Kids rarely get sick, or recover, in isolation. Their health is a mirror of their environment: what they eat, how they sleep, what’s stressing them, and myriad ambient factors in their lives.

Yet most pediatric care treats children as individual patients, as if their wellbeing exists apart from those raising them.

The research on family-based obesity treatment says otherwise. In one 10-year follow-up study, over a third of kids lost meaningful weight, and nearly a third exited the obese BMI range entirely. No other treatment has comparable results.

We believe this approach can extend to other conditions affecting far larger populations, and that the future of pediatric care will treat the family — not the child alone — as the clinical unit. The time to build that category-defining company is now.

Part 1 lays out the three properties a company will need to nail this thesis, and the key questions founders should expect to answer along the way.

Part 2 goes deeper on where to start: metabolic health and allergic disease, two conditions where the science, the reimbursement, and parent demand are all finally lining up at once.

Wayfinder

Congratulations to the Wayfinder team on its acquisition by LEMNIS!

Reaching 1.5 million students across 5,000 schools and districts, Wayfinder is a K-12 curriculum dedicated to cultivating purpose, character, and well-being in students. The company is born from research at Stanford d.school and backed by studies showing clear results on raising social awareness, positive interpersonal behavior, and sense of belonging.

We are incredibly proud of the immense impact this curriculum is having on millions of children, at a time when purpose feels elusive for too many kids. And we are thrilled to see it reach many more through its new home.

Read the announcement here and coverage in EdWeek Market Brief.

Esteban Sosnik sat down with Startupeable host Enzo Cavalie to retrace an unlikely arc: arriving in the U.S. at 18 with almost no English, and eventually co-founding a $1 billion AUM fund.

It’s a path that runs through two gaming companies (one sold to Activision) and a stint running Penguin Holding (Latin America’s first VC firm) alongside mentors Wences Casares and Micky Malka. Along the way came the hard-won lessons on fundraising, startup culture, and what it takes for non-U.S. founders to win the American market — lessons that later shaped Reach’s own wins like Nearpod.

These days, he’s focused on  the “agentic workforce” — AI that takes on the repetitive, dangerous, and hard-to-staff work, freeing humans for higher-value roles.

Why Edtech Needs Less Hype and More Honesty

Almost 15 years after co-founding EdSurge, Tony Wan reunites with Betsy Corcoran on Edtech Insiders. Their question: How can edtech earn the trust it is asking for, particularly in light of the growing “techlash” against devices and screens?

Just as we tell kids that failure is part of learning, entrepreneurs should hold themselves to the same rule in the stories they tell. Humble pie is never easy to eat. But it can go a long way toward building the kind of credibility and confidence the industry needs in the long run. 

It’s a kind of humility that can be absent in tech headlines, and it’s a timely reminder as AI takes its turn in the spotlight.

A $10-million company with no employees? It’s happening more and more.

AI is making it easier for savvy entrepreneurs to get something up and running. Census Bureau data shows new business applications in the information sector (which covers tech and software) surged 45% over the past year — the sharpest increase of any industry tracked.

Many startups are growing faster than ever: According to Stripe payment data, the share of businesses reaching $1 million in cumulative revenue within a year of launching in 2025 was roughly 30% higher than the 2023 cohort (and nearly 3X the 2019 cohort).

They’re keeping leaner as well: More than twice as many solopreneurs earned over $1 million in 2025 than in 2023, and close to three times as many crossed $5 million and $10 million.

Funding Conviction: Edtech Capital, Founder Vision & the Room

What does it take to build something that lasts when capital, technology, and the models for learning keep changing?

This Friday (Sep. 18, 9-10am PT), Reach Partner Steve Kupfer will join Ben Nelson (Minerva), Richard Weiqi Zhang (Solvely), Alan Todd (StartEd) and Darrin Murriner (Cloverleaf) to discuss where capital is moving now, how founders stay steady through tech and market changes, and what this all means for entrepreneurs.

Join this free virtual event, hosted by Edtech Insiders and StartEd.

Over forty people joined Reach’s Talent Lab, no resumes required.

Students exploring what’s next sat down with experienced operators working across education and health, including founders hiring for roles in sales, product, engineering, and AI. Instead of formal pitches, they jumped into workshopping the challenges founders are solving for across learning, health, and work.

Then, fresh off the Fund V announcement, we joined the EdTech Insiders crew to celebrate with new founders and old friends.

The 2026 Reach Conference Calendar is the best way to see all the major industry events across learning, health, and work. If you’re hosting a conference or know of one we missed, reply to the newsletter.