Speaker 1: 0:30

So I'm Ankur Mittal. I am the co-founder of Odinwise Academy, and we provide robotics and tutoring services for anywhere from two and a half years old all the way up to college level.

Speaker 2: 0:43

Love it. What got you started into this business and have you always had a passion for this type of industry?

Speaker 1: 0:49

Sure. So I've always had a passion for robotics. I actually participated in robotics when I was in fifth grade Wow, and that's how I decided I wanted to become an engineer. From there I started coaching just a team, just as a hobby, just pastime, as I say, and I ran my own marketing agency at the time. And as I started growing that during COVID I stopped because, well, obvious reasons yes, Robotics is a more hands-on approach and doing that during COVID didn't make much sense. Yeah, After COVID was dying off, I started getting requests of do you still teach robotics?

Speaker 1: 1:26

And one day I was sitting with my at that time fiancé's dad and I was telling him I was like, like I'm getting all of these requests from just people and I don't teach robotics anymore. Like, stop messaging. Yeah, I have a different thing that I'm doing. Yeah, and he looks at me and he's like are you stupid? And I'm just like that, yep. And he's like people are asking you to work with you and you're saying no to them. And about a week later we're like okay, let's try our own team, Not working for somebody else doing running somebody else's team. And that was two and a half years ago. And now we have grown to 200 kids.

Speaker 2: 2:11

Wow, that is incredible. Do you feel like the demand clearly and like a trend going up for like robotics and science, especially with like AI and technology, Most definitely Like especially with the AI boom, I think that's become much larger, even children that are three, four years old.

Speaker 1: 2:29

First of all, they have access to everything. Cell phone is what they get.

Speaker 1: 2:33

As soon as they're born, born and all of those types of things. Now it's taking all of that and putting it into more of a better approach, let's put it that way. So I think it's definitely in demand and the nice part is there's not a lot of other businesses that are doing this. The ones that aren't aren't focused on the competitive aspect or the instructional more of a creative instructional basis. They're more curriculum-based. This is what we're following, this is what you're learning. Our curriculum is very different. In that way, we are more creative. Every class, no matter which school it is, which competitive team it is, the curriculum might be completely different.

Speaker 2: 3:18

Wow.

Speaker 1: 3:19

And it's really based on the kids and how they start perceiving the information as well, that is incredible. It's a little bit different of how we teach. It does require a lot more one-on-one attention, but because of that it's much better curriculum for the kids.

Speaker 2: 3:34

Yeah, I would have to agree with that, probably. I'd like to know what is the prerequisite? Can anybody just join this for kids? What is the age range again, and then any prerequisites that they need to have before they sign up.

Speaker 1: 3:48

So our two and a half three-year-olds. They're not learning pure robotics per se. They're not engineering different types of metal pieces, putting those together. They're using Legos, but using Legos in a creative way to start building and start thinking creatively A lot of what in school they learn about.

Speaker 1: 4:09

This is the right answer to this problem. Our approach is all right. Here's the problem. Let's try to figure out a solution for it. There's a thousand solutions out there. Which one is most interesting to you?

Speaker 1: 4:19

Wow, so we start that off at like that two and a half three-year-old age, that's until about six years old.

Speaker 1: 4:26

From six years old above to about 10 years old, we start introducing more advanced robotics, start teaching them block coding, start teaching them the principles of coding advanced robotics. Start teaching them block coding, start teaching them the principles of coding. So, like in our first class, we have them teach our instructors how to build a PB&J sandwich and it seems easy. But then when you start thinking about it, the steps required, it's not just taking a bread. You have to first take the bread out of the wrapper first and then you have to open the wrapper before that. Like, those are the tiny steps that are involved that nobody thinks about coding, that you need to understand those small, little, tiny steps, because you're not teaching a human brain, you're teaching a robot that knows nothing. Yes, so those types of things we start teaching our kids and from there, after about nine, 10 years old, is when we hopefully get them to start competitive robotics. Wow, so that's the goal. That's like the just step-by-step process, age-wise for them.

Speaker 2: 5:23

I think that is incredible. That's so cool. I can't wait to have the future, when these kids are adults, and see all the progress that you've been able to do with them and planting those seeds so when they're older they can have a greater impact for our society, exactly Like.

Speaker 1: 5:36

I had one parent two weeks ago. I was at one of our schools and she was part of our last year's program and she was mentioning her daughter now comes to her just in the middle of the day and says, look what I built, and actually tries presenting it. That's so cute Before, where she wouldn't express her thoughts much but she was really smart. She knew how to do all of this but wouldn't express it or wasn't confident in expressing it. And it's those small little things that even the parents notice that are building these kids up.

