Latest / King Dems Podcast | Growth Mindset, Leadership, AI and Business Insights / How to Scale Inclusive Coding Education and Leadership Mindsets with Chinmay Lal
Transcript
- 0:00I think the biggest mistake is sort of pushing children into
- 0:04languages too early. So for example, if you don't
- 0:08know a language, for example, let's say German, if you don't
- 0:11know German and I give you a big text of German and I say
- 0:14translate this perfectly, then you wouldn't be able to do it.
- 0:17And it's not, it's not fair to push these, to push this on
- 0:21children. So if students don't understand
- 0:25why or how coding works, then they just start memorising stuff
- 0:29and they just start memorising the syntax and it doesn't work
- 0:32that way. You know, they all, they'll form
- 0:34the problems, they'll have to rely on tools to learn.
- 0:37So we think that we need to build these these skills and
- 0:41these thinking 1st and then comes the language, then comes
- 0:44the coding. Before we dive back into today's
- 0:46conversation, I want to share something important.
- 0:48This episode includes a pay partnership with A Better Help,
- 0:50A platform designed makes touching therapy easier.
- 0:52I know from my own journey as a leader and entrepreneur that
- 0:54life can sometimes feel overwhelming.
- 0:56There are seasons where stress, uncertainty and pressure build
- 0:58up and you need a safe space to process it all.
- 1:01That's where therapy comes in. Therapy isn't only for people
- 1:04facing clinical challenges. It's a space to reflect, grow,
- 1:07and find better ways to manage stress, relationships, and
- 1:10customer goals. It takes courage to seek help,
- 1:12but it's also one of the smartest investments you can
- 1:14make in your mental and emotional well-being.
- 1:16That's why I'm proud to highlight Better Help.
- 1:18With Better Help, you simply feel out.
- 1:20A short questionnaire and and get matched with a credentialed
- 1:22therapist in just a couple of days.
- 1:24If the first match doesn't feel like the right fit, you can
- 1:26easily switch the therapist at no extra cost until you find
- 1:28someone who truly connects with you.
- 1:30Inside the platform, you'll also find tools like journaling and
- 1:32group sessions on different topics that can support your
- 1:34growth. And with over 7000 reviews and a
- 1:364.5 trustpathry reason, Betterhelp is a platform you can
- 1:39rely on. So if you feel like you'd
- 1:41benefit from talking to a therapist.
- 1:43Visit betterhub.com. Forward slash King James that's
- 1:45betterhub.com/kingjames to get 10% off your first month of
- 1:49therapy. Once again, this is a pay
- 1:51partnership with better help, and I encourage you to take that
- 1:53first step. If you've been thinking about
- 1:55it, sometimes the best investment you can make easy.
- 1:57Yourself Welcome to the Kingdoms Podcast, where we share the
- 2:07stories of extraordinary people and dissect hot, relevant topics
- 2:11that shape our world. From visionary leaders to
- 2:13trailblazing creatives, we uncover the mindset, strategy,
- 2:17and grit behind greatness. Whether it's business, culture
- 2:20or personal growth, we ask the real questions.
- 2:23This isn't just conversation, it's transformation.
- 2:26The Kingdom's podcast, Your Next Breakthrough, starts here.
- 2:30Music licencing reimagined. We are live.
- 2:36Ladies and gentlemen, you once again welcome to the Kingdom's
- 2:39podcast and diary of the CFO. And today I've got with me
- 2:43fighting out of the world down under, fighting out of Brisbane,
- 2:48Australia. Mick Walker, Chin May law.
- 2:53How are you, brother? Yeah, good.
- 2:56Thank you, bro. Thank you for having me.
- 2:59Wow, you, you're welcome. You know, you actually doing
- 3:01something that is very important to me and that is tech.
- 3:06You know, for anybody who is actually doing something amazing
- 3:10in the world of tech, like you're going to be my friend.
- 3:13So see back how while I give you flowers.
- 3:16So today's conversation matches not because we were talking
- 3:19about code, but because we are talking about access, inclusion
- 3:23and leadership at the earliest stage of the future economy.
- 3:27My guest today is a Co founder who decided that technology
- 3:31education should not be intimidating, elitist or
- 3:35dependent on perfect infrastructure.
