Joanna Smith-Griffin is Not AllHere
Editor's Note: Forbes' Fallen Stars
Welcome to the debut of our new series: 30 Under 30: Where Are They Now? (Indictment Edition) — where we examine the spectacular flameouts who once graced those prestigious lists celebrating youth, ambition, and apparently, in some cases, a cavalier relationship with reality.
Class of 2017, Forbes 30 Under 30 – Education
From Harvard Innovation Labs darling to DOJ indictment, Joanna Smith-Griffin’s startup was supposed to revolutionize school communication. Instead, it ghosted districts, siphoned millions, and left student data in limbo.
Remember when Joanna Smith-Griffin graced Forbes' 30 Under 30 list in 2021? The education category darling who promised to revolutionize school attendance and engagement through the power of AI chatbots? Her company, AllHere, was positioned as the messiah of educational technology—ready to deliver us from the analog wasteland of traditional education through the gospel of "edutainment."
Spoiler alert: The only thing she revolutionized was creative accounting.
The Rise: A Harvard-Approved Success Story
The narrative was irresistible: Smith-Griffin, a former teacher who witnessed firsthand the challenges of student absenteeism, founded AllHere to solve the very problems she'd experienced in the classroom. The Harvard Innovation Labs showcased her journey; investors swooned over her mission-driven approach. By June 2021, AllHere raised $8 million in Series A funding with the promise of AI-powered chatbots to improve K-12 education.
The pinnacle of her ascent came when Los Angeles Unified School District—the second-largest in the nation—signed a $6 million contract to implement "Ed," an AI chatbot designed to be an "educational friend" for students. Superintendent Alberto Carvalho gushed that Ed would "democratize" and "transform education," proclaiming it a "game changer" that "never goes to sleep" and "learns and relearns all the time."
(Side note: Has anyone ever noticed how the language around EdTech innovation sounds eerily similar to descriptions of the perfect employee? Never sleeps, constantly learns, adapts to you... it's the workplace dream that HR keeps trying to manifest in humans.)
The Reality Check: A $3.7 Million Revenue That Was Actually... $11,000
Last November, the Department of Justice crashed the party with a rather inconvenient truth: Smith-Griffin allegedly engaged in securities fraud, wire fraud, and—for that extra razzle-dazzle—aggravated identity theft.
According to the indictment, while Smith-Griffin was telling investors that AllHere had generated $3.7 million in revenue for 2020, the actual figure was closer to $11,000. That's not a typo, ladies. That's the difference between "successful startup" and "expensive hobby."
She also claimed contracts with impressive clients like New York City Department of Education and Atlanta Public Schools—contracts that existed only in the same alternate universe where reply-all emails are always appropriate and open office plans increase productivity.
Where Did the Money Go? (Not Into Product Development, That's For Sure)
Smith-Griffin allegedly diverted funds from the nearly $10 million she raised through fraudulent means toward:
A down payment on a house (because revolutionizing education apparently requires premium real estate)
Wedding expenses (nothing says "I'm committed to educational outcomes" like an open bar and monogrammed napkins)
Other personal expenses that one imagines might include whatever the EdTech equivalent of Elizabeth Holmes' black turtlenecks might be
Meanwhile, the actual product—the one being implemented in America's second-largest school district—was described by one unnamed EdTech insider as so misguided that they "basically started a stopwatch on how long it would take" for the effort to fail.
That failure arrived with spectacular promptness in June 2024, when AllHere laid off the "vast majority" of its staff due to "unforeseen financial circumstances." (Translation: Reality finally caught up with the PowerPoint promises.)
The Data Nightmare You Weren't Even Worried About Yet
While we're all processing the financial fraud, let's not overlook the privacy concerns that should keep parents awake at night. A former AllHere employee alleged that the chatbot pulled "all available personal and private information in the L.A. Unified system about the student and that student's family" even for simple queries.
So not only did the chatbot not function as promised, but it was also potentially an "unnecessary, enhanced security risk for the release of private data." Because if you're going to go down in flames, why not create a potential data privacy disaster as your parting gift?
Lessons for Those of Us Who Haven't Been Indicted (Yet)
The "move fast and break things" ethos hits differently in education. When the "things" are children's educational experiences and privacy, perhaps a more appropriate motto might be "move deliberately and test extensively."
The EdTech hype cycle is particularly vicious. As ISTE's Richard Culatta wisely noted, "Whenever a district says, 'Our strategy around AI is to buy a tool,' that's a problem." Technology is not a solution—it's an implementation requiring strategy, training, and realistic expectations.
Due diligence is sexy. I know, revolutionary concept. But the next time you're pitched an AI solution that sounds too good to be true, channel your inner financial dominatrix and demand to see the receipts.
"Unforeseen financial circumstances" is rarely unforeseen by everyone. Education entrepreneur Ben Kornell noted the unusual speed of AllHere's collapse, suggesting "something's not adding up here." Trust that financial spidey sense.
What's Next for LAUSD and the Ed Chatbot?
LAUSD has already paid AllHere $3 million of the potential $6 million contract and will not make further payments. Superintendent Carvalho—who still maintains "this was a bold vision that resulted in a product that works"—has formed a task force to review what went wrong.
Meanwhile, Smith-Griffin faces serious jail time if convicted, with the FBI Assistant Director noting her "alleged actions impacted the potential for improved learning environments across major school districts by selfishly prioritizing personal expenses."
The most ironic twist? In 2017, Smith-Griffin publicly stated, "The first iteration of AllHere failed spectacularly... And it was one of the best things that could have happened to us." One wonders if she'll maintain that perspective about this particular spectacular failure.