00:00:00 – 00:00:07 Nitin Bajaj

Welcome to the Industry Show. I’m your host, Nitin Bajaj, and joining me today is Dharti Desai. Dharti, welcome on the show.

00:00:08 – 00:00:11 Dharti Desai

Thanks for having me, Nitin. It’s a pleasure.

00:00:12 – 00:00:16 Nitin Bajaj

It’s great to have you here. Let’s start with the big question: who is Dharti?

00:00:18 – 00:00:31 Dharti Desai

Yeah, let’s see. So, authentic, vulnerable, gutsy, eager to learn, love to be challenged, mythbuster, and grounded, like my name’s sake. That’s me.

00:00:33 – 00:00:34 Nitin Bajaj

And a lot of fun to be with.

00:00:35 – 00:00:38 Dharti Desai

I hope so, yeah. Fun is important.

00:00:40 – 00:00:49 Nitin Bajaj

That’s amazing. And I’m looking forward to showing some of those hats in the next few minutes as we talk more about your journey and your story.

00:00:50 – 00:00:50 Dharti Desai

Sure.

00:00:51 – 00:00:57 Nitin Bajaj

So, tell us about Thimble.io. And what I like to know most is, why do this?

00:00:57 – 00:01:43 Dharti Desai

That’s a great question. So, Thimble.io is a social impact for-profit education technology company. And our product, we think it’s very unique, of course. It’s turnkey, custom-scoped STEM curriculum for grades 4 to 12. It’s very unique in that it’s hands-on, skill-building, problem-solving hardware, along with coding, engineering, electronics, and all the fun stuff. These projects are on a proprietary platform that we’ve built, which basically allows students to learn in a fun and innovative manner. And our kind of goal is to be in every underserved classroom where students don’t have access to these 21st-century skill-building or training. So, our mission is to provide affordable, inclusive, relevant, and accessible STEM learning.

00:01:44 – 00:01:47 Nitin Bajaj

That’s amazing. What got you involved into this?

00:01:47 – 00:02:26 Dharti Desai

Oh, that’s my favorite part. So, I think, obviously, I’ve shared with you many times, but I’m part of Thai. I have been for the last 10 years. And one of our—actually, our first cohort of Thai women back in 2020, the winner of the DC chapter, this founder from Washington, DC, she and Oscar Pedroso, who’s the founder of Thimble.io, they were in an accelerator together. And she introduced Oscar to Thai. And then I think he got bounced around a few chapters. And then finally somebody said, “Hey, why don’t you talk to Dharti in New York? Because you’re based out of Buffalo.” And that’s how Oscar and I met. And the rest is history.

00:02:26 – 00:02:51 Dharti Desai

That was four years ago. I can’t believe it. And I just love that Oscar is an incredible founder. And I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with a lot of founders because of Thai. But he’s very unique. He’s one of the most resilient people I know. And it’s been a joy, honestly, just for the last four years to learn with him and to build with him. It’s been fantastic. He’s really great. I’d love for you to meet him.

00:02:51 – 00:02:59 Nitin Bajaj

I would love that, too. And what I love the most is your passion for Thimble and the work you’re doing. Give us a sense.

00:02:59 – 00:03:09 Dharti Desai

Sometimes I remind myself I’m not the founder, but it feels like my company. And I think every team member will say that. That’s really a big testament to Oscar.

00:03:09 – 00:03:17 Nitin Bajaj

Yep. And also the joy of building something where you can create that impact. You don’t care about these titles.

00:03:17 – 00:03:20 Dharti Desai

So true. My titles actually don’t really matter.

00:03:20 – 00:03:20 Nitin Bajaj

Yep.

00:03:21 – 00:03:21 Dharti Desai

They have no meaning.

00:03:22 – 00:03:27 Nitin Bajaj

Give us a sense for the impact. It’s been four short years.

00:03:27 – 00:03:42 Dharti Desai

Four short years for me, but almost eight long years for Oscar. He’s been at it much longer. So, that’s why I celebrate his tenacity. But so, we’re—I would say we’re not super early stage, but we’re pre-Series A. So, we’re, in that sense, fairly early stage still.

00:03:42 – 00:04:03 Dharti Desai

We’re a small team, but lofty goals. So, we’ve managed to get into about 55-plus schools so far. And our goal for this year is to quadruple that number. And I think we’ve got all the—everything is aligned for that to happen. Of course, I cross my fingers and toes as I say that, but I think it’s going to be a really fantastic growth year for us, 2026.

