Crowd-funded CTO & Cofounder Tells us What he Looks For in a Candidate

Ever wonder how a crowd-funded idea can quickly turn into a growing business? And how does a booming startup build its team?

We sat down with Saurabh Gupta, CTO and cofounder of Play-i to find out more. He, along with Vikas Gupta developed Bo and Yana, robots designed to help kids learn to code.

Their mission: to make programming fun and accessible for every child. It had a successful month-long campaign last fall and the robots will ship this fall to early backers. There will be more shipped in time for the holiday season.

Right now, the startup has 30 employees and are hiring to keep up with the growth. Check out our one-on-one Q&A:

You founded Play-I over a year ago. What lead you to create Bo and Yana?

Play-i combines two things that I am most passionate about. I've always been deeply interested in technology and in building products that make a significant difference. I have a four year old son, and I really wanted to do something to empower him and other children.

As cofounders, we started the company with the mission to make coding accessible for children. Coding is an abstract concept, and we quickly realized that we need something tangible to make it fun and accessible for kids.

We also wanted a fixed platform - one that provides instantaneous fun and can develop children's interest in learning more about coding. This led us to create Bo and Yana.

What type of programming language do you use?

Our product spans across a wide range of software technologies - we are building embedded devices, mobile applications and an e-commerce platform. So we use quite a few programming languages: C, C++, Java, Objective C, C#, Lua, Javascript and others.

We believe that learning a new programming language is easy, as long as one understands the basic notions of programming and computer science. This shows in the product that we are building. We want to introduce programming to children without focusing on the semantics of one particular language.

As they grow with the product, they will have the option to pick up any language they want.

What type of management style do you guys practice?

We believe in minimal management, not one based on hierarchies. One of our culture values at Play-i is ownership, and that reflects in our team.

We have a lot of self-driven and self-motivated people who can get things done without requiring constant management. There is no place in the company for traditional managers; everyone is hands-on to some extent.

What to do you look for in a new hire?

We have an extremely high bar for hiring. We look for three things: ability, passion and culture fit.

We want rock stars who can do amazing things, and who have proven themselves in their past experiences.

We want people who share our passion, and who believe that we can make a difference with our mission. Lastly, we want someone who can fit in with the rest of the team. Our company values include ownership, customer focus and respect, and we look for these in new hires.

What would make someone’s application stand out for you?

I notice what someone has done and how well they can articulate it - have they been involved in interesting projects, and have they tried to solve hard technical problems.

I also notice how proud they are about what they’ve achieved and I like to get a sense of that during the interview process.

I look for a personalized application. Someone who is passionate about us should have taken the time to understand what we’re doing and to customize their application to that extent.

What’s next for Bo and Yana?

Our main focus right now is to deliver Bo & Yana as soon as possible to our early backers who placed their faith in our company. We want to make sure that we give them an amazing experience with these robots.

We will also keep adding mobile applications - both ourselves and working with third party developers. We plan to continue adding more accessories and siblings to these robots, which will increase their value over time.

Kids of all ages are learning to code using your robots – why do you think this is an important skill to have today?

I strongly believe that coding is a skill that every child should know. Children are growing up immersed in technology, but most of them have no idea of how things work.

Understanding coding will allow them to be a part of the creative process, rather than just being consumers of technology. Knowing how to code isn’t just useful for programmers. Computer science and programming will be important for everyone in the future.

As kids learn to code, they will develop a better understanding of the world around them. They will do more than just consuming what others have done. My hope is that children will recognize the value of computer science, and how it can give them a head start in life. I also want them to feel that coding is cool.

 

Pictures provided by Play-i media site. Top picture, from left: Mikal Greaves, Vikas Gupta and Saurabh Gupta.