About

Kritik was founded to address the biggest problem facing students in higher education today: the lack of development of critical thinking skills. Our Learning by Teaching approach was conceived through years of hands-on work in academia. Our founders bring deep knowledge of higher education and technology to Kritik: Mohsen is the co-founder of Top Hat & Carine is an accomplished academic with 4 degrees. Below is our story and the incredible team behind our vision...

June

Co-founders Mohsen and Carine officially incorporate the company, and Kritik is born.

August

After speaking with hundreds of professors to gather feedback and insights, Kritik develops the first version of our platform and launches in Canada with 6 instructors and 650 students.

October

Our team travels across North America to conduct further research behind tools and features that instructors want and need in order to develop students' critical thinking through peer assessment.

January 2020

Kritik triples in size and launches the second version of our platform with updated features such as Calibration, Kritik Score, and Team-based Learning. Instructors at 10 universities implement version two.

April

Kritik is used by well over 6000 students across 25 universities in North America.

June

Kritik celebrates our first anniversary. Our team has grown to 14 talented team members in less than a year.

December

Kritik closes its pre-seed round financing.

January

Kritik has been used in 100+ higher education institutions for 40,000+ students, up by almost 60x since the previous year. We also released exciting features such as a new UI, LMS integration, and inter-group evaluations.

March

Kritik Marketing team is born.

November

Mark Deep well join the mission to scale the technology.

April

Kritik adopted site-wide at Seneca College, York University, University of Alberta and more schools.

July

Kritik closes its seed round of financing, and adds senior developers to scale the technology.

September

Kritik launches LTI1.3 LMS integrates cross 17 universities.

We go above and beyond for professors and students in the Kritik family, because we know that developing critical thinking is no small feat. We are constantly innovating and implementing new creative features and ideas. We are experienced, and build our features on research and feedback.

We empower teamwork through trust, honesty, and integrity. Above all, we understand that the world is changing fast. For students looking to succeed in our dynamic world, the ability to think critically and creatively now trumps the simple accumulation of information, that for decades has been the measure of summative success in higher education.

Our Values

Mamba Mentality

We focus on the process and trusting in the hard work when it matters most. We are a sport team of family members. We keep fighting until we win. "Great things come from hard work and perseverance. No excuses." – Kobe Bryant

Actively Learning

We are intentional in finding opportunities to learn. We set goals before acting and reflect on our actions. We ask good questions, think critically, and put our learnings into practice. We impart our knowledge to others in a true learning by teaching model. We strive to be our best selves through personal growth.

Healthy Mind & Healthy Body

We maintain a positive attitude and understand how to work 'smart.' We take time away from our monitors to enjoy the outdoors, stay active, and spend time with loved ones. "Good Thought, Good Word, and Good Deed.” – Zoroaster

Radical Honesty

We are honest and empathetic. We are great listeners with high levels of integrity. We are credible and trust-worthy, as we deliver our promises through an action plan. We empower each other by being a coach who trusts but verifies. "Turning our organizations into places of growth and self-actualization." - Jerry Colonna

Listen with Empathy

We do our best to put ourselves in others’ shoes and understand perspectives different from our own. We listen without judgment. We ensure both our customers and our employees feel heard and valued, and cared for.

Jugaad / Always be Innovating

We are a non-conventional innovators as we are constantly evolving our platform to meet the needs of professors and students. We are agile, with the ability to pivot our focus when necessary. We think outside of the box to get it done, and do it right. "Jugaad is a way of doing more with less." – Simone Ahuja

Meet the Team

Mohsen Shahini, PhD

Co-Founder

Mohsen Shahini holds a PhD in Mechatronics Engineering. He co-founded Kritik in 2019 after helping to build Top Hat, an active learning software platform, which he co-founded in 2009.

Shahini’s experience and innovation at Top Hat helped the product become a market leader in student engagement software and adopted by more than 4 million students every year. Working in educational technology for over a decade, Shahini is also an active speaker in the Higher Education and startup communities. His current vision is to improve classroom innovation in higher education and to help make learning efficient, effective and engaging for everyone.

Carine Marette

Co-Founder

Carine Marette co-founded Kritik in 2019 after launching two startups in wearable technology and design. Marette holds a master’s degree in Information Technology and a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from École Supérieure de Génie Informatique (ESGI) and bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and Sociology from Laurentian University. Marette oversees all internal and external operations at Kritik, from finance to human resources and business management. Her current vision is to empower student learning in higher education. More.

Mark Deepwell

Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer

Mark is an Engineering leader who loves collaborating and building cohesive teams. With 6 years of executive leadership experience, Mark joined Kritik to accelerate development and reliability of our products. He has a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology and a Master of Business Administration from Simon Fraser University.

Kelly Alexander

Director of Customer Success

Kelly joined the Kritik team with 6 years of leadership experience, and over 10 years working in customer service. She holds a B.Ed. from McGill University and is passionate about encouraging the development of critical thinking skills in students of all ages.

Courtney Archer-Efimba

Instructional Design Specialist

Courtney studied Human Rights & Equity at York University, and is an advocate for equity and diversity in education. She is passionate about travel, sharing poetry, and creating an enriching learning community for students.

Ismael Arias

Product/App/UIUX Developer

Ismael is a frontend developer with 8 years of working on different projects from simple WordPress sites to whole functional apps, always focusing on UX/UI solutions and of course, being a team player.

Armin Baig

Director of Marketing

Armin joined Kritik with over 13 years of marketing experience. He holds an MEng in Entrepreneurship and Innovation from Toronto Metropolitan University and is passionate about overcoming growth challenges.