- 3:38They're building offline first low stress inclusive pathways
- 3:43into build programming for the next generation while running a
- 3:48second venture helping e-commerce brands skill
- 3:51sustainably and profitably. This is leadership that blends
- 3:54mindsets, systems and execution. And that is exactly what we
- 3:58stand for on the Kingdom's podcast.
- 4:02Please make welcome the Co founder of that is called lapse
- 4:06chimney law. You're welcome, brother.
- 4:09So let's talk about the origin story.
- 4:12You know, every every meaningful company begins with a moment of
- 4:15friction. So what problem did you guys
- 4:19personally experience that made you realise that traditional
- 4:23coding education was failing young learners, especially in
- 4:28low connectivity environments? So the main problem that we face
- 4:33was that when we were learning coding ourselves, we go from the
- 4:37traditional platform was Scratch, which is block based
- 4:40coding. And then we suddenly jump into
- 4:42Python. And what the problem we faced
- 4:45was that Scratch is so simple, like literally anyone could do
- 4:48it, kids do it, everyone, that's where everyone starts.
- 4:50But jumping into traditional coding like Python or Java, it
- 4:55was very difficult for us. Like so many, so much syntax, so
- 4:59much nonsense. And another thing we realised
- 5:02was that if this was hard for us, then imagine how hard it
- 5:05would be for for people in marginalised societies such as
- 5:08like low income countries. We we thought that there needs
- 5:12to be a simpler way, there needs to be a more accessible way for
- 5:15people to access this, and there needs to be an easier way for
- 5:18people to move from learning code into the real world.
- 5:22OK, well, interesting. So like you know, men platforms
- 5:25actually talk about learning to code, but a few of them talk
- 5:29about how children emotionally experience learning to code.
- 5:33So what did you observe about like the anxiety, the
- 5:36confidence, the overwhelm that shaped your first offline 1st
- 5:41and low stress approach? So what, what stood out to us
- 5:45was the like anxiety, in fact, so students weren't just like
- 5:49confused, but I feel like many of them are intimidated.
- 5:53And even adults, like many people at my age as a teenager,
- 5:56people are intimidated by coding.
- 5:58It's like coding is positioned as something's hot, something
- 6:01that's hard. And something like it's built
- 6:04around being capable. If someone can code and they're
- 6:07very capable and that's why we built our tools.
- 6:11So it's an offline 1st and low pressure progression into
- 6:14coding. We wanted students to feel safe,
- 6:18safe and comfortable experimenting and making
- 6:20mistakes rather than going into something something that seemed
- 6:24like a monster, you know, something that seems super hard.
- 6:27Wow, so from the blocks to the real code, you know, that is you
- 6:32guys actually, I would I say I appreciate what you're doing
- 6:38because it's it makes a lot of sense to start offline first
- 6:43before growing into the real coding experience.
- 6:47So you deliberately breach that block based learning with real
- 6:52programming concepts. So why is this transition we
- 6:56have? Most educational systems fail
- 6:58and like what did you design differently to make a stick for
- 7:02young learners? So this transition fails mostly
- 7:06because the block coding hides the the difficulty and the
- 7:10complexity behind real coding. But when students move into real
- 7:14programming, it gets like exposed to them all at once.
- 7:17So there's no, there's no real structured bridge between the
- 7:20two. So we designed that as an
- 7:23industry first traditional like, sorry, transitional layer.
- 7:27So we teach real programming, logic, data science and
- 7:31sequencing and computational thinking through our course, but
- 7:35without throwing it students with with difficulty and all the
- 7:39syntax. So we aim to build the skills
- 7:42and the mental models required for coding before they move on
- 7:46to to traditional coding languages.
- 7:48So when they move on to stuff like Python or Java, it feels
- 7:52more familiar rather than something that's just being
- 7:55thrown at them. Well, you know, Speaking of
- 7:58inclusion, another thing I very much appreciate about your
- 8:02business model is, you know, you are actually transforming the
- 8:07lives of people, young people, giving them an opportunity to
- 8:13make a living for the rest of their lives.
- 8:16And you know, it speaks to that Chinese proverb that says give
- 8:19amount of fish you fed him for a day, but teach a man to fish you
- 8:22fed him for a lifetime. You guys are basically feeding
- 8:25people for a lifetime and people in what I say remote locations
- 8:31that would typically wouldn't have had access to that
- 8:37information that would help them to make a living for, you know,
- 8:41their lifetimes, right? So but when people think about
- 8:44inclusion, people think about inclusion from a charity
- 8:48standpoint, right? Not as a peace, as a seizure.
