Trini Bensusan Mille
Founder and CEO of TeeRead
TeeRead is a mobile-based reading program designed to help children to read English and to learn English as a second language. The TeeRead app identifies how much English a student knows using AI speech recognition technology. The app assessed their reading level, identifies gaps in their reading and speaking abilities and then matches them with a personalized AI coach which provides interventions.
Trini Bensusan Mille started her career as kindergarten teacher in an English speaking school in Argentina. She later achieved a masters of business administration (MBA) from Northwestern University and worked for major companies such as Loreal, and American Express.
Bensusan Mille is a true entrepreneur. Her two biggest motivators were reaching a new market and achieving financial freedom. The new market that she was focused on reaching was students in the USA with gaps in their reading ability, specifically Latino students.
In the early stages, TeeRead was chosen out of thousands of platforms to be part of an Amazon Web Services (AWS) Accelerator, which is a “time-bound, cohort-based program… that provide[s] early-stage startups with technical expertise, mentorship, exposure to investors, [and] credits and resources to accelerate growth” (AWS Startups, 2026, p. 1).
As part of the AWS accelerator, Bensusan Mille was given funding, a technical team, and a business team to help solve problems that she was facing with her platform. Later on, the company was picked up by Techstars, another accelerator for startups, where she met other founders and mentors, who continue to mentor her today. With the help of these accelerators, the company grew so quickly that at one point the server collapsed due to the high volume of users.
The fact that TeeRead was chosen out of thousands of companies to be funded and supported by these start-up accelerators shows that investors see major potential in this program. Her background in teaching gives her credibility as an edtech founder, and her background in branding and marketing strategy give her a solid foundation for running a successful business.
Bensusan Mille proves that if you want to be successful in starting a business, it helps to have both experience and education. Her wide range of work experience in many different fields gave her a broad understanding of the realities of education, marketing, and branding, and her education in the business field gave her the opportunity to research a topic she was passionate about (literacy learning) from a business perspective. Her journey is a reminder that experience and education are never a waste, and that you never know when all the pieces might all fall into place. You just need to focus on what you are passionate about and hope for a little luck.
References
AWS Startups Programs. (n.d.). Amazon. https://aws.amazon.com/startups/programs
Walgren, K [The Business of Education]. (August 27, 2024). Episode 30 | How TeeRead is Improving Literacy Through AI and Personalized Learning with Trini Mille [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XseWBF4ulhk
I just looked into the company a little and TeeRead looks like an impressive company. I like how it is using AI to fill an important gap in literacy. It looks like there’s a lot of information available through analytics and two separate platforms.
I think Trini should be proud of creating such a positive, literacy-focused company. I agree with the post that her background in teaching gives her unique perspective for what various stakeholders (teachers, parents, students) would need in an app like this.