Tackling Learning Disorders With Technology: Hasan Zafer Elcik, Otsimo's Co-founder & CEO

HackerNoon Reporter: Please tell us briefly about your background.

I’m Zafer. I was born in Eskişehir, and studied CS at Middle East Technical University. Currently, I’m an Ashoka fellow, and focused on impact- and human-focused international social establishments. My goal is to change the world by making special education and education in general as accessible as possible to all the children in the world.

What's your startup called? And in a sentence or two, what does it do?

Otsimo designs gamified education software mobile applications that are highly customizable and personalized using state-of-the-art technology for kids aged 1-8 who have developmental or learning disorders such as autism and down syndrome, to facilitate learning and skill-building. Otsimo has two apps focusing on developing motor, core, cognitive, speech, and language skills as well as reading, writing, and basic math.

What is the origin story?

My little brother Alper was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder when he was 2. Back then, we were fortunate enough to get him the special education he needed, but some subjects like colors and math were still difficult for him to learn because he couldn’t focus enough on the subjects. One day I noticed he was really engaging with my smartphone, so I got really excited with the possibilities of finding a game that is suitable for him to play and learn, but could not find any.

I asked my dear friend if we could make a simple color matching game to be played on mobile phones to see where it would go and that’s where it all started. In a matter of days, he managed to learn the colors and really enjoyed the game at the same time. We then researched and worked with professionals in the field to make the app more comprehensive and used technologies in the background to make it fit for all needs as no child with special needs had the same exact needs. To this day, we have touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of children with special needs from across the world.

What do you love about your team, and why are you the ones to solve this problem?

Our team is the best team working on a solution such as ours. They are all good people and they know how to adapt. When you are doing for-profit social impact work, you need with you people that are good and kind in nature who understand the importance and weight of the work we’re doing but do not strictly focus on the monetary gains. I would trust each and every one of my team members with my eyes closed and know that I can depend on them even during times of skyrocketing growth.

Also, although the origin story of our work is near and dear to my heart, every member of our team has also taken it upon themselves and embraced Alper and this cause as I would. In the end, we did not reinvent the wheel. We just took what already worked and innovated upon that. What we did is we took the existing methods that worked but were not accessible enough and the personal life experience that is actually the reality of many many people across the world and gathered them into a working little machine that is for the greater good.

We use novel technologies as well as some traditional methods that we know work. Sometimes as humans we are not always aware of the problems faced by a group of people. However, we are striving to change that and make sure that this group of people also has access to opportunities through our solutions.

If you weren’t building your startup, what would you be doing?

I would definitely work at a startup! I think I would have especially gravitated towards the mobile gaming/education sphere because I’m really interested in, maybe a little obsessed with, what I’m doing.

At the moment, how do you measure success? What are your core metrics?

It is difficult to measure success in our field of work as there are a lot of metrics. But basically, we take a look at the statistics of how many children get special education and how many hours of special education are provided. In addition, we keep tabs on our MRR and growth rate.

What’s most exciting about your traction to date?

This may be a little cheesy, but the positive feedback we receive from the families and caregivers of the children we are helping is almost always amazing to hear. The first time someone sent us an email saying that their previously non-verbal child started to say mom I really got emotional, thinking back to the times we had a similar reaction to my brother’s progress and development. Now we can even offer our users charts and graphs, exactly pointing out how their child has grown, to return the favor.

What technologies are you currently most excited about, and most worried about? And why?

I am truly excited about zero-emission technologies and green-tech. What I’m most worried about is what we have been hearing more and more of late about monopolization in the technology sector by big companies like Google and Apple, and the consequences of the measures taken against this movement.

What drew you to get published on HackerNoon? What do you like most about our platform?

HackerNoon reports the trailblazers of our time, ahead of time. I love how I can find quality content produced by real professionals in the technology industry.

What advice would you give to the 21-year-old version of yourself?

I would say to my 21-year-old self to take care of my mental health and strength. We are dealing with hot and heavy topics on a daily basis, plus there are a ton of things happening across the world. I found out that mental strength is the thing I needed constantly along the road.

What is something surprising you've learned this year that your contemporaries would benefit from knowing?

I have not expected remote working culture to be this difficult. There are many moving parts that need to fit into the perfect place to ensure both the work is done but also the people are happy in the process. I have learned that starting small in terms of working remotely and then making it hybrid worked the best in our case. Giving people the flexibility helped us avoid a lot of stress while also making social distancing and remote work possible.