Speaker 2: 6:08

Yes, that is incredible. I love what you're doing and I'm so appreciative that you're here talking to us about that. So hopefully we can get some parents who are listening, who may be like what can I get my kids into? They're not very sporty. This is something that they can go and sign up for. I'd like to know what the vision of the company is and what makes you different from other companies.

Speaker 1: 6:29

Really, the vision is to create one of the best and biggest research organizations in the country, and that's not just for robotics and AI or new technologies per se, but also in how we're teaching our kids. What's the best way to create new entrepreneurs or just new thought processes for kids and becoming almost a research hub for professors, for researchers, for kids, for students to learn different types of robotics, ai and, as we expand, hopefully just STEAM in general. So not just robotics, yeah no, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 7:10

I'd like to talk about marketing and how you go about that for yourself and your business. Are you an avid social media user? Do you use it in different ways? More educational, less dancing. Are you on YouTube? Talk to me about that and how you're using marketing for your business.

Speaker 1: 7:25

So our biggest is Facebook, facebook and then through all of the school partnerships that we've done, but Facebook has been our biggest lead source. I have been I'm more active on Facebook than I should be my wife would say that at least, um, but Facebook just because of the progress that they've seen. So I've been coaching for nine years now. Um, this will be my ninth year doing competitive coaching. So just word being spread around with the community, um, coaching, so just word being spread around with the community has helped to make my name out there and get more leads in terms of more, let's say, like paid marketing or aspects of that.

Speaker 1: 8:06

We haven't actually done that yet in the past two and a half years, which has been both good and bad. Bad in the sense that we're still trying to grow and try to scale up. It's part of the journey, exactly. But the good aspect of it is that we keep getting so many clients that it's been hard to keep that as a priority. Let's put it that way. Yes, so that's been very nice to see. Is that just self-marketing and just our product itself has been being referred to so much that we're getting enough demand?

Speaker 2: 8:39

No, I'm happy, I love that. I love knowing and you telling me this that there's interest in young kids wanting to pursue this or their parents wanting them to pursue that. That's exciting.

Speaker 1: 8:48

It is, it really is, and it's good to see that even parents understand that this type of teaching it's not like a short game, it's a long game. It's not something that within three months they're going to start seeing an engineer out of them. It takes time and it's a slow procession of how the kids grow as well.

Speaker 2: 9:06

Yeah, and the fact that you see two to three-year-olds like I did not even know it was that young, so that's incredible. That the mind starts absorbing everything like a sponge at those ages, so that's incredible that the mind starts absorbing everything like a sponge at those ages.

Speaker 1: 9:18

Last week I was at one of our schools down in Woodbridge, mm-hmm, um, and these. We were working with three-year-olds at that time and they didn't know what boats and submarines were. So we were teaching them more on an ocean themed. This year, our entire theme is everything based around the oceans and deep water. Um, so we were teaching them the differences between boats and submarines. One floats, one doesn't. One's underwater that type of stuff. At the end of class they were uh, what they had built out of Legos was one had built an entire submarine, one built a boat and then another built the entire ocean and they were playing with it and that's what they were presenting and that's how we use Legos to really show like, teach these types of concepts, because Legos is something they're interested in, that they'll get their mind into.

Speaker 1: 10:06

Yes, but the learning aspect if you're just teaching them one-on-one, just sitting down and trying to teach them, they're not going to learn.

Speaker 2: 10:12

No, no, and that is incredible, because I'd like to say that I have trouble building Legos. My brother helps me with that, so the two and three-year-olds are killing it out. There Go you guys.

Speaker 1: 10:22

No, it's a lot of fun, more fun than I thought it would be. My professional background is engineering. It's sitting at a desk coding, working on project management aspect. So this was a completely different world for me, but a much more fulfilling world.

Speaker 2: 10:38

Yeah, no, I'm sure it is. It's incredible. You're like working with the youth and that is our future. So I'm sure, with the youth and that is our future. So I'm sure, how can we get more people into the competitive programs and with schools that are interested in introducing, like introducing programs like yours? Do you have workshops, or are schools inviting you to come in and talk, or how does that work?

Speaker 1: 10:59

Sure. So we work with schools on doing a lot of afterschool programs, so non-competitive afterschool programs. We work with Ppetitive after-school programs. We work with PTAs to introduce those and then the goal is from there that the kids gain enough interest to be able to join our competitive programs. We'd love to partner with schools. We're partnering with two schools, elementary schools, at the moment to introduce competitive programs next year. But we also run our own private programs as well, competitively.

Speaker 2: 11:27

Okay, very nice, I love that. And where do you see yourself and your business in the next five years? Any room for expansion? Do you currently have a team with you or is it just you?