00:04:04 – 00:04:12 Nitin Bajaj

That’s amazing. Give us a sense. How many students are you touching through these 55 and hopefully pretty soon 250-some schools?

00:04:13 – 00:04:26 Dharti Desai

Yes, yeah. So, we actually have our platform, which is the one I just talked about, the proprietary LMS that we’ve built. It captures everything. So, the data points are very important for us. We’ve just managed to cross 10,000 students. So, we’re very excited. Yeah.

00:04:26 – 00:04:26 Nitin Bajaj

Congrats.

00:04:27 – 00:04:38 Dharti Desai

Thank you. Yeah. It’s a big deal. It sounds like a small number when you think about how people talk about scaling, but I know it’s just adding that one zero at a time. And so, yeah, this year is going to be really massive.

00:04:39 – 00:04:42 Nitin Bajaj

That’s so cool. Congratulations to you and the rest of the team.

00:04:43 – 00:04:43 Dharti Desai

Thank you.

00:04:44 – 00:04:57 Nitin Bajaj

Now, education, especially in today’s age and time, is going through some changes, to put it mildly. Give us a sense, amongst the many challenges, what’s the one big challenge you’re facing?

00:04:59 – 00:05:06 Dharti Desai

Yeah, I wish I could tell you all of them. But yeah, no, let’s—I’ll try to give you the biggest one. I definitely think it’s the funding gap.

00:05:06 – 00:05:20 Dharti Desai

Also, because the market that we’re addressing is very much the underserved, right? So, it’s, of course, public schools. Everybody wants a state-of-the-art STEM program, but there are no funds and also no skilled teachers. So, it’s a really tricky space.

00:05:20 – 00:05:39 Dharti Desai

But I do think, at least from the last four years of being on this journey with Oscar and the team, I do think that we’ve somehow managed to crack that code. And I think what we’ve built as a product is definitely going to outlast a lot of things. I hope AI, because that’s now, right now, everybody’s—it’s in the Wild West. Nobody knows what’s going on.

00:05:39 – 00:06:06 Dharti Desai

But I do think that the stickiness, for me, is really around the renewal from a customer. And I see that happening now. And so, our retention rate is really fantastic. And that gives us a lot of confidence that we’re now going to be able to grandfather ourselves in. The challenge around funding, which I think we’re looking at innovative ways of addressing that as well, to be determined. I’ll tell you more towards the end of this year, I think.

00:06:08 – 00:06:15 Nitin Bajaj

On the flip side of challenges come opportunities. What’s the one you’re most excited about?

00:06:15 – 00:06:26 Dharti Desai

For this year, oh my God, I think the biggest news—and I did share this with you, I think—is Robinhood coming in as an equity investor into Thimble.io. It’s huge news for us. It’s, again, a big endorsement.

00:06:26 – 00:06:45 Dharti Desai

We got selected as one of six founders from over 340 applicants, right, across 18 states, I think it was. Basically, each venture gets $100,000 in seed capital. But this gives us access to hands-on coaching. They have a Design Insight group, which is a massive network of 5,000 New Yorkers.

00:06:46 – 00:07:18 Dharti Desai

These are people who’ve got lived experience. The whole kind of mission is around poverty, right? It’s helping shape and strengthen with solutions. So, six founders—that includes Oscar, obviously—are tackling barriers to economic mobility across housing, jobs, education, food access, language learning, and obviously with technology that’s grounded in lived experience. There are about 1,800 New York City public schools, Nitin. So, we’re very optimistic that we’re going to make a serious dent there. So, again, fingers and toes crossed.

00:07:18 – 00:07:19 Nitin Bajaj

That’s amazing.

00:07:19 – 00:07:21 Dharti Desai

That’s very exciting. We’re really looking forward to that.

00:07:22 – 00:07:49 Nitin Bajaj

That’s super cool. Now, as we look into the future, I like to take this time to pause and reflect. And I’d love to invite you to share two moments from your past life. One where things did not work out as you’d expected. There was disappointment, failure, lessons. And another where things exceeded your expectations and became a success beyond your imagination.

00:07:51 – 00:07:53 Dharti Desai

And this is outside of Thimble.io, I’m assuming, right?

00:07:54 – 00:07:55 Nitin Bajaj

This is your show. Whatever you want to talk about.

