When Dana Levin-Robinson set out to solve the childcare crisis, she knew the problem was bigger than any single family could tackle alone. What started as a personal frustration with finding quality childcare became Upfront, a SaaS platform that helps government organizations understand where childcare supply and demand gaps exist across entire states.
Today, Upfront's Bubble-powered platform serves five states and reaches more than 2 million families accessing care — all while giving government agencies the data they need to make informed policy decisions about childcare infrastructure.
From Quick MVP to scalable government solution
Dana founded Upfront about four years ago, but the company really took off after pivoting to focus on government clients three years ago. She started with a WordPress-based MVP in 2019. Although that version of their product “very quickly hit the ceiling of what it was capable of doing,” particularly when it came to application speed and processing large amounts of data, it served its purpose for initial validation.
“Having that ability to quickly iterate but then also customize for each of our clients — as we launched more and more clients, it just became clear how good of a decision Bubble was.”
A turning point came during Techstars' inaugural equity class in Baltimore in fall 2021. Pava LaPere, the late founder EcoMap Technologies and a fellow classmate, was a passionate Bubble advocate. “Pava and I had talked through all our tech options,” Dana says. “She was a huge Bubble champion from the beginning and convinced me to go forward on Bubble.”
Building a multi-stakeholder platform in under 2 months
What makes Upfront unique is that it serves three distinct audiences with the same underlying data. Using custom data pipelines that feed into Bubble via API, the platform consolidates childcare information to serve:
- Government agencies, who use Upfront’s analytics dashboard to see where childcare shortages exist and make data-driven investment decisions
- Families, who use the same data through a public search tool to find available childcare programs in their area
- Childcare providers, who have their own portal to update their program’s data
This creates a powerful feedback loop. “A thousand families in Baltimore are all searching for care after 7 PM, but very few providers are open after 7 PM,” Dana says. “So you have a supply and demand gap.” Government organizations can see that demand gap and know where to focus their childcare infrastructure investments.
With their head of platform leading development, Upfront had the first version of their Bubble app live in under two months. The platform officially launched in December 2022 with Maryland Family Network.
Scaling to enterprise with dedicated infrastructure
Today, Upfront serves five states and works with major government organizations. When you're serving as critical infrastructure for entire states, reliability becomes paramount. That's why Upfront chose Bubble's Enterprise plan with dedicated servers — doubly ensuring the consistent performance government clients require at scale.
The platform continues expanding functionality beyond search and analytics to include course registration systems, public course catalogs, and administrative tools. “We basically doubled the amount of modules and products that we had even within the last year,” Dana says.
Pivoting quickly with 4X faster development time
For Upfront, Bubble's biggest advantage is iteration speed in an industry where needs constantly evolve. “What we launch is not necessarily what it ends up looking like even a week or two later,” Dana says. Building on Bubble has enabled this agility, leading to an estimated 4X engineering time savings compared to traditional development approaches.
“Having that ability to quickly iterate but then also customize for each of our clients — as we launched more and more clients, it just became clear how good of a decision Bubble was.”
“I love being a product manager working on a Bubble app because I have answers to 90% of the questions myself."
The platform's technical accessibility also creates advantages for Upfront's team. Product Manager Younès Atmani, who joined as a former Bubble Developer, says his understanding gives him a huge edge. “I love being a product manager working on a Bubble app because I have answers to 90% of the questions myself,” he says.
Impact at scale
Reaching more than 2 million families across five states, Upfront has become critical infrastructure for American families. The platform doesn't just help individual families find care — it provides government agencies with data-driven insights for policy decisions, including where to expand new childcare programs.
As Upfront continues expanding to additional states, the company remains focused on solving one of America's most persistent challenges. Dana's advice for other founders considering Bubble? “Pick an organization that can really scale with you. Think about what you'd like the end state to be and work backward. Bubble's roadmap is going to keep growing, which means our roadmap can keep growing.”
For the millions of families and government agencies they serve, that scalable foundation makes all the difference.
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