Speaker 1: 11:36

So we're a team of 15 at the moment four in the administrative aspect and then the rest are instructors. The goal would be really to scale within at least the East Coast. Our hard number that we have for the next five years is 5,000 kids in our program. Thank you and to be across the nation really.

Speaker 2: 11:59

Yeah, no, that is incredible. I wish you guys luck, and I know you will be able to, because again, everything is like booming, there's interest, the numbers I feel like are probably there. It's. I know you will be able to because again, everything is like booming, there's interest, the numbers I feel like are probably there. It's just a matter of being able to find the locations and implementing more people to work with.

Speaker 1: 12:13

Exactly the hardest part, I'd say, with scaling is one the instructors. Finding qualified instructors, passionate instructors. We are picky about who we bring on because if they don't have the same values and the passion, the kids don't learn. They honestly learn because the instructor is passionate. Yes, so having passionate uh team members and staff members is very important to us. Um, and then being able to scale with equipment and just logistics in terms of uh supply chain, even um, you know those are things that initially, when we started the business, we didn't think even. You know those are things that initially, when we started the business, we didn't think about of where are we storing all of this material? How are we getting it to each location? So those types of problems are still solving, but hopefully in next year or so we'll be able to at least get into the Maryland DC area.

Speaker 2: 13:04

Awesome. I love that. And how was that transition like for you from being like an engineer IT and then transitioning now into this role where you have your own business and you're calling the shots? Was it easy for you? Was it hard? Did you have a coach? Talk to me about that so we can inform other listeners who are entrepreneurs who are thinking of transitioning or starting their own business.

Speaker 1: 13:25

Sure, so one of my last jobs was at Mason Small Business Development Center. It's a partnership between SBA and George Mason University, so they actually help entrepreneurs and small business owners grow. So as a, I was part of the engineering or the tech person there, so I did a little bit of consulting, but mostly back-end tech work for Mason SBDC. During that time I learned a lot about just entrepreneurship, business ownership, and that's what really, I think, motivated me to get to the next step From there. Honestly, I've tried multiple different businesses. I have a marketing agency as well.

Speaker 2: 14:08

Nice, do you want to shout them out in case anybody wants to?

Speaker 1: 14:11

Sure Scratch Studios. So we provide mostly for smaller businesses. These are people that are just starting out doing small marketing and website designs for them.

Speaker 2: 14:22

Very cool.

Speaker 1: 14:23

But we started from there and just got into Odin Weiss about three years ago, so it just, I guess it just grew. It's just step by step, yeah.

Speaker 2: 14:35

Awesome. I love that Good for you doing all these endeavors and businesses. I would like to know it sounds like you're a busy person how do you find time for yourself and make sure you take care of your mental health and make sure that you are at your best so that you can give your students, your staff, everybody your?

Speaker 1: 14:54

100? Be a workaholic and I love what I do, I love running these businesses, I love just teaching, I love building curriculum. So I do work a lot. But one of the things I've realized I have I've created more stricter rules for myself. So like not bringing my computer into the to my bedroom, or once I turn off for the day, then I'm not back at work mentally per se, and because our classes are over the weekends as well, it tends to become almost a seven-day work week. So I had to start just giving myself more stricter rules of okay, I'm not working on Monday or Tuesday, I'm taking off, it doesn't matter what I'm doing.

Speaker 1: 15:45

I got a separate cell phone for work and I put it away, I don't look at it. Then it's difficult, I will say I'm not perfect at it, but it's getting there. I also try to just with my wife. We actually recently just got married. Oh, congratulations, thank you. So because of know I'd say we're still in that honeymoon phase too. So that helps a little bit. Yeah, being able to spend more time with her. But I think it really just requires a whole, a whole, just mental change.

Speaker 2: 16:17

Yes.

Speaker 1: 16:18

I have to put work away. That's not the only thing that's important. Yes, and I've been burnt out multiple times because I've just worked myself to the ground in a way.

Speaker 2: 16:27

Oh, no, yeah, we don't want that, and this is why I like to have this discussion, because sometimes people can be hard on themselves. No, I got to take that last call. I got to put my clients first and, yes, that is call. I got to put my clients first and, yes, that is true. I'm not saying that you shouldn't do that, but you also need a balance because, realistically, you're going to burn yourself out and you need to take care of yourself because if you don't, if you don't get enough sleep because you're always working, your work is going to start being not so good and a hundred percent. So I think that is important, that you have become self-aware about that. You said, hey, I need to figure out what I need to do. Okay, separate cell phone for work, not going to look at it. It's not an emergency, not life or death. I will get to it when I can get to it, right?