- 8:50Yeah, yeah, yeah. From from experience working
- 8:54with schools, NGOs, communities globally.
- 8:58Likewise inclusion actually a strategic and commercial
- 9:01advantage. So we, we definitely agree.
- 9:04So we agree that inclusion isn't like a charity, you know, it's,
- 9:08it's an expansion of our market. So the majority of students like
- 9:13around the world don't have perfect connectivity.
- 9:16So for platforms like Scratch which are web-based, you know,
- 9:19these students weren't able so be able to access it all the
- 9:23time, won't be able to access it consistently.
- 9:26So if your product only works in these perfect and ideal
- 9:29conditions that are like maybe present in Australia, the USA
- 9:33and the UK, in these ideal conditions, I feel like you're
- 9:36limiting your impact and your business.
- 9:39So I think designing for the accessibility, designing for
- 9:43accessibility like right from the start creates A resilience
- 9:46not only in your business model, but in your product.
- 9:49So builds it also builds trust in communities that are
- 9:52overlooked. So for example, we have a
- 9:55partners in Sri Lanka with the foundation of goodness.
- 9:58These students, these students don't have access to to their
- 10:01own personal computers. They only have access to a
- 10:03computer lab and basically we provide our products for
- 10:07absolutely for free to them. So they're able to come into
- 10:10class, come into school and they're able to programme and
- 10:13learn and build the skills. Wow, so you know most of this
- 10:17text actually always assume an ideal environment, perfect
- 10:21Internet, perfect devices, perfect classrooms.
- 10:24But like what minds achieved did you guys have to make to build
- 10:29products that work in conditions that are not ideal?
- 10:33So we, we had to make the assumption that like nothing was
- 10:37guaranteed. No Internet wasn't guaranteed.
- 10:40Maybe the devices. We can't, we can't like assume
- 10:44that everyone will have a MacBook Pro.
- 10:46You know, we can't, we also can't assume that all the
- 10:49teachers are confident. And you know, we can't assume
- 10:52that all the teachers have skills that they're good enough
- 10:54to navigate through tech, they know coding.
- 10:58So that mindset forced us to build the product in a simple
- 11:02way. So we didn't build it around the
- 11:05perfect conditions that we experienced, but we we built it
- 11:09around simplicity. So if something required like
- 11:13constant connection, then we redesigned it.
- 11:15If something required skilled or educated supervision, then we
- 11:20then we simplified it. So these constraints and these
- 11:24simplifications that we had to make like made our products
- 11:27stronger. Well, I, I love simplicity.
- 11:31You know, simplicity actually just makes things, or would I
- 11:35say accelerated. But a lot of times, you know,
- 11:38especially in the tech world, people think the more complex
- 11:41the solution is, the more valuable it is.
- 11:44But I think the other way round, it's it's, it's the other way
- 11:47round for me. And you know, it's impressive to
- 11:50see you guys doing this at a very, very young age, right?
- 11:55So leadership at a young age, you're leading teams, you're
- 12:00having partnerships, you know, you're having real customers
- 12:04earlier than most founders would ever do.
- 12:06So what has leadership taught you about responsibility,
- 12:11decision making and, you know, being under pressure sooner than
- 12:16you actually expected? Yeah.
- 12:19So I think when you're young, people test whether you like
- 12:23truly understand what you're doing.
- 12:26They test whether you know your numbers, your product and your
- 12:29mission. And I feel like some people
- 12:31automatically have the idea that because we're young, we don't
- 12:35know what we're doing. And maybe for the most part,
- 12:37maybe that is true, but we make up for the lack of experience
- 12:41with without drive, you know, without drive and our ambition
- 12:44to keep going. So the responsibility also like
- 12:48it hits differently when people, so we go from depending on our
- 12:52parents to suddenly people depending on us, our customers,
- 12:56employees. Like you quickly learn that
- 12:59being consistent, being reliable, and being clear builds
- 13:03your credibility. Well, I love that, you know,
- 13:06because for me, myself growing up in Nigeria, like I sort of
- 13:10faced something similar, right? I come from a finance background
- 13:14and I used to be a lecturer for finance students.
- 13:19And these are professional students.
