Tell us about your company and the problem it solves, or its benefit to learners or educators.
During your school years, you’ve probably sat in a classroom either not understanding what’s going on, grasping everything quickly and wanting to move ahead, or feeling disengaged because the material didn’t match your interests or learning style. If everyone has felt that at least once, imagine what it means at scale: it reflects a widespread issue in education where students don’t feel like learning is meant for them, ultimately preventing them from reaching their full potential.
And the teacher is not to blame. They are one person, brave enough to be lifelong learners and enter the classroom everyday to shape young minds. But the traditional tools to support every student’s individual needs have been limited.
At least until now. Flint‘s mission is to personalize learning for students. That means empowering teachers to teach every student in their class based on their needs, not just to the median level. It allows students to feel heard, with learning truly tailored to their success. When learners feel their unique ways of learning are appreciated, validated, and nurtured, their curiosity and motivation naturally grow.
The answer is not to increase the load on teachers, replace teachers, or throw away the current education system. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. This mission can only succeed through partnering closely with schools and the educators who have dedicated their lives towards making a lifelong impact on young minds.
With Flint, educators have seen improved test scores, deeper engagement, and new ways to turn creative ideas into interactive learning experiences. Teachers can view live student sessions, track individual strengths and areas for improvement, and truly be there for every student the way they individually need, without risking teacher burnout.
Students, meanwhile, can get speaking practice for hundreds of languages after class hours and role-play in historical simulations. They can practice reading with leveled texts and vocabulary support, code alongside an AI collaborator, get instant writing guidance, and participate in guided science labs. They can also annotate diagrams, draw graphs with comprehensive feedback, and create and share their own passion projects with peers across their school community. Our most popular activity was actually created by a student who wanted to use Flint to prepare for AP exams. Our Flint student representatives have created time management activities, grammar quiz prep, and have shared how Flint has increased their AI literacy and changed their mindset on how to use AI more responsibly to truly support their learning.
Where did the idea come from to create your company?
From a technology perspective, it came from the understanding that AI would clearly disrupt education, make personalized learning truly possible, and that the OpenAI’s and Google’s of the world wouldn’t co-build this technology with schools. That was the gap in the market.
My co-founder Jinseo and I believe education is the great mobilizer. It’s how Jinseo immigrated here on his own as a teenager, and how my parents came to the U.S. in the late 90s. But we all know that despite how important education is, the system of education is deeply broken. Success is, unfortunately, the exception, not the rule. That’s not because teachers don’t care or aren’t good enough. It’s because with one teacher and 20-30 students, true personalization isn’t possible.
Tell us about one challenge and how you overcame that challenge.
Jinseo and I have no teaching experience: it’s our greatest Achilles’ heel. Early on, we did a great job of selling Flint to schools, but we often felt like we were selling snake oil, selling into the excitement of AI, without a clear understanding of how we were improving teaching and learning. We solved this by visiting schools in person, observing the real impact our product was having, and recognizing how much further we could still go.
What are you most proud of or what is your company’s greatest achievement?
Building a community of 400,000 teachers and students who aren’t using AI for AI’s sake, but rather to teach and learn better everyday. We’re killing the stigma of AI in education, and reshaping the conversation towards personalized learning: a mission that every educator, parent, and student can get behind.
Where do you see your company in five years?
As the pioneer and winner of an entirely new product category for schools, one with AI-powered personalized learning at its core, that makes LMS and edtech tools of today look archaic.