262: Raj Sodhi (Cross Border Kyle KYL6)

Podcast highlights:

• 04:00 How would you describe the tech ecosystem in Shenzhen? -- There is a total desire among people to collaborate, to help each other, and to share. If people believe in your vision, they will be drawn to you and you will be able to find the people you need to build your business.
• 09:55 At Guwoo we wanted to develop a sophisticated user-experience that wasn't simply click a button to turn a page or say a keyword to wake up the robot. We wanted something that would provide the necessary outcome-based experience that could take students ahead to the next level in the classroom.
• 33:08 Where do you see the opportunities in education moving forward? Where can technology really make a difference? -- In China there is plenty of technology but not enough solutions. In the US, it's the opposite problem, there are lots of solutions but a lack of good technologies. How do we take these platforms and scale them massively? These are the challenges going forward.

Podcast notes:

• 00:05 KYL6 - Cross Border Kyle with Kyle Ellicott and Gavenraj Sodhi of Guwoo and Solbit Group
• 01:09 What has been your career path? -- I came to China in 1994 and was fortunate then to learn Mandarin. I developed a fascination with the culture and came back in 2008 and embarked on this journey to transform learning as we know it.
• 02:09 What's changed in Shenzhen where you're at now in the time you've been there? -- It's like dog years. Things change here every quarter almost. The city contains the obvious village roots as well as the modern metropolis. All of that is here in Shenzhen now.
• 04:00 How would you describe the tech ecosystem in Shenzhen? -- There is a total desire among people to collaborate, to help each other, and to share. If people believe in your vision, they will be drawn to you and you will be able to find the people you need to build your business.
• 05:34 Education has become so important today. Have you seen this as you've built Guwoo? -- Very much so. We've had to pivot many times as we've developed this enterprise. For example, when we wanted to develop a robot for education, the realities of the Chinese market meant we needed to develop an AI that did not require a connection to the cloud. Because technology changes we've had to adapt and go through many iterations.
• 09:55 At Guwoo we wanted to develop a sophisticated user-experience that wasn't simply click a button to turn a page or say a keyword to wake up the robot. We wanted something that would provide the necessary outcome-based experience that could take students ahead to the next level in the classroom.
• 10:33 What feedback have you received from children and parents? -- We are still at an early stage of development. We will probably enter production within the next 12 months. But I would say the feedback we've gotten has allowed us to do a very iterated design and refine the product.
• 12:18 We realized creating the content for the platform would be enormously challenging simply because of the number and variety of the lessons. So we settled on this model called guwoo. This is a democratized style of creation where content creators come together from all over the world and are incentivized to develop content for the platform.
• 14:15 In the past most people followed a very established path to educational attainment. Today, however, there are so many different options through which to learn. What is your sense of how education is developing today? -- We are really seeing what you might call "decentralized education" take hold. People want to learn whatever they want from whoever they can. There is enormous disruption in this field.