- 13:21But being young, a lot of people thought this one doesn't know
- 13:24what he's doing. And it always made me to work
- 13:27twice as hard, right? Of course, you need to always
- 13:30prove yourself. How do you feel, you know,
- 13:33having to always prove yourself, having always to, to work twice
- 13:36as hard in order to give people that assurance that I know what
- 13:42I'm doing. Like how?
- 13:42How does it feel for you? I think it motivates me to work
- 13:47harder. You know, it motivates me to
- 13:48show that you don't always have to have that years of experience
- 13:53behind you. I think it motivates me to work
- 13:56even harder to show, to prove myself than to prove to other
- 14:00people that we are capable. You know, like we have the
- 14:03vision, we have the drive, we have the motivation, and we we
- 14:07want to make real change. It helps me work harder, yeah.
- 14:12Oh wow. So let's talk about the systems
- 14:15over the motivation. So sustainable impact requires
- 14:19systems, you know, not just inspiration, but what systems
- 14:24did you guys put in place to avoid burnout while scaling
- 14:28outreach, partnerships, and delivery?
- 14:30Yeah. So right from the start, early
- 14:33on, we tried to build a structured system.
- 14:37We tried to build structured systems.
- 14:38So that would be without outreach, without CRM, without
- 14:42onboarding workflows. And we documented all these
- 14:45processes and we had, we had steps, we knew exactly what to
- 14:49do and when to do it. So that reduced like emotional
- 14:52decision making, which is something we definitely face at
- 14:55the start. And like when a client
- 14:57immediately fell out or they said, no, we don't want this,
- 15:00you know, we, we take right to the heart, feel like someone
- 15:03stabbed our chest. And instead of like feeling
- 15:07productive, we tried to measure our activities.
- 15:10So we, we put everything into numbers, the amount of calls
- 15:14made, the follow-ups that we send, you know, and these are
- 15:17all in systems. We set reminders.
- 15:19Everything was in place to help us.
- 15:22And we use all the resources that we have available to us.
- 15:25You know, so we we learned that systems protect our energy and
- 15:29systems protect making emotional decisions.
- 15:35You are actually in an industry that is the educational
- 15:38industry. So how do you think about
- 15:41pricing ethically while building a company that is designed to
- 15:46last? So we think education being the
- 15:50education area, it's very interesting because it requires
- 15:54a balance. So if the pricing is set too
- 15:56high, then access suffers. Not everyone's going to be able
- 16:00to access it, you know, But if it's too low, then our
- 16:03sustainability suffers, we're going to struggle, We won't be
- 16:06able to pay our employees. It's, it's, you have to have a
- 16:09right balance there. So we approach pricing with a
- 16:12tiered and flexible approach. So individuals, NGOs,
- 16:17institutions there, those are all just examples of our
- 16:19clients. So we design models that sort of
- 16:23like allow access without weakening the business.
- 16:27So we definitely agree that longevity is important and it's
- 16:31part of our ethical impact. So we make we strike a balance
- 16:35and we flexible. You know that I think that's
- 16:37really important, especially in the education sector.
- 16:40Oh wow, so alongside being an ad tech, you've actually built and
- 16:46advised profit driven and e-commerce ventures.
- 16:49So what lessons from performance LED commerce sharpened how you
- 16:54run this impact driven educational business?
- 16:58So I think my e-commerce ventures, I think they told me
- 17:02that metrics are important in e-commerce conversion rates.
- 17:07Follow the numbers. Follow the numbers in your.
- 17:10Product. Those are all yeah, they follow
- 17:12the numbers exactly, exactly like those sharpen your
- 17:15thinking, you know, in in education the accessibility and
- 17:19emotion matters, but numbers still matter.
- 17:21And I think that background helped helped us both approach
- 17:26partnerships and pricing with with a good structures rather
- 17:30than rather. OK, interesting.
- 17:33You know, it's interesting how founders always talk about the
- 17:37vision. Or do you rarely ever talk about
- 17:40the doubts that creep in? So what moments actually
- 17:43seriously tested your belief in the mission?
- 17:46And how did you recalibrate without losing momentum?
- 17:51So throughout throughout time with that is like there were
- 17:56moments where it didn't work, you know, especially at the
- 17:59start like our outreach didn't convert, people would like miss
- 18:05meetings and like the traction felt really slow.
- 18:08So this this sort of like recalibration that we had to do
- 18:13under this pressure, I guess that that made us return to the
- 18:18fundamentals. So our product quality directing
- 18:23our conversations and let make me a message really tight, you
- 18:27know doubt this doubt that customers have goes away when
- 18:32our execution improves. I love that.
