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Our story: germination through transformation

From our Founder & CEO: Charlie Kratsch

Organic growth

The fruit-bearing tree that eventually gave rise to Infinite Campus was the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC), the organization behind educational software like Oregon Trail and Number Munchers. My work at MECC during high school in the early ’80s was a valuable starting point as technology germinated for both school office administration and classroom instruction.

After high school I bypassed college and went directly into business, working with a series of startup companies developing technology solutions for the advertising, telecommunications and healthcare industries. During the late ’80s I experienced the power of computers accessing large databases using what would later become…the internet. In the early ’90s I saw how graphical user interfaces could unlock data for any user, anywhere at any time.

After I sold out of my last company in 1993, I retired briefly…becoming a stay-at home father, but like my wife said, it didn’t stick. I made the decision to get back into educational technology with the goal being to make a difference, not to make money. I contacted the school district I had graduated from and we agreed that I would serve as their technology director while I figured out what this new company would do. While I originally thought we would develop web-based educational content (i.e. MECC on the web), I quickly realized the immediate need was in student administration.

At that point, the Infinite Campus mission was set: Transforming K12 Education®. Our goals were to streamline administrative processes, promote stakeholder collaboration and personalize learning.

With that mission as a guide, Infinite Campus has grown from the original seed planted more than 30 years ago into the strong and stable tree it is now. Our early growth was slow as we were a small group struggling to find our way up through a forest of competition. Each successive ring of new employees and customers made us stronger…allowing us to grow larger and faster. Not being periodically chopped down and replanted, like many of our competitors moving from one owner to the next, has made us an industry leader.

Our employees, our products, and most of all, our users, have made us what we are today. That’s not the end of the story, we are positioned for the next big thing in education.

"While most entrepreneurs are lucky just to make money, I have the privilege to make a difference in the lives of millions of students all across the country."

Charlie Kratsch, Founder and CEO of Infinite Campus

Transforming K12 Education®

Through the years

For more than 30 years, we have implemented solutions for customers of all sizes. We have a unique combination of a focused company, simple yet powerful product and superior customer service and support, making us the most trusted name in student information and the best choice for districts.

Startup: 1993 - 2001

Humble beginnings

Our early days in the Centennial School District (Minn.) were spent trying to figure out what an SIS should be and how new technologies like relational databases and web browsers should work. Not being supported by outside funding meant that we had to be creative. In addition to my corporate duties, I served as the district’s technology director allowing me to closely study and learn how schools function which in turn drove product development. Later, hiring talented developers and experienced educators resulted in the tools we needed to create what would become the foundation of everything we have today.

Growth: 2002 - 2008

On the move

One of the early challenges we faced was being ahead of our time. We had a web-based product, but that’s not what the market was looking for. Then, just after Y2K everything changed. School districts began to see the value not only of the web, but of having all their data managed by a single district-wide system. We moved out of Centennial and into our own office. We hired developers, support analysts, trainers, and administrators; it was crazy. We expanded rapidly across the country into big districts and small. We were called an “overnight success,” but many of us remember the lean years that had come before.

Expansion: 2009-2016

A permanent home

The growth we had experienced created the need for a new, permanent home. We designed and built the “mothership,” our corporate headquarters inspired by the Starship Enterprise, which provided us with the vehicle to expand our product beyond student information. We added Premium Products like Food Service, Online Payments, Online Registration, Messenger, and more. Perhaps most importantly related to our mission of Transforming K12 Education®, we increased our work with learning management. Our early vision of a completely integrated data management solution had become a reality.

Maturity: 2017 - Current

Sky's the limit

Having the best product on the market is not enough, you need a stable company and strong services to back it up. We have an award-winning support staff to answer questions. Knowledgeable business consultants to help districts make the most of their investment. Data centers across the country providing an unparalleled 99.99% uptime. And continuous innovation updating our product monthly with new functionality using the latest technology. While in the early days we struggled making due without outside investment, this has become one of our biggest strengths making us immune to quarterly profit pressures and temptations to sell out.

The next 25 years

It has been said that the best way to predict the future is to invent it. When I served as a technology director I saw the power of personalized learning in special education and predicted it would be the future of general education. Our work with competency based learning and responsive scheduling is moving the market in that direction. Our use of machine learning in predicting and preventing dropouts has shown that we can leverage the massive amount of data we collect to alter student outcomes. We also realize technology is not enough and will continue to work with local schools, educational service agencies, state departments of education and the federal government to develop solutions that make a difference.

Want to help Transform K12 Education®?

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