System 1-2-3

What System 1-2-3 does

System 1-2-3 is a privately held, founder-led professional services firm founded in 2012 and headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, operating at the intersection of early childhood education and mental health. The company partners with school districts and early childhood education providers in Western Pennsylvania to strengthen what it terms the "village" — the adults surrounding children — through six core service lines: Facilitation (classroom support, typically delivered over a 9-12 week fade cycle), Mental Health Consultation, Intensive Team Support (2-5 days per week, up to 10 weeks), Reflective Supervision (45-120 minute individual and group sessions), Professional Development (workshop series such as Pyramid Building, Working Relationships, and Heart of the Work), and Custom Collaborations. The GTM is sales-led and referral-driven, with services initiated through partner requests and facilitators making contact within 48 hours; pricing is contract-based with school districts and educational organizations and is not publicly disclosed.

The company's intellectual property spans two decades of practitioner-developed methodology beginning with the T-BASE model (1998-2010, NAMI-recognized) and including Progressive FBA, SEStimate, DataShade, Pyramid Building, Working Relationships, and Heart of the Work, alongside a library of original classroom resources (EI Current, Chef and Crunch puppet family, Cruisin' Classroom, Meerkat Village, Practical Guide to SES, and a suite of practical tools). In 2023 the company extended its portfolio with Bridget, its first custom GPT, and in 2025 launched the Amplified Village external customGPT, currently piloted with Pittsburgh Public Schools Early Childhood. A research partnership with Carnegie Mellon University's HCI CoALA Lab supports the AI work. Revenue is generated through fee-for-service professional services contracts with school districts, public-sector agencies, universities, and community organizations; there are no disclosed funding rounds or external investors, and ownership appears to remain with founder Dan Richason.

Name

System 1-2-3

Legal name

System 1-2-3

Website

https://system123.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

System 1-2-3 is a Pittsburgh-based professional services firm that partners with Western Pennsylvania school districts and early childhood education providers to deliver classroom facilitation, mental health consultation, reflective supervision, and professional development, augmented by custom GPT tools (Bridget, Amplified Village).

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Education Mental Health Services

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710), Other Individual and Family Services (624190)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Mental Health Counseling & Therapy Services (K–12) (EDAJALAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Family Engagement & Caregiver Support Programs (SEL/Mental Health) (EDAKAMAK), Family Engagement & Home–School Partnership Programs (EDACALAB)

Keywords

• Early childhood education support
• Mental health consultation
• Classroom facilitation services
• Reflective supervision
• Behavior assessment tools

Headquarters

HQ city

Pittsburgh

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Professional Services (Direct): Fee-for-service model providing facilitation, mental health consultation, intensive team support, reflective supervision, and professional development to school districts and early childhood education providers. Services are contracted through partner organizations.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

System 1-2-3 partners with school districts and early childhood education providers to deliver facilitation, mental health consultation, intensive team support, reflective supervision, professional development, and custom collaborations centered on building the capacity of adults who surround children. The organization complements its services with proprietary AI-powered custom GPTs (Bridget, Amplified Village) and behavior assessment tools (Progressive Behavior Assessment, SEStimate, DataShade).

Product overview

System 1-2-3 is a service-based organization offering a portfolio of education and mental health support services centered on strengthening the 'village' surrounding children. The core service offerings include Facilitation (Classroom Support), Mental Health Consultation, Intensive Team Support, Reflective Supervision, Professional Development, and Custom Collaborations. These services are complemented by AI-powered products including Bridget and Amplified Village (custom GPTs), and assessment tools such as Progressive Behavior Assessment, Progressive Behavior Translation Assessment and Support Process, SEStimate, and DataShade. The company also creates original resources including EI Current, Chef and Crunch puppet family, Cruisin' Classroom, Meerkat Village, Practical Guide to SES, and a suite of practical tools. Professional development is delivered through workshop series including Pyramid Building, Working Relationships, Heart of the Work, Cultivating Resilience, Honoring Individual Differences, Centering the Team, and Progressive Behavior Assessment. Legacy innovations include T-BASE (1998-2010) and the Reciprocity Project (2004-2005).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Bridget: Custom GPT created in 2023 to bring research knowledge to classroom challenges, designed to amplify the power of the village and the voice of the villager.
• Progressive FBA
• SEStimate
• DataShade
• The Amplified Village
• T-BASE
• Pyramid Building

Products and services

• Facilitation (Classroom Support) Collaborative classroom support service that strengthens relationships, enhances routines, and meets the unique needs of every child through on-site facilitator support, team check-ins, and process documentation over a 12-week period. Designed for school districts and early childhood education providers.
• Mental Health Consultation Consultant service that partners with educators and caregivers to understand children's experiences and stressors through observation, strength-focused assessment, and supportive exploration of developmental and relational needs.
• Intensive Team Support (ITS) In-class support service providing additional time, perspective, and capacity for teams to meet unique needs of children. Includes supportive presence, routine assistance, and collaborative strategy development 2-5 days per week for up to 10 weeks.
• Reflective Supervision Protected, confidential supervision service providing spaces for professionals to pause, reflect, and deepen self-awareness. Sessions last 45-60 minutes for individuals and 90-120 minutes for groups, available both on-site and virtually.
• Professional Development Interactive learning opportunities including workshop series such as Pyramid Building (multi-tiered SEL approach), Working Relationships (collaborative teaming), Heart of the Work (well-being exploration), Cultivating Resilience, Honoring Individual Differences, Centering the Team, and Progressive Behavior Assessment.
• Custom Collaborations Co-creation service that designs customized materials, trainings, resources, and programs with partners to strengthen their capacity to support children, families, and teams.
• Bridget (Custom GPT) First custom GPT created in 2023 to bring research knowledge to classroom challenges. Part of the Amplified Village AI initiative that amplifies the power of the village and the voice of the villager in early childhood education.
• Amplified Village (Custom GPT) First external customGPT designed to empower the voice and contributions of people who support others in early childhood education and care. Currently being piloted with Pittsburgh Public Schools.
• Progressive Behavior Assessment Advancement of traditional functional behavior assessment (FBA) protocols that supports analyzing behavior through a village-driven, developmental, and relational needs lens. Includes Village and Child, Routine and Responses, and Observation and Measurement sessions.
• Pyramid Building Multi-tiered approach to supporting social and emotional learning with five-part workshop series covering Relationships with Self and Team, Relationships with Families and Children, Routine Engagement and Transitions, Social and Emotional Learning Needs, and Responding to Behaviors That Challenge.
• Working Relationships Five-part series helping teams collaborate more effectively covering Everybody Has an Olympic Story, Roles and Responsibilities, Collaborative Teaming, Approach to Conflict, and Extending Relationships.
• Heart of the Work Reflective series exploring the invisible forces that shape the well-being of early childhood professionals through sessions on Opening the Heart, Submarining, Window of Tolerance, Polyvagal Pathway, and Closing the Heart.