- 18:34And you know, in this podcast, this podcast is about the
- 18:38mindset, the skill sets and the tool sets, right?
- 18:41So let's talk about the skill sets and what skill sets
- 18:45actually matter the most. So if you strip away the hype,
- 18:49So what? What 3 skills have made the
- 18:52biggest difference in your execution so far?
- 18:55Yeah. So I think execution compounds
- 18:59over time, you know, and from my background in e-commerce, it was
- 19:02very, I was just behind the laptop, you know, I was always
- 19:06behind the laptop just designing something, optimising stuff.
- 19:10It's not, I wasn't on meetings communicating, you know, but
- 19:14when I'm, when I joined, that is it's like, well, I think the
- 19:17number one skill that I had to learn was clear communication,
- 19:20being able to correctly articulate my thoughts and being
- 19:24able to articulate what our business is, what our business
- 19:28is doing for the client. And so definitely the number one
- 19:32skill that I learnt was like clear communication and being
- 19:36able to articulate myself. And I think what I put in #2 is
- 19:42financial discipline. So money comes in and we get
- 19:46income, But being able to put that in the right place in order
- 19:50for us to grow, I think that's really important.
- 19:53So I think when money comes in, especially as a young person,
- 19:56it's, it's really, really tempting to go out and buy
- 19:59something, you know, like a new flashy car, like whatever the
- 20:02new iPhone. But I think reinvesting the
- 20:05money and I think putting it where it matters in order for us
- 20:08to grow, I think that's important because I think the
- 20:11inputs of what we put in is. Is like equal to our like
- 20:17controls what we get out, you know, like the effort we put in.
- 20:21If we put more effort in, if we put more money in, then that
- 20:24grows exponentially. And I think the third one, the
- 20:29third most important seal I'd say is patience and being
- 20:33strategic with our patience. So we need to give clients
- 20:36enough time, enough time to think, enough time to talk to
- 20:40their, to their colleagues, enough time to make these
- 20:42decisions. But we can't let them wait too
- 20:45long. You know, we need to be on time
- 20:47with our follow-ups, but we also need to respect that space.
- 20:50You know, as I said with, with pricing earlier, I think there's
- 20:54a good balance that needs to be there.
- 20:56And I said at the start, like execution compounds over time.
- 21:00So these things, they didn't come to me the first day I
- 21:03joined. I think it grows and we learn as
- 21:07we go. I think that's super important.
- 21:10Amazing, amazing Actually, you are spot on.
- 21:14Now let's talk about this tool sets, right?
- 21:16That is the tool sets that skill access.
- 21:21So what tools, what frameworks or operating habits have you
- 21:27quietly, you know, utilised that have become like an unfair
- 21:32advantage for your team, for your business, you know, as our
- 21:38Co founders. Yeah, Yeah.
- 21:40So I think, you know, we live, we live, we're in 2026, you
- 21:44know, anything we want is in our hands, you know, on our phone,
- 21:47on our laptop, it's right there. You know, it's most, most
- 21:51resources are free. And one big thing that I
- 21:53realised is that like our brain is for thinking and not
- 21:57remembering everything. You know, we, you should use our
- 22:00brain to Max capacity to think and articulate ourselves rather
- 22:04than try to remember and try to do everything ourselves, you
- 22:07know, especially when we have such great tools like on our in
- 22:11our hands. So I think a couple big tools
- 22:14that I'd say help that us grow is Notion.
- 22:17I think Notion helped us structure of planning and it was
- 22:22at a good price point. You know, at the start, we
- 22:24obviously we were, we were burning money, we were investing
- 22:27our own money. And I think Notion was a good
- 22:31affordable place where we could put everything, you know, our
- 22:34customer resource management, everything was on Notion.
- 22:38And honestly, it still is. And I think maybe #2 I'd say
- 22:45automation. So we live in the advent of AI.
- 22:49There's so many AI companies out there.
- 22:51You know, anything you want, if you search up, there'll be an AI
- 22:54company that that works for it. You know, So I think automating,
- 22:59especially, for example, our own boarding workflows.
- 23:01So we will have our initial meeting with a client and then
- 23:05immediately after we just set the cascade off.
