CuriousJr | Amit Shekhar, Janishar Ali and Mridul Sahu

Nilesh Balakrishnan of Waterbridge Ventures chats with Amit Shekhar, Janishar Ali and Mridul Sahu - the founders of CuriousJr. CuriousJr is a mobile-first, vernacular-based coding platform that helps kids learn the fundamentals tenets of coding. Powered by strong product innovation, the CuriousJr app democratizes coding for students who might not have access to a desktop by focusing on the mobile phone user interface and using a combination of gamified and experiential learning to make coding fun. They dive deep into their founder journeys and the series of experiences and events that led to them building CuriousJr

Sections -

(1:27) - Early years
(5:01) - The IIT Connection(s)
(12:01) - How early struggles moulded the founding team
(16:33) - The journey from civil engineering to coding
(19:20) - MindOrks & building a 2M+ Android developer community
(22:45) - The birth of Curious Jr.
(28:27) - The intersection of mobile tech and vernacular education
(29:36) - Putting together the dream team
(35:37) - Skills vs counter-skills
(37:09) - Story behind the name “CuriousJr”
(38:48) - Entrepreneurship Ups and Downs
(41:15) - The Covid19 push to education
(42:37) - From MindOrks to CuriousJr - building products for children
(46:44) - Culture & learning at CuriousJr
(58:32) - Why is Curious r “That One Idea”?
(1:01:07) - Conviction around the market for learning code
(1:03:06) - Mridul’s experience with OYO
(1:04:58) - Experiential learning via Curious Jr
(1:06:57) - Entrepreneurship isn’t as romantic as it sounds
(1:08:03) - When did you want to be a founder?