guidance as I refined our product strategy, navigated investor conversations, and prepared for fundraising. Their mentorship helped me think more critically about positioning, valuation, and how to articulate Journify’s long-term vision with confidence. And last, but not least, I want to recognize Jennifer Carolan and Steve Blank from the Lean Launchpad class, where we set the foundations for Journify.

How has your local startup ecosystem contributed to your venture’s development and success? I truly believe there is no better place to build a startup than at Stanford. The sheer concentration of brilliant, driven people—combined with the abundance of funding, insights, and innovation—makes it an unparalleled environment to build and scale. It often feels like a simulation of the ideal startup ecosystem: too good to be true, yet entirely real.

What is your long-term goal with your startup? Every member of the special education team—whether a special educator, general education teacher, paraprofessional, or therapist—has an evidence-based AI assistant that makes their work easier, gives them back time, and empowers them to better support each student through personalized instruction and measurable outcomes.

Looking back, what is the biggest lesson you wished you’d known before launching and scaling your venture? Everyone warned me against entering the K–12 space – it’s slow, complex, and resource-constrained. But I’ve learned that if you’re solving a problem big enough and deeply felt, it can absolutely work. The key is persistence and clarity of purpose. I also discovered that there are countless talented engineers and professionals who want their work to make a real difference in education: there’s truly no better place for mission-driven innovation.

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