Pandemic start-up has a solution for parents, children and their mountain of toys

Classi thinks many parents will want to rent, simply because it’s hard to store old toys and sometimes difficult to find a place to donate them. Photo: Unsplash/Jerry Wang

Last spring, as the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted life around the country, Rachael Classi became one of the 3.5 million mothers in America who left their jobs.

She had been working at the Durham startup Teamworks in North Carolina, heading up strategy and marketing. But childcare had essentially vanished, leaving her two young daughters, ages three and one, in the lurch. That forced her to quit her job and return home.