- 23:08And then emails will get sent. Everything will get sent
- 23:11automatically. And I think it's important that
- 23:15we document everything and that everything is structured and
- 23:18planned, rather than me trying to remember to send emails.
- 23:22Maybe I'll have a couple clients.
- 23:23You know, I think when these systems live like outside your
- 23:26head, you scale faster. I totally agree with you, of
- 23:30course. For me, I believe Visa's
- 23:32progression in this age and time is highly, highly dependent on
- 23:38automation. It just lets things, would I
- 23:41say, be in a flow state because so for me, myself, like I've
- 23:44used a lot of automations and you know, having to operate a
- 23:49business like you are operating hands free, nothing feels better
- 23:54than that actually. Of course, for Mano Systems,
- 23:58we're human beings. We will forget certain things,
- 24:00right? But then, you know, when they're
- 24:02automated, it actually improves your reliability and
- 24:06consistency. And consistency in business is
- 24:10what actually leads to reliability.
- 24:12And reliability in turn leads to building trust from your, your,
- 24:16your stakeholders. So let's talk about the future
- 24:20classroom. So looking ahead into the next
- 24:2310 or five years, 5 to 10 years. So what must change and how we
- 24:29teach technology if we want the future leaders who are builders,
- 24:34not just consumers? Yeah.
- 24:37So I'd say, you know, especially as we discussed before the
- 24:41advent of AI, many people think that like coding your
- 24:44programming is dead. You know, because of like
- 24:47there's so many this like for example, code AI, it's so
- 24:51useful, you know, like you just tell it whatever you want and
- 24:54it'll adjust. It will make write it almost
- 24:56perfectly. Like if you write your own code
- 24:58and then there's a mistake that you can't find, you put it into
- 25:01AI, it'll find it for you immediately.
- 25:03But we think that like we need to teach this thinking skill
- 25:08before programming languages. So obviously programming is
- 25:12still required for AI and teaching these skills are super
- 25:16important as we believe that students should like understand
- 25:21the logics, systems and the problems behind coding.
- 25:25So we think that the future belongs to builders who like who
- 25:30more understand structures and more understand what goes into
- 25:35programming rather than those who just consume tools such as
- 25:39just code vibe coding with AI. OK, So what is your advice to
- 25:44parents and educators that are listening to us right now?
- 25:48What is the single biggest mistake to make when introducing
- 25:51children to learning technology? So I think the biggest mistake
- 25:57is sort of pushing children into languages too early.
- 26:03So for example, if you don't know a language, for example,
- 26:06let's say German, if you don't know German and I give you a big
- 26:09text of German, I say translate this perfectly, then you
- 26:13wouldn't be able to do it, you know, and it's not, it's not
- 26:15fair to push these, to push this on children.
- 26:20So we think of it the same way with so if students don't
- 26:24understand why or how coding works, then they just start
- 26:29memorising stuff and they just start memorising the syntax and
- 26:32it doesn't work that way. You know, they all, they'll form
- 26:35the problems, they'll have to rely on tools to learn.
- 26:38So we think that we need to build these these skills and
- 26:42these thinking 1st and then comes the language, then comes
- 26:46the coding. OK.
- 26:47So when it's all said and done, you know, when you zoom out
- 26:52beyond the revenue and the growth, what legacy do you want
- 26:56that is called labs to represent in the lives of the students
- 27:00that you serve? I want want that as to represent
- 27:04confidence, you know, not just confidence in let's say code
- 27:09writing, but confidence in thinking clearly, solving
- 27:13problems or like approaching complexity without fear.
- 27:18So I think too many students grow up believing that
- 27:22technology or coding is something only gifted people
- 27:25understand or like it's something that's reserved for
- 27:28those with like perfect schools, fast Internet or like the best
- 27:32devices, you know. But we want to dismantle that
- 27:35belief. So we think like that is isn't
- 27:39about like producing programmers overnight.
- 27:42It's not about making, it's not about creating the next, the
- 27:46next like big thing, you know? It's about helping students
- 27:50realise that like complex systems can be broken down and
- 27:55really understood step by step. For example, when a student in a
- 27:59rural classroom or a community centre or a low resource
- 28:03environment completes one of the modules and actually starts to
- 28:07understand why an algorithm, let's say they actually start to
- 28:12understand why an algorithm works.
- 28:14Like something shifts inside, they stop seeing like technology
- 28:17as intimidating and they start seeing it as accessible.
