Built on a pool deck, not in a boardroom.

I'm Jacob Siegel — most of my swimmers know me as Coach Jacob. I've been teaching swim lessons for over 12 years, and I run Superhero Swim Academy, my own swim school. For years my "business system" was the same one most independent coaches use: a spreadsheet for the roster, payment requests one family at a time, paper waivers in a binder, and a group text for reminders. Every hour in the water came with another hour of admin on the pool deck.

The turning point for my own school came when my business partner Reed Heller and I moved everything online — card payments, registration, the whole flow. It was a game changer. It saved us hours every week, made us look far more professional to parents, and helped the business make real money because we finally stopped chasing payments and paperwork.

Then, through Superhero Swim University — the coaching community I founded — I met with over 300 swim instructors from all over the world. The same problem kept coming up: most of them either had no registration software at all, or were badly overpaying for one built for 500-student franchises with office staff. A solo coach with 30 students doesn't need an enterprise suite. We need one link we can text to a parent that handles registration, the waiver, and the payment in one flow.

So in 2025 I started building SplashPad with the coaches in the SSU community — 100+ working swim instructors who told me exactly what they needed, tested every feature at their own pools, and pushed back when something didn't work on a wet phone screen between lessons. I wanted every coach to experience the same game changer I did — without spending an arm and a leg to get it. That's why SplashPad charges a flat monthly price with a 0% platform fee — the money parents pay you is yours — and why every plan comes with a 1-on-1 onboarding call with someone who has actually taught a swim lesson.

— Jacob Siegel, founder of SplashPad · working swim instructor · founder of Superhero Swim Academy & SSU