by Sonali Rai
Published On : 7 Dec | 6 min Read
But if you speak to investors and edupreneurs, you will realise there are many preschool startup mistakes that they can make. Thin during the first year or when opening the preschool. There are quite a few mistakes that edupreneurs make when starting a preschool. And if these mistakes are not addressed from the beginning, they can delay profits, create daily operations issues and damage the school’s reputation.
Many centres do not fail because there is less demand for preschool, but because of such preschool start-up mistakes that could have been avoided. If you are an investor or planning to invest in this sector, this blog will help you become aware of the costly mistakes that you could avoid.
Before we talk about growth strategies, let us identify the most common mistakes made during preschool launches. Sometimes, avoiding one major error is more powerful than adding new strategies to an existing plan.
This is one of the biggest things to avoid when opening a preschool. Many edupreneurs choose a location only based on:
What things go unanswered are:
Here’s a simple comparison:
|
Factor |
Wrong Approach |
Better Approach |
|
Location choice |
Cheapest available |
Does the area have the right kind of families to support your preschool? |
|
Competition |
Ignore |
Study their fee & positioning |
|
Parent profile |
Assume |
Survey 30–50 local families |
A preschool in a premium area cannot operate like one in a mid-income residential pocket, or vice versa. Alignment matters.
Most articles talk about the setup cost. But what is ignored is the cash flow timing that one should know about. The reality is:
You should ideally be ready with a cash flow to have 6 to 9 months of operational buffer beyond the setup investment. This single step makes a lot of difference. You can invest in the right teachers and staff from the beginning so that even with a few students, you can afford the best staff. So the experience and testimonial of the first few students will bring in more.
Bright walls attract students and parents, and the set up will be attractive to them in the beginning. But what helps retain the students is strong academics.
Parents may initially be impressed by:
But within 3–4 months, they will start asking:
One of the most overlooked preschool startup mistakes is prioritizing aesthetics over academic structure.
Preschool quality is synonymous with the quality of Teacher they have.
Common hiring mistakes are:
High teacher turnover creates instability. Parents notice an inconsistency immediately.
Instead:
Many investors want to launch their:
All in year one.
Operationally, this is risky, and a phased approach always works better. First, focus on one part of the business and move over to the other only when that is properly set up.
|
Phase |
Focus |
|
Phase 1 |
Core preschool operations |
|
Phase 2 |
Add daycare or afterschool |
|
Phase 3 |
Expand into diversified services |
Growth should be stable and not rushed.
Without clear positioning, parents compare only on price.
Common branding errors:
Ask yourself:
Clarity about these questions in your advertising and counselling makes a difference. Teeny Beans gives you guidance and training for all these, too. Along with professionals helping you with your branding requirements.
Admissions do not happen automatically. You need a proper, structured plan for this to avoid preschool startup mistakes. Many preschool owners think:
“We’ll open first. Admissions will come automatically.”
But admissions don’t just happen. What you need for this is:
Many preschool/daycare mistakes occur because:
Without systems, admission leakage happens silently. Teeny Beans supports you with a proper CRM and one-pager website so that easy tracking and recording of leads and enquiries take place.
Safety is not optional. Some state governments have proper preschool regulations that have to be followed. A checklist that you can follow is:
One incident can permanently damage a reputation. Investors often underestimate how quickly word spreads within parent communities.
Today’s parents expect transparency in everything, especially their children. They prefer to be updated by the schools at regular intervals:
From an operational perspective, technology helps:
Technology reduces manual errors and improves professionalism.
Education businesses are a steady-growth model. So scalability is something you should keep in mind. Other sources of revenue should also be kept in your growth plan.
So ask yourself:
Plan accordingly!
Opening a preschool is not just about setting up the infrastructure. It is about building strong systems, investing in proper teacher training, having a clear long-term vision and maintaining financial planning properly. Before you launch, pause and evaluate whether these foundations are in place. With structured teacher training through the International Institute of Montessori Teacher Training, and technology-enabled curriculum support via aKadmy, you don’t have to build everything from scratch or learn through costly mistakes. Teeny Beans provides you with everything from set-up to admissions and operations. The right guidance helps you avoid the wrong moves at the right time. And Teeny Beans gives you the best.
What you must avoid when opening a preschool is skipping research, underestimating capital needs, ignoring teacher training, and launching without a proper operating system and routine in place.
Ideally, 6–9 months of fixed expenses beyond your setup cost should be well planned for during setup.
Overspending on interiors, weak admission planning, and no structured curriculum framework are some of the preschool startup mistakes.
Start focused, train your team properly, build clear communication systems, and avoid over-expansion in the first year. But plan for scalability.
Yes. It increases transparency, improves efficiency, and enhances parent confidence. So technology in your everyday operations and administrations is a definite USP your preschool can have