- 28:22So if we do this the right way, the legacy won't just be
- 28:25students who can code. It'll be students who can think
- 28:28and say, like, I can figure this out and students that have a
- 28:32mindset that extends far beyond technology into
- 28:36entrepreneurship, leadership, science, and just life in
- 28:40general. Like that's the type of
- 28:41confidence I want that is to stand for.
- 28:44Amazing, amazing. Wow.
- 28:46It's actually been really great speaking with you today.
- 28:50And there's something that I always say, any type of person
- 28:52shares the time with you, they share the life with you.
- 28:55Of course, the SI unit for measuring life is time.
- 28:59Well, before you go, I'm going to put you through the Ring of
- 29:02Fire. That is five quick fire round
- 29:04questions. So just tell me the very first
- 29:07thing that comes to your mind. Just simple answers only.
- 29:10Are you ready to rumble? Yep.
- 29:14What is 1 belief Belief about education that you have
- 29:18completely unlearned? So I think I unlearned that,
- 29:25that that harder automatically means you're like, that you're
- 29:29better learning, you know, doing something hard doesn't mean that
- 29:33you're learning. You're learning itself.
- 29:35You know, like I think that's one thing that I've unlearned.
- 29:38OK, interesting. So our number 2 is what is the
- 29:42hardest leadership lesson? With pricing earlier, I think
- 29:46there's a good balance that needs to be there.
- 29:48And I said at the start, like execution compounds over time.
- 29:52So these things, they didn't come to me the first day I
- 29:55joined. I think it grows and we learn as
- 29:59we go. You know, I think that's super
- 30:01important. Yeah, yeah.
- 30:02So I think, you know, we live, we live, we're in 2026, you
- 30:06know, anything we want is in our hands, you know, on our phone,
- 30:10on our laptop, it's right there. You know, it's most, most
- 30:13resources are free. And one big thing that I
- 30:16realised is that like our brain is for thinking and not
- 30:20remembering everything. You know, we, you should use our
- 30:22brain, it's Max capacity to think and articulate ourselves
- 30:27rather than try to remember and try to do everything ourselves,
- 30:30you know, especially when we have such great tools like on
- 30:33our in our hands. So I think a couple big tools
- 30:37that I'd say help that us grow is Notion.
- 30:40I think Notion helped us structure planning and it was at
- 30:44a good price point. You know, at the start, we
- 30:46obviously we were, we were burning money, we were investing
- 30:50our own money. And I think Notion was a good
- 30:53affordable place where we could put everything, you know, our
- 30:57customer resource management, everything was on Notion.
- 31:01And honestly, it still is. And I think maybe #2 I'd say
- 31:08automation. So we live in the advent of AI.
- 31:12There's so many AI companies out there.
- 31:14You know, anything you want, if you search up, there'll be an AI
- 31:16company that works for it, you know, So I think automating
- 31:20especially for example, our own boarding workflows.
- 31:22So we will have our initial meeting with the client and then
- 31:26immediately after we just set the cascade off and then emails
- 31:31will get sent. Everything will get sent
- 31:32automatically. And I think it's important that
- 31:36we document everything and that everything is structured and
- 31:39planned rather than me trying to remember to send emails.
- 31:43Maybe I'll have a couple clients.
- 31:44You know, I think when these systems live like, outside your
- 31:48head, you scale faster. Yeah.
- 31:51So I'd say, you know, especially as we discussed before the
- 31:55advent of AI, many people think that like coding your
- 31:59programming is dead, you know, because of like there's so many,
- 32:03like for example, code AI, it's so useful, you know, like you
- 32:07just tell it whatever you want and it'll adjust.
- 32:09It'll make write it almost perfectly.
- 32:11Like if you write your own code and then there's a mistake that
- 32:14you can't find, you put it in the AI, it'll find it for you
- 32:17immediately. But we think that like we need
- 32:21to teach this thinking skill before programming languages.
- 32:25So obviously programming is still required for AI and
- 32:29teaching these skills are super important as we believe that
- 32:33students should like understand the logics, systems and the
- 32:39problems behind coding. So we think that the future
- 32:42belongs to builders who like who more understand structures and
- 32:47more understand what goes into programming rather than those
- 32:51who just consume tools such as just code vibe coding with AI.
