Co-founder Laia Iglesias, 40, Barcelona
Afterscool is the solution I needed for my own family, but I created the website for all mums and dads who want to find after-school activities and camps for their children without searching the internet for hours or relying on word of mouth. With Afterscool, 21st-century parents can easily discover, book and share extracurricular activities for kids of all ages, from robotics and cooking classes to dance, tennis, surf and sailing camps.
The platform is not just for families. It’s also beneficial for businesses who need better visibility for their summer camp or drone-making workshop. When the activity is over, parents can give their feedback, which helps these businesses tweak and improve their product. So, Afterscool not only connects customers and vendors, but opens up a line of communication between the two as well.
We have a business development team that is focused on getting the best partners involved in the platform—high quality programs that won’t disappoint our users. We even test some of the classes before allowing them to join. In addition, we have developed several marketing strategies to connect with these businesses. Right now, the most important thing for Afterscool is to attract more businesses because we can’t grow our number of users without having a good range of activities to offer them.
While Afterscool does offer traditional activities for kids, such as sports camps, arts and crafts, and English classes, we strive to offer more innovative activities—programs that will teach children skills for the future. We believe kids are never too young to learn to code, for example. But parents are busy—I for one, am a working mother of three—and we don’t always have the time or patience to scour the internet looking for out of the ordinary activities. We rely on what we know or what we learn from other parents. That’s why I want to make sure Afterscool offers a huge range of activities—all in one place—so families know all their options and can choose the best class or camp for them.
After-school activities aren’t just about the logistics. Yes, parents sign their children up for after-school activities so that they have something to do and somewhere to be while they’re still at work. But this time shouldn’t be wasted. Children should use these hours to explore their talents, learn new things, grow as individuals and make more friends. In my family, I sit down with each kid and we scroll through the website. Most of the time I can predict what they will be interested in—my nine-year-old is really into Minecraft, for instance—but sometimes they surprise me. I’m grateful that they’re not limited to doing the same things over and over again, and they can enjoy themselves while developing a range of skills.
We’ve spent a lot of time on the user experience. We’ve made the website easy to use—families can search for activities by area, by age or by interest—and we are an end-to-end solution, so they can book directly with us.
Now we’re starting the next phase of the project. We’ve been selected to join Barcelona Activa, part of the Glòries Business Incubator, where they provide support to startups based in Barcelona as a way to improve their competitiveness, along with boosting relations between leading companies of the city, and providing business services and mentoring that foster wealth and employment. I think being there, around other beginning startups, and being part of that synergy will be extremely advantageous.
For a full list of Afterscool activities, visit afterscool.com.