Portrait No. 001
Cris Tcheyan
Founder
Grasshopper Kids
My co-founder and I met in 2019 after an article I wrote on working parenthood went viral. Writing it helped me process burnout and PTSD after returning from maternity leave, and a workplace shooting weeks later. That experience, and the pandemic that followed, made one thing clear: I needed to work on my terms, stay present for my kids, and build something that serves families everywhere. With Grasshopper, we found extraordinary teachers sidelined by a broken system. We're unlocking that potential. While others hedge against the human in the classroom, offering kits that remove creativity or apps that replace connection, we're betting on teachers. We're building infrastructure for flexible, in-person learning at scale, connecting independent educators with part-time school contracts. Schools get turnkey staffing solutions; teachers get meaningful, well-paid, flexible work; and kids gain extraordinary experiences. The future of education is human-centered.
Chapter I
The toughest challenges you've faced as a founder.
Halfway through grad school, I left my physics PhD program uncompleted; women represented 15% of graduate students in physics then, and I believe the number is slightly lower now. After a decade in engineering at Google, I left 18 months postpartum, still processing PTSD after a workplace shooting. Women represented 15% of the global engineering workforce then. Today, that number is unchanged. It's now 20 years since I set off to start my career in science and engineering after college, and the barriers remain stubbornly familiar. All-female-founded companies received just 1% of VC funding in 2024. I'm used to being in the minority as a woman in the sciences, but the difference between 15% representation and 1% is maddening. Building a company while raising kids means proving myself twice as hard on half the sleep. Grit looks like refusing to give up, even when you're discounted, underestimated, undervalued. Grasshopper Kids has grown from zero to 100+ partner schools in 24 months, lightning speed for edtech. We're launching beyond the Bay and Denver to NYC, LA, and Chicago this year. We've built the infrastructure for the future of teaching and learning, and we're just getting started.
Chapter II
Your vision.
I'm obsessed with unlocking the potential of extraordinary teachers sidelined by a broken system, and giving every child access to the kind of joyful, hands-on learning that actually prepares them. Much of edtech is hedging against the human in the classroom. Kits that remove creativity. Apps and AI that replace connection. We're doing the opposite. We're betting on teachers. We're building infrastructure that lets great teachers teach on their terms while schools get reliable, high-quality staffing and kids get transformative experiences. We're enabling a world where caregivers can stay present for their families while doing work that matters. After 20 years of being counted out, I've got something to prove.
Chapter III
The impact you want to leave behind — for your industry, your community, and the women who come next.
Thirty years from now, I want to look back and see a generation of teachers who never had to choose between financial security and doing work they love. I want to see kids who learned that education isn't something done to them: it's joyful, hands-on, and deeply human. I want my own kids to grow up in a world where being a working parent isn't a constant compromise, where \"having it all\" doesn't mean burning out. The why behind the why is proving that we don't have to accept broken systems. We can build better ones.