- 32:56So I think the biggest mistake is sort of pushing children into
- 33:01languages too early. So for example, if you don't
- 33:07know a language, for example, let's say German, if you don't
- 33:10know German and I give you a big text of German and I say
- 33:13translate this perfectly, then you wouldn't be able to do it,
- 33:16you know, and it's not, it's not fair to push these, to push this
- 33:20on children. So we think of it the same way
- 33:24with coding. So if students don't understand
- 33:27why or how coding works, then they just start memorising stuff
- 33:32and they just start memorising the syntax and it doesn't work
- 33:36that way. You know, they all they'll form
- 33:38the problems, they'll have to rely on tools to learn.
- 33:41So we think that we need to build these these skills and
- 33:45these thinking 1st and then comes the language, then comes
- 33:48the coding. I want some Dallas to represent
- 33:52confidence, you know, not just confidence in, let's say code
- 33:58writing, but confidence in thinking clearly, solving
- 34:01problems or like approaching complexity without fear.
- 34:06So I think too many students grow up believing that
- 34:10technology or coding is something only gifted people
- 34:13understand or like it's something that's reserved for
- 34:17those with like perfect schools, fast Internet or like the best
- 34:21devices, you know, and but we want to dismantle that belief.
- 34:25So we think like that is isn't about like producing programmers
- 34:30overnight. It's not about making, it's not
- 34:33about creating the next, the next like big thing, you know.
- 34:37It's about helping students realise that like complex
- 34:42systems can be broken down and really understood step by step.
- 34:47For example, when a student in a rural classroom or a community
- 34:50centre or a low resource environment completes one of the
- 34:54modules and actually starts to understand why, like an
- 34:59algorithm, let's say, they actually start to understand why
- 35:01an algorithm works. Like something shifts inside.
- 35:04They stop seeing like technology as intimidating and they start
- 35:08seeing it as accessible. So if we do this the right way,
- 35:12the legacy won't just be students who can code, It'll be
- 35:16students who can think and say, like, I can figure this out and
- 35:20students that have a mindset that extends far beyond
- 35:24technology into entrepreneurship, leadership,
- 35:27science, and just life in general.
- 35:29Like that's the type of confidence I want that is to
- 35:32stand for well. OK, let's go through the quick
- 35:36fire round questions. Number one, believe about
- 35:39education that you have completely unlearned.
- 35:42I'd say for like that working, doing something difficult or
- 35:49struggling means learning. So I think learning isn't about
- 35:52pressure, but it's more about like how clear you understand
- 35:57things and your momentum. OK, for me, I believe learning
- 36:00should actually be fun. So #2 what is the hardest
- 36:03leadership lesson that you did not expect to learn these early?
- 36:08I'd say that not everyone moves at the same speed of you.
- 36:12Not everyone moves at the same pace, and that's perfectly OK.
- 36:15Absolutely, absolutely. So what is 1 Habit that protects
- 36:19your focus as our founder? Say, starting every day with one
- 36:24set outcome and one thing that must be achieved, and everything
- 36:28else is secondary to that. Fantastic #4 What is 1 tool that
- 36:33you would refuse to give up? I'd say structured planning and
- 36:37structured systems. So without them, we lose our
- 36:40momentum. Interesting, you know, for me
- 36:43the most basic and my favourite tool is a calendar tool.
- 36:47That is, that is the chief of structure.
- 36:50Like yeah, calendar tool. Come on.
- 36:52He just, he just helps is the foundation.
- 36:55So #5 #5 absolutely #5 is what is 1 sentence you want every
- 37:02young learner to believe about themselves.
- 37:05I'd say you're you are more. You're capable of understanding
- 37:10more than you think. Amazing.
- 37:12So one more time, love and respect to you for your time
- 37:16today. Thank you very much.
- 37:18This conversation has not been about coding.
- 37:22It has been about who gets access to the future and who
- 37:25gets left behind. So and of course, who steps up
- 37:29early enough to change the system and that is leadership in
- 37:33motion. So to the audience, I would say
- 37:37again, always believe in yourselves, conceive, believe,
- 37:41strive to thrive and achieve. Always go for something in your
- 37:45lives. And you know, definitely till I
- 37:47come your way next time, you know, keep winning.
- 37:50And guys, come on, we're doing a great job.
- 37:54You can join the YouTube channel, join as a member on the
- 37:57YouTube channel and of course, get early access to all of you
- 38:02know, the publications and of course, you're able to watch
- 38:04without odds. So goodbye.
- 38:06Wow, finally.