Quantifiable outcome

• 5-star Google Reviews from teachers and administrators
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability3 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• CMU Human Computer Interaction Institute CoALA LabcoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2023Partnership with Carnegie Mellon University's Human Computer Interaction Institute CoALA Lab to advance AI-powered Amplified Village work, including development and refinement of custom GPT tools for education settings.
• Pittsburgh Public Schools Early ChildhoodcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Long-term partnership with PPS Early Childhood and University of Pittsburgh's Office of Child Development on SEL Cohort (2019-present) and Pyramid Building initiatives, positioning classroom professionals as primary builders of their own pyramid practices.
• University of Pittsburgh Office of Child DevelopmentcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2004Partnership on Reciprocity Project (2004-2005) and ongoing SEL Cohort collaboration, supporting classroom practice and professional development integration.
• Pittsburgh Public SchoolsflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerCurrent pilot of The Amplified Village external customGPT and System 1-2-3 Progressive Behavior Assessment with PPS Early Intervention program.
• Gateway School DistrictcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with staff and students on understanding how body and brain work together in relation to handling stress and threat, and ways of returning to states of relaxation and engagement.
• Washington School DistrictcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with staff and students on understanding how body and brain work together in relation to handling stress and threat, and ways of returning to states of relaxation and engagement.
• Seton Hill Child ServicescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMulti-year collaboration to shift focus from what staff, families and children do to what they need. Includes collaborative leadership vision, classroom facilitation, mental health consultation, workshops and small leadership groups.
• Westmoreland Community ActioncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMulti-year collaboration to implement Village Driven Support, the process of considering and supporting the adults that surround a child as a single entity to increase the village's capacity to meet child needs.
• ELRC (Early Learning Resource Center)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegional partner organization supporting early childhood education providers.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Emerging players

• Panorama Education: Panorama Education provides a K-12 platform for SEL surveys, MTSS, and student support workflows used by districts. It is an emerging technology player addressing the same educator capacity and student well-being pain points that System 1-2-3 addresses through consulting.
• Kickboard: Kickboard offers a behavior tracking and MTSS platform for K-12 teachers and administrators. It targets the same behavior assessment and educator decision-support needs that System 1-2-3 addresses through its Progressive FBA and consulting work, but via software rather than services.

Others

• NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children): NAEYC is the largest professional association for early childhood educators, setting standards and providing professional development. It is an adjacent ecosystem organization that influences the buyers and frameworks System 1-2-3's early childhood services depend on.
• Teaching Strategies: Teaching Strategies provides widely-used early childhood curriculum, assessment (GOLD), and professional development tools. It is an enabling/ad adjacent provider whose curriculum and assessment products complement System 1-2-3's classroom facilitation and behavior assessment services.

Broad incumbents

• Center on the Developing Child (Harvard University): Harvard's Center on the Developing Child produces widely-used research and frameworks on child development, adversity, and relational practice. It is a broader incumbent that informs the evidence base System 1-2-3 uses to design its neuroscience-informed assessments and reflective practice tools.

Direct peers

• CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning): CASEL is the leading SEL framework and professional learning organization for K-12 schools. System 1-2-3's SEL Cohort work, Mental Health Consultation, and professional development offerings overlap directly with CASEL's district-facing SEL consulting and training.
• Pyramid Model Consortium: The Pyramid Model Consortium promotes the Pyramid Model for Promoting Social-Emotional Competence, an early childhood SEL framework. System 1-2-3 explicitly delivers a five-part Pyramid Building professional development series with the same framework, making it a direct peer in early childhood SEL training and consultation.
• HighScope Educational Research Foundation: HighScope provides constructivist early childhood curriculum, training, and reflective practitioner development. System 1-2-3's relationship- and reflection-centered facilitation, plus its early childhood focus, align closely with HighScope's active participatory learning philosophy.
• Devereux Center for Resilient Children: The Devereux Center for Resilient Children provides early childhood social-emotional assessments, training, and consultation for educators and caregivers. System 1-2-3's Progressive FBA, SEStimate, and Mental Health Consultation offerings parallel Devereux's behavior assessment and educator capacity-building work.

Regional players

• Fred Rogers Center: The Fred Rogers Center is a Pittsburgh-based early childhood development and educator support organization. It shares System 1-2-3's Western Pennsylvania geography, early childhood focus, and emphasis on nurturing, relationship-centered practice, making it a strong regional peer.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/pyramidbuild
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/system-123

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about System 1-2-3