VILLAGEx 2023 Founder Friday: Gnomic

Founder Fridays is a series that spotlights VILLAGEx founders and their startups

The education technology industry, known as EdTech in the startup world, has experienced a surge of startups in North America in recent years. With public and private educational institutions striving to help high school students catch up on the learning that was lost due to the pandemic, Gnomic, a startup founded in 2021, aims to prepare and equip students for job opportunities after graduation. Computer science is a vital subject matter in today's tech-forward economy, and Gnomic seeks to provide a bridge between people who learned computer science in high school, college, or bootcamps, and the job market.

Their path to do this is by providing them with soft skills training, and mentoring them as they gain real-world experience by building projects in collaboration with employers.

Meet Joshua Anderson and Robert Ismo, the founders of Gnomic. Their mission is to provide a more accessible pathway for people to become software developers.

"For me, the big light bulb moment was when I realized how the US fails to teach computer science in the education system. Learning that made me decide I want to change that reality," shares Joshua.

For Gnomic, they believe in the power of education to enable everyone to create.

"We aim to give students the mental tools and knowledge access they need to become creators," shares Robert.

Q & A 

(Responses have been edited for clarity)

Why startup in New Orleans?

Joshua: “For me, New Orleans is a great choice because of the unique combination of a vibrant startup community, a very supportive and genuine culture, and a solid talent pool. As someone in EdTech, I also really appreciate that it has several nation-leading educational programs like 4.0 and Camelback, and a great pool of charter schools.”

How do you hope you and your business evolve while in the VILLAGEx program?

Robert: “This has been an amazing journey for us so far. Our primary goals are to gain a solid understanding of our customers, and to secure a paid pilot program.”