🌕 Independent School Moonshot Podcast

Great Schools Are Experienced, Not Explained

An interview with David Willows, Co-founder & Strategic Director, Yellow Car and Suzette Parlevliet, Co-Founder and Experience Director, Yellow Car

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Families Don't Always Remember Your Program.

They Remember How You Made Them Feel.

Most schools spend years refining their mission, their pedagogy, and their program. But when families arrive on campus for the first time and can't find the parking lot, the work doesn't matter.

Suzette Parlevliet and David Willows of Yellow Car return to the podcast to make the case that experience strategy is not a nice-to-have add-on to enrollment work. It is the enrollment work. In this conversation, David and Suzette introduce a framework that challenges how schools think about what families actually want.

Drawing on their Felt Experience Indicator data set, they walk through three universal patterns appearing across schools globally, including what they call "the end of the honeymoon," "the messy middle," and "life at the business end."

They also tackle the communication overload problem head-on, with practical first moves any leadership team can take this week. If you think your school's experience is strong because your mission is clear, this episode will push you to look again.

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What You'll Learn from Suzette Parlevliet and David Willows:

  1. The "Job to be Done" Framework: Families often care less about a formal mission statement and more about whether the school meets their immediate needs, such as helping their child make friends or preparing them for the next educational stage.

  1. Satisfiers vs. Dissatisfiers: High-quality teachers and safe campuses are "dissatisfiers" (baseline requirements families assume are included). True differentiation comes from "satisfiers" such as strong alumni networks or distinctive programming.

  1. The Honeymoon Dip: Data across many schools shows a consistent downward trend in the "felt experience" after the first year before it improves over time. This pattern holds true for students, parents, and employees.

  1. The Communication Orchestra: Schools can fall into "paint-throwing" communications, where every department sends updates independently. A central "conductor" (often the communications director) can coordinate the flow to reduce parent overwhelm.

  1. Experience vs. Logistics: The "felt experience" of a school often breaks down in the in-between moments, such as parking or signage, rather than in the classroom itself.

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