It all started here.
We wanted to make a nation of creators and builders, to forge a community of people who are curious and proactive, people who are passionate about creating things, people who are coming up with innovative ways of improving their own lives and the lives of those around them.
As we looked deeper, we realized that the culture of innovation and the belief that one can transform this world needs to be inculcated from a young age.
Reflecting on our own middle school and high school experiences, we realized that a conventional education approach teaches children to be followers rather than explorers. In today's rapidly changing world, technological innovation is transforming how people work, live and play, and it is no longer good enough to give children readymade directions.
At its foundation, our goal is to imbibe skills such as creative confidence, logical thinking and human-centric thinking in children that will empower them to be disruptive leaders and innovators rather than passive followers.
The design-thinking approach has been pioneered by Stanford's D-School. We combine it with training in fabrication as practised in MIT's FabLabs to create a two-for-one course on design thinking and fabrication.
Through the course, students are taken through incredible activities that engage them to think and invent. As they work in teams, they develop an open mind towards accepting multiple perspectives and, very importantly, gets them to respect each other as equals by appreciating each one's unique strengths.
While technology is an integral part, our focus is on letting children explore whichever direction they find interest in and ultimately be able to transform the world around them.
Our Team
Krishnateja Madempudi
Cofounder & CEO
Krishna looks at product development and management at Better By Design, his biggest strength is in getting people excited about an idea and bringing them together to accomplish extraordinary things.
He graduated from University of Toronto in 2011 and worked in Canada for 2 years, where he was exposed to both the corporate and the startup world (IBM and a startup called Eat Sleep Ride). He then came to India to do his own startup. During his journey, he was lucky to work with clients like A.R Rahman, ISB and a few entrepreneurs.
From the past two year, he has been working on affordable desktop manufacturing tools that help bring ideas to life. His 3D printer was set up at the children's museum in Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Soumeet Lanka
Cofounder
Soumeet thinks up of lofty (mostly larger than life) ways for The Makers of Things to make an impact. When not dreaming of seemingly unreachable goals, he is in charge of design decisions and communicating Better By Design’s ideas and work to the rest of the world. He is an Architect by qualification (B. Arch, CSIIT) and through his proprietary firm has since ventured into Contemporary Furniture design and landscape design. His work usually has the unique characteristic of drawing a users attention to engage with it while still being subtle in appearance.
Having dabbled in architecture, product design, animation, dance choreography, film making, cartooning, poetry and music composition he brings in influences from various such streams to help build a cohesive creative experience for the users of TMOT. His biggest strength could be his ability to infect everyone he meets with his own excitement towards good design.
Aastha Parikh
Educator Team Lead
Aastha is a product designer who specializes in educational products for children. Before joining the Better by Design team as an educator and program designer, she created games that teach concepts in Physics and Chemistry. She also happens to be a dog whisperer.
Archana
Strategy Consultant
Archana is a Strategy Consultant at Better By Design. With her diverse experience across corporates, schools and Ed Startups, she easily manoeuvres through the complexities of academia and business. She is passionate about unraveling the mysteries of how children's minds work. Constantly fluctuating between deep wonder and fierce play, Archana is currently exploring the possibility of being a 'Baby Mediator'. The last line is supposed to be funny, if it isn't then you could just stop at fierce play.
Mohammad Nawaz
Product Manager
Nawaz has dawned multiple hats at Better by Design. He is really passionate about customer experience and loves talking to people. Naturally, he's the voice of the company for all our customers. When he's not on call with parents, you can see him hustle with the growth Team.
Namballa Gopi
Lab Assistant
The go-to-guy for everything from hardware to lasering to 3D printing, he picks up skills like it’s the easiest thing. A new dad, he can be found proudly showing pictures of his daughter to those who ask.
Kushal Raj Patnaik
Filmmaker & Content Creator
Kushal finds his inspiration from two of the many things he loves- Science and Art. A Filmmaker who geeks out about the Cosmos and Theories of things, he constantly looks at how he can use simple experiments in his forms of art- be it paintings, photography, films or even lighting. Specialised in Direction and Cinematography, Kushal aims at using his craft to educate people and race to the Future.
Archna Menon
Filmmaker | Media and Communications Lead
Archna is many things. She studied architecture and journalism and has worked as a Design, Filmmaker and Newspaper Editor. At Better By Design, she aims to combine all these powers, to spread the ripple of Kid Innovation through the State and hopefully the Country.
Sandeep Chowdary K
Head of Operations
Sandeep cherishes alone time to read stuff on pocket, ponder over the future and sometimes get stuff done in the backstage. One day, he wishes to revolutionise k-12 learning.
Shashank
Filmmaker & Content Creator
Inspired by film, photography and backed by a computer science degree, Shashank works as a filmmaker and content creator at Better By Design. He takes part in brainstorming sessions for new content, ad strategies, technology and other media along with occasionally cutting cardboard when kids need help.
Sonali
Sonali loves learning from children as much as she loves teaching them. In pursuit of her passion for teaching, she quit her corporate job at Mahindra to join Teach for India. The best way to get her attention is to shout "Cake"!!!