Speaker 1: 17:04

Yes, and you know, initially it hurt because I've lost a few deals because of that. Parents, you know a couple of times. Well, you didn't respond, so we went to someone else and it hurts. But I've also realized there's enough business around that. It's not going to kill me, that's right, and it's not going to. At the end of the day, my personal health is just as important.

Speaker 2: 17:23

Yes, amen to that so important. I love talking about this because, again, I think entrepreneurs need to hear this and maybe they aren't aware how other people are working and they're doing it a certain way, and maybe hearing this from other people who are making an impact in the community will inspire them to put their mental health first as well, too, because they matter, you matter.

Speaker 1: 17:43

Exactly, and I learned it from others as well, like other business owners who told me the same thing is you have to give yourself a break, absolutely. If you can't, then you're not going to be able to keep running your business.

Speaker 2: 17:54

Exactly I'm glad we're on the same page there, yeah.

Speaker 1: 18:14

And when you are setting boundaries for yourself, what is it that you like to do? What inspires to just give my brain some rest? I think the biggest with my job especially. I always like saying business owners and CEOs. Their job role is two things One, the strategy on how to keep growing the business, and then the second is just keep solving problems. That's it. And with being able to solve problems creatively, I have to have a fresh mind to it. So with that I try to do whatever my hobbies are. So outdoor activities, especially because my job is more of an indoor aspect. So I like to go outside. I like biking, having fun with my cars or just even going out for a hike, especially with my wife. Wife, we like to travel, um, so like kayaking, things like that love it?

Speaker 2: 19:03

no, I think that's great. Do you like to like build the cars too, like the ins and outs, or are you more just like collecting it, or oh no, I like fixing them, building them, that type of stuff that I'm more interested with.

Speaker 1: 19:13

Yeah, and it keeps, I guess, my engineering aspect of my brain still alive.

Speaker 2: 19:17

yeah, I was gonna say he's engineer, so that was kind of a dumb question for me to ask, sorry, but yeah, building it, of course. And then is there like a life lesson here that you've learned so far. It can be whether it's been in your career right now with helping kids, it, anything that's been challenging that you've noticed throughout your life that you have been able to overcome.

Speaker 1: 19:39

Sure, I've fallen a lot in the business. I mean, there's a lot of ups and downs in the business. There's been a lot of times where I've just like, okay, I should quit, I should get a job again. And it's not easy. And I think the two big lessons I've learned is that one you have to keep getting up. But the second is you have to have a life partner or someone who will make sure that you keep getting up. That motivation behind everything. And I think my wife's been a big part of that. She's been one of my biggest supporters of just anytime something has happened and I'm like I don't want to do this anymore. And she's like, no, if you do something else, you're going to hate it. So it's better that we solve this and everything's solvable. Yes, that's another thing I've learned is just everything's solvable. It just takes time, it takes effort, but there's nothing so bad that it's not solvable.

Speaker 2: 20:35

Yeah, no, that's great. I love that you have your partner who can support you, uplift you and just like be there when you want to give up. You just want someone that you don't want, someone who's like, ok, just give up. Like she's like no, you work too hard for this, you're going to hate it. Exactly. Get your butt off the floor and do it. Yeah, so I love that. Is there anything that I have not touched on that you would like to share with our listeners in regards to yourself or your business?

Speaker 1: 21:03

I guess the biggest thing you know. One of the things is that I want to get our brand out more. There's a lot of people that just come to us and they're like, oh, we didn't even know there's a company out there like you. And I think that's been one of our big things for 2025 is just getting ourselves out there a little bit more. So if you're interested in robotics, any type of STEAM activities, extracurricular activities for not just your kids but even for adults, you know, reach out. I'd love to talk about that.

Speaker 2: 21:34

Absolutely Well. Thank you so much. Yeah, I'm going to ask a question that I like to ask everybody. Okay, it is do you have a mantra, a saying or a quote that inspires you or has inspired you in your life that you could share with our listeners as a use for inspiration to them as well?

Speaker 1: 21:55

Sure. So I guess the biggest and I've mentioned this is everything's solvable, and I think that's how I keep going is just, anytime there's a bigger problem or I'm just like I can't solve this, that's what keeps me going, that everything's solvable, you just have to find it.

Speaker 2: 22:11

Yeah, and it can be frustrating sometimes, but you've got to not give up and find what it is. Yes, yeah, and where can people check you out one more time for? On Instagram.

Speaker 1: 22:21

YouTube, YouTube Facebook, Odinwise Academy or odinwisecom All our different links that we can go to.

Speaker 2: 22:30

Perfect. Well, thank you so much for being here today. It was an honor to have you as a guest and get to learn about you. Thank you, yeah, thank you.