00:07:57 – 00:08:28 Dharti Desai

Yeah. So, maybe we can stay focused on Thimble.io. So, I think for us, the one failure, in hindsight, seems like the best thing that happened to the company was we were initially a direct-to-consumer company. And it was very exciting because we actually, before even we had a product, we were able to raise a lot of money through crowdfunding. And we got very excited. And it was almost like a Box of the Month kind of a story. So, we were shipping kits to people’s homes, not realizing that teacher intervention is going to be a big need.

00:08:28 – 00:09:00 Dharti Desai

And just around the pandemic, luckily, Oscar was able to pivot. And it was just in his backyard. Somebody said, “Hey, we saw these kits, and we’d love to have them in our school. And can you build a curriculum around it?” And that was like a big moment. And so, he had a pivot right around the time that I joined the company. And so, I think that is definitely a big lesson learned, something that we all keep tabs on because it’s not that it’s easy selling to schools. We have different challenges, but we’ve remained very focused on not trying to do too many things.

00:09:00 – 00:09:24 Dharti Desai

So, I think that—and that, for me, has been also a big lesson in life, just trying to acknowledge failures fast and then just move on. You got to get up and go. As long as there’s a customer that needs your product or wants your product and is willing to talk to you, I think it’s something that is worth celebrating. So, for me, success is tied into that as well. And I’m really proud that I’m able to pivot quickly, learn, fail fast, learn fast.

00:09:25 – 00:10:16 Dharti Desai

But I think for us, the big show-off moment in Thimble.io came when Oscar and I were visiting a school. And this was—so, we did launch some pilots in India as well. And this was in a very grassroots school because it was a challenge that we had taken on. And we actually went to certify the kids after they finished the first level, which is our Creator Set, which is about 24 projects. And two girl students excelled in that cohort. The super exciting part—of course, that was great—but the super exciting part was when the parents came along with the girl to get the certificate, the girl’s little brother was there. And he says, “Oh, I’ve been learning on my parents’ phone, on the platform. I’ve been going in with as my sister, taking her login and all of that, and going in.” And I was like, “Wow, just look at the impact, right?” And these are things that I just love talking about. And there’s so many such stories.

00:10:18 – 00:10:18 Nitin Bajaj

That’s amazing.

00:10:18 – 00:10:29 Dharti Desai

One of our students here is employed by Apple now and working on God knows iPhone 70 or something like that. Something crazy like that. Yeah. So, we have—we love these show-off moments.

00:10:29 – 00:10:36 Nitin Bajaj

That’s amazing. Just one is the validation, but two is, and more importantly, that pure joy.

00:10:36 – 00:10:37 Dharti Desai

Yeah. It’s incredible.

00:10:38 – 00:10:45 Nitin Bajaj

What you created that is creating such an impact. It’s just—that feeling is amazing.

00:10:45 – 00:10:56 Dharti Desai

It is. It is. Yeah. And it’s not—again, it’s not easy. And everything in hindsight looks great. The fact that we can tell these stories is a big deal. And then before you know it, you’re just piling up on those stories.

00:10:57 – 00:10:58 Nitin Bajaj

So true.

00:10:59 – 00:10:59 Dharti Desai

Yeah.

00:11:00 – 00:11:08 Nitin Bajaj

Now, this is all passion, fun, hard work. What do you do to step it off and enjoy and relax?

00:11:10 – 00:11:31 Dharti Desai

Relax. Of course, meditation is something I really enjoy. I follow self-mastery as well. But I love to travel. I love exploring local foods and cultures. Family time is very important to me. My daughter and I love playing cards. So, that’s our kind of relaxation, fun time. We do that a lot. There’s a game called Satat, Seven Eight.

00:11:31 – 00:11:32 Nitin Bajaj

Oh, love the game.

00:11:32 – 00:11:39 Dharti Desai

So, yeah, we play that a lot. And I love to read, of course. So does Anjali. And yeah, you know, we love to have fun. Fun is important.

00:11:40 – 00:11:41 Nitin Bajaj

It is. Yes.

00:11:41 – 00:11:41 Dharti Desai

Yeah.

00:11:43 – 00:11:49 Nitin Bajaj

Now, is there a book or a podcast that is a favorite that you’d like to share with us?

00:11:49 – 00:12:14 Dharti Desai

I’m not a podcast person, Nitin. Not yet, anyway. Somehow, I haven’t managed to do that. But I love to read. So, I just finished Kanval Rekhi’s Groundbreaker. Oh my God, I definitely recommend it. Everyone knows the story, but it’s a whole different thing to be actually reading it. And it’s just—for me, it was eye-opening in so many ways. And it’s also just reminders about what it is to be an entrepreneur. So, I would definitely recommend that.

00:12:15 – 00:12:20 Nitin Bajaj

Yeah. And he’s a great human being, but the story is just so amazing.

00:12:20 – 00:12:22 Dharti Desai

Incredible. Yeah. And what a legacy, right?

00:12:23 – 00:12:23 Nitin Bajaj

True.

00:12:23 – 00:12:24 Dharti Desai

Yeah.

00:12:25 – 00:12:32 Nitin Bajaj

Now, onto my favorite part of the show. We call this the One Line Life Lessons. Dharti, I would love for you to share your life lessons with us.

00:12:34 – 00:12:34 Dharti Desai

How many do you want?

00:12:36 – 00:12:37 Nitin Bajaj

Bring it on.

00:12:37 – 00:12:57 Dharti Desai

All right. I have favorites, and then I have some. But you just tell me where to cut off. I love being the owner of my destiny. I think that’s a huge lesson I’ve learned. And somehow, I’ve always managed to do that. And against all odds, another one that I’ve learned from my dad is I measure the worth of a human by how they treat someone who can do nothing for them. It’s a big one for me.

00:12:58 – 00:13:16 Dharti Desai

And then I’ve always told myself, “I will become the thing I tolerate.” So, if I surround myself with mediocre, with people who are critics or are cynical, and there’s chaos, right, it’s all going to soak into me. So, I choose better rooms, better partners, higher standards.

00:13:17 – 00:13:41 Dharti Desai

And then, just as I’m getting older and hopefully wiser, I think I’m telling myself constantly, “I just don’t need to peak early. I just need to last.” And I just want to do what I love doing with a lot of integrity, conviction, and guts, for sure. It needs a lot of that. But brick by brick, right? I’m not in a hurry. And I won’t tell you how old I am, but if I’m saying that, I think it’s applicable to everybody.

00:13:42 – 00:13:45 Nitin Bajaj

And we’ll settle at 22. How about that?

00:13:46 – 00:13:47 Dharti Desai

You’re my new favorite person.

00:13:51 – 00:13:53 Nitin Bajaj

If there are more, please bring them on.

00:13:53 – 00:14:14 Dharti Desai

Oh, no. I think—I mean, I have—I love these little one-liners, right? And my dad was the ultimate master of these one-liners. And he’s taught me so many. And he’ll say things like, “Charity begins at home,” right? And so, I’m like, “Okay, what does that mean? Charity’s charity,” right? And he’s like, “No, do it. Start at home because home is the most deserving. So, charity to the deserving.”

00:14:15 – 00:14:15 Nitin Bajaj

Yeah.

00:14:15 – 00:14:22 Dharti Desai

Yeah. But very fortunate and blessed to have got an amazing family, great upbringing.

00:14:24 – 00:14:30 Nitin Bajaj

And I’m blessed to have you as a mentor and a friend. So, that’s amazing.

00:14:30 – 00:14:40 Dharti Desai

Oh my God. Right back at you, Nitin. It’s been such a joy doing things together. And I hope to do more. So, I’m definitely looking forward to that. It’s been so much fun being a part of Asan.

00:14:41 – 00:14:49 Nitin Bajaj

Thank you so much. But Dharti, really, thank you so much for making the time for being here with us to share your journey and story.

00:14:49 – 00:14:52 Dharti Desai

It’s my pleasure, Nitin. And thank you for the opportunity.

00:14:53 – 00:15:13 Nitin Bajaj

You’re doing great work with Thimble.io, but also as a mentor, as an investor. You have single-handedly built an entire ecosystem and a generation of entrepreneurs and brought them so much impact. Entrepreneurship is an extremely hard thing to do.

00:15:13 – 00:15:13 Dharti Desai

It is.

00:15:13 – 00:15:26 Nitin Bajaj

And it’s these teaching moments that can make the difference between making it or not. And you’ve been there as a rock, as a North Star for many of us. So, really appreciate it.

00:15:27 – 00:15:34 Dharti Desai

Thank you, Nitin. That’s so happy to say that. But I’m equally blessed. And I surround myself with great people that I’m always learning from.