Case Studies

ClassBank

Jillian Taylor
3 min read

Why BRV

Launched in 2021, ClassBank faced exciting early market validation. The founders completed the Transcend Network Fellowship, through which they evaluated and identified product-market fit. However, as the Fellowship concluded, the company required expert support to continue its early business momentum. ClassBank joined the BRV portfolio in spring 2023, seeking guidance on developing an ambitious but attainable business and growth strategy, along with assistance navigating K-12 sales. Over time, they also needed support to build out business functions, including finance, sales, marketing, and operations and HR.

How BRV has helped

Launched in 2021, ClassBank faced exciting early market validation. The founders completed the Transcend Network Fellowship, through which they evaluated and identified product-market fit. However, as the Fellowship concluded, the company required expert support to continue its early business momentum. ClassBank joined the BRV portfolio in spring 2023, seeking guidance on developing an ambitious but attainable business and growth strategy, along with assistance navigating K-12 sales. Over time, they also needed support to build out business functions, including finance, sales, marketing, and operations and HR.

The BRV team has expertise in so many different areas across a business.  It has been helpful for team members to plug into many functions and drive holistic success.
Abby Coyle
Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Critical talent acquisition and training also contributed to the company’s success. ClassBank’s CEO completed BRV’s Founder-Led Sales Coaching Program, which covered how to set up and maximize the impact of its CRM, create and manage a pipeline, effectively manage a Sales Development Resource, and hire, train, and manage the company's first Account Executive. Hands-on coaching established a solid sales foundation and prepared the CEO to close sales independently while overseeing the first sales hire.

The outcomes

Since joining BRV’s portfolio, ClassBank has achieved significant milestones, including:

  • Expanding to serve 700,000+ students across all 50 states and 120 countries
  • Achieving a 250% growth rate
  • Securing a 90% renewal rate, despite K12 budget cuts
  • Closing $1M in Pre-Seed financing
  • Onboarding its first first sales & customer success hires
  • Closing its first district enterprise sale
  • Successfully executing its complete rebrand
  • Debuting at its first large trade show
Seeing the BRV team members in their roles has helped provide a blueprint for how we want to lead as founders and the culture we want to build for our company. Communication is clear, and they are always summarizing and highlighting our shared successes. This keeps us motivated, and reminds us of what we’ve accomplished together.
Abby Coyle
Founder & Chief Executive Officer

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What's next

As state regulations rapidly mandate financial education, ClassBank is positioned to lead a new standard: guaranteeing every student graduates financially prepared and future-ready. ClassBank’s future entails strategic school district growth while strengthening financial literacy skills and positive school culture. BRV will continue to provide support in fundraising strategy and organization design, fostering ClassBank’s sustainable, mission-aligned growth as it prepares for its Seed raise in 2026.

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Jillian Taylor
Jillian Taylor is an edtech industry veteran with more than twenty years of experience helping early-stage startups and nonprofits establish credible market share. She began her foundational career in business development, sales, and marketing at Wireless Generation, which later became Amplify. Jillian subsequently mastered the startup lifecycle by serving in dual sales and marketing leadership roles at TeachBoost through its acquisition by SchoolStatus. She further solidified her exit credentials by driving marketing strategy at Kinvolved up through its successful acquisition by PowerSchool. At BRV, she leverages this deep domain knowledge to help early-stage founders craft compelling brand stories, ensuring portfolio companies successfully secure the critical early deals necessary to survive and scale.