Why Microschool Founders Need to Adopt an Entrepreneurial Mindset

Starting a microschool often begins with a deep commitment to children, learning, and community. But that mission-driven origin story sometimes hides a tough truth: running a microschool is a startup. You’re launching a product - an educational experience - into a shifting market with real people, real stakes, and real constraints.

Founders who thrive are the ones who embrace this. They don’t just ask, “What should I teach?” They ask, “What do families want? What works? And how can I learn fast enough to keep up?”

This mindset is helpful, and it’s protective. Roughly 75% of startups fail, according to Harvard Business School. Microschools that succeed are the ones that act like startups. This means validating ideas before scaling, staying nimble, and building with feedback in mind.

You’re Building an MVP (Even If You Didn’t Mean To)

In The Lean Startup, Eric Ries introduces the concept of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP)—the simplest version of a product that still solves a problem. In the microschool world, this might mean starting with one cohort, one location, and a flexible curriculum.

Too many Founders try to perfect everything before launch. That’s a mistake.

Instead, think of your first term, your first three families, even your first classroom setup as a test. Will it all be perfect? No. Will it give you meaningful feedback to build something better? Absolutely.

And don’t think this approach means staying small. According to the National Microschooling Center, the median microschool enrollment grew from 16 students in 2023 to 22 students in 2024, with an estimated 1–2 million students now enrolled full-time across the U.S.  The movement is scaling, and those who scale well are the ones who iterate early and often.

The Loop That Drives Growth: Build → Measure → Learn

Here’s the process that should be driving your every decision:

1. Build: Try a new schedule, roll out a new learning tool, test a new pickup procedure.
2. Measure: Talk to families. Watch student behavior. Track energy, outcomes, and enrollment interest.
3. Learn: What worked? What didn’t? What surprised you?

Then go back and do it again.

Microschools don’t need long strategic plans. They need tight feedback loops. And those loops only work if you stop waiting for certainty and start testing quickly.

Pivot or Persevere?

Another core idea from Lean Startup is knowing when to pivot - change direction based on what you're learning - and when to persevere.

You might love a particular math program. But if your students aren’t engaged and families are frustrated, it may be time to change it. That’s not failure. That’s responsiveness.

Microschool Founders who succeed are the ones who recognize what’s working, double down on it, and aren’t afraid to walk away from what isn’t.

Flexible Decisions: The Non-Negotiable Skill

We often tell our Founders this: you need to get comfortable making flexible decisions.

Rigid decisions lock you into a single outcome. Flexible decisions acknowledge that today’s best guess may not hold tomorrow. They let you move quickly, stay curious, and make adjustments with less friction.

As Joy Meserve, COO of Changemaker Education, puts it:
“Flexible decisions give you momentum. You don’t need the perfect answer—you just need a starting point. Direction creates clarity.”

Your enrollment strategy, your pricing model, even your morning routine—all of it should be open to change. You’re not building a monolith. You’re building a prototype.

Final Thought: You Don’t Need All the Answers. You Need a Process.

Too many Founders get stuck waiting for clarity. In reality, clarity comes through motion. You figure it out by doing, testing, adjusting.

Start small. Launch early. Listen hard. Learn fast.

In other words, microschool Founders need to think like an entrepreneur.