Raj Valli: Founder & CEO of Thinkster - 326

Raj Valli: Founder & CEO of Thinkster talks with me about Thinkster Math, Thinkster apps, test prep, and tutoring. This is episode 326 of Teaching Learning Leading K12, an audio podcast.

Raj Valli founded - Thinkster. 

He is a data and statistics guy at heart. As a certified Six Sigma Black Belt, he helped multi-billion dollar companies save money by making sure that their products and services were of the highest quality. Six Sigma means having less than 3.4 defects per 1 million pieces of anything you produce - engines, coffee cups, your shirt...tutoring….anything! That’s outstanding almost defect-free quality!

He has worked for major multi-billion dollar corporations leading functional areas in marketing, finance, operations, strategy, and M&A, across Aerospace, Automotive, Life Sciences, Chemicals, Materials, Pharmaceuticals, Industrial Controls, BioTech, Services, and Software.

He spent 20+ years volunteering his time to help provide basic education for underprivileged children.

Several years ago, his daughters were using a worksheet based math learning program (like Kumon, Mathnasium) to help accelerate their math learning.

He was frustrated by the lack of progress they were having in truly understanding math concepts. They were getting really good in the process of solving math problems in a very formulaic way without really understanding why they were doing what they were doing.

He looked everywhere for a math program that would let his daughter’s learn math for life and not just for a test or completing homework. 

He wanted a guaranteed approach to learning math. Not hope. But GUARANTEED! Like, Six-Sigma defect-free! 

He knew that if they had a real strong foundation in math, it would take them places. He found nothing other than a few books on the topic or needed to hire an excellent math tutor for $100/hour.

He took matters into his own hands and looked for efficient and fool-proof ways of getting students to learn not only math, but to develop a strong foundation in problem solving skills and to help them improve their critical thinking and logical reasoning skills. 

He wanted them to develop the capacity to unpack and solve ANY problems in life - not just math problems.

His strategy worked so well, that it got his daughters to ace math in middle and high school and eventually it also helped them into a top Ivy League University.

This strategy became Thinkster….

Lots to learn today.

Thanks for listening.

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Enjoy!

Connect and Learn More:

https://hellothinkster.com/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYJdwYjaKLSYovlcW8x_GHw

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajvalli/

https://twitter.com/hellothinkster

https://www.facebook.com/ThinksterMath/?fref=ts

Length - 46:03