> He fueled the nonprofit’s growth partly through unorthodox fundraising. Tessellations offered parents a deal: pay half their tuition as a donation for a tax write-off. “Lawyers say, ‘Please don’t do that,’” Stanat recalled, “I’m like, ‘But is it illegal?’ ‘No, not illegal.’ ‘OK, great, we’ll do it.’”

How?

I went to public high school in Cupertino. Tesselations was a well-known ego trip of a shitshow from the start.

The parent body was dominated by those more concerned with the networking prospects than their kids’ education. (Lots of cocktail parties while the kids are on their iPads in a separate room.)