The Edge: ThinkParametric, start learning.

April 07, 2015 3 min read

Novedge:  Tell us a little bit about ThinkParametric and the Team. ThinkParametric_Landing_PageRodrigo Medina Garcia: ThinkParametric is an Online Technology Education Platform for the Architecture and Construction industries; we help students and professionals to successfully implement technology on their projects by teaching the latest skills in Computational Design. We currently are a small team of three people collaborating with different professionals around the world for our content creation efforts. Arie, Willem and me (Rodrigo) have been part, over the last few years, of the Design and execution teams for projects like the  Mexico´s National Film Archