Jennifer Carolan

Jennifer started her career as a classroom teacher in Chicago where she taught for 7 years in traditional district schools. She moved to the Silicon Valley in 2000 to attend Stanford University and was inspired by all of the entrepreneurs working on their ideas. She found a way to use her teaching experience to support edtech founders while at NewSchools Venture Fund where she worked for 9 years learning the craft of venture capital under Brook Byers, Joanne Weiss, John Doerr and Ted Mitchell. She also co-created and taught the popular course Innovations In Teaching at Stanford University for 3 years. She co-founded her first fund NewSchools Seed Fund in 2011 and co-founded her second, Reach Capital I in 2015 and Reach II in 2018. These funds have backed more than 100 amazing entrepreneurs who are passionate about bringing cutting edge technology to education. The Reach portfolio of companies are creating new opportunities for people everywhere who might think of themselves as underdogs due to background or other challenges. Jennifer currently sits on the boards of Outschool, Nearpod, Ellevation, Desmos & FreshGrade.