Steve Carota

Customer Success Manager

Steve joins Kritik after 11 years of international K-12 education experience. He’s worked in the classroom and has held leadership positions in tech integration and data and assessment management. He believes in the importance of empowering students to learn through critical feedback and data driven assessment.

Jillian Franz

Marketing & Research Co-op

Jillian is a 4th-year student at the University of Waterloo studying English and Business. She comes to Kritik with experience in marketing, technical writing and communications. She is passionate about using marketing to educate and drive growth.

Justine Kronovsek

Full Stack Developer

Justine holds a Master’s degree from the ESSEC Business school in France. She was working in Marketing when she decided to learn how to code. During her coding bootcamp, she discovered the value of learning by teaching and peer-to-peer assessment.

Tomas Kuras

Senior Vice President of Sales

Tomas has extensive experience in sales leadership roles within the SMB, mid-market and enterprise spaces. He sees the potential peer assessment technology has to be a scalable driver of student engagement in classrooms and will be leading institutional sales at Kritik. He is known for being a true team player and a genuine leader among his peers.

Daniel Lantin

SDR Team Lead

Daniel joined the Kritik team with 7 years of experience in marketing and entrepreneurship, and 2 years of experience in B2B tech marketing. He made the shift to sales because he’s passionate about being closely tied to revenue and how that impacts the overall growth of the company. He moved to Canada in 2019 from the Philippines.

Andy Liang

Product Designer

Andy is a Product Designer based in Vancouver. He has worked in various startups in the past helping people bring their ideas to life. When not at work, he’s either cooking/eating, finding deals, or looking at all of the Pokemon stuff with his kid.

Dave Liptrot

Enterprise Account Executive

Dave spent 9 years at Top Hat, a leading Ed Tech company based in Toronto. Dave is striving to make Kritik the leading provider of peer assessment technology in higher education.

Maluh Madrones

Leads Generation Specialist/Customer Support Representative

Maluh holds a bachelor's degree in Business Administration and a bachelor's degree in Law. She joined Kritik with 10+ years of experience in the e-learning industry. She is passionate about helping professors and students succeed in using educational technology.

Katrina Moss

People and Office Assistant Co-op

Katrina is a 4th year student at the University of Waterloo studying Psychology and Business. She brings previous experience in Marketing, Communications and Human Resources. She is passionate about helping others and is excited to bring her energy and organizational skills to Kritik’s People & Culture team.

David Murray

Junior Account Executive & BDR Team Lead

David has a background in education and is passionate about helping people solve problems. He comes with extensive experience in the ed tech space and brings considerable knowledge of the obstacles educators have to overcome on a daily basis.

Quinton Ramos

Business Development Representative

Quinton is a 3rd-year student at the University of Waterloo studying Legal Studies and Business. He comes to Kritik with experience in sales and research. Quinton is excited to bring his positive energy and interpersonal skills to the Kritik team and provide students with higher education.

Preeti Ravi

Content Marketing Manager

Preeti comes with SEO writing experience and has developed content monetization strategies for several startups in her career so far. She has an MBA in Marketing and has lived and worked in India, Australia and Canada.

Luis Rudge

Senior Software Engineer

With more than 10 years of experience as a Software Engineer and Technical Leader, Luis joins Kritik to help the tech team in their next big step. He's passionate about mentoring and believes the team only improves if everyone improves together.

Przemek Rudzki

Software Developer

Passionate for coding, Przemek became a software developer after he graduated from a coding boot camp at the University of Toronto, followed by an online Master of Computer Science program at GTU.

Dawar Saeed

Business Development Representative

Dawar is an experienced BDR, who has worked in startups in a diverse range of sectors. Recently graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University with a bachelor's in arts. Passionate about improving the way students learn and communicate with one another.

Ivansa Samararatne

Marketing & Research Co-op

Ivansa is a Legal Studies and Business student with a minor in Digital Arts Communications at the University of Waterloo. She comes to Kritik with experience in research and business development and a passion for innovative education. In her free time, she enjoys reading and watching feel-good movies

Vlad Terletsky

Senior Product Manager

Vlad comes with 10+ years of experience in SaaS Product Management and Technical Program Management and has helped technology businesses with building, launching and, scaling software products. Vlad holds a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from Simon Fraser University and Professional Project Manager (PMP) & PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) designations.

Maneet Tut

Customer Success Co-op

Maneet is a fourth year student at the University of Waterloo studying Business and Legal Studies. She brings previous co-op experience in Research and Customer Service and is thrilled to join Kritik’s CS team.

Bradley Thompson

Sales Development Representative

Bradley started his career path as an automotive technician, quickly realizing the most gratifying part of the job was not fixing the vehicle, but educating the customer on why the repair needed to be done. He is driven by the competitive nature of sales and plans to do whatever he can to refine his skills to ensure he can perform at a high level and create business for a company with a vision he truly believes in.

Chun Yang

Full Stack Developer Co-op

Chun is a third-year student at Western University pursuing an Honours Specialization degree in Computer Science who has 3 years of experience prior to joining Kritik. He is a team player and passionate about Software Development.

Everyone's a Kritik

Kritik is the only peer-to-peer solution designed to enhance students' higher order and critical thinking skills in online or in-person classes

Our Story

Why We Do What We Do

Our Values

Meet the Team

Everyone's a Kritik

Kritik is the only peer-to-peer solution designed to enhance students' higher order and critical thinking skills in online or in-person classes

Our Story

Why We Do What We Do

Our Values

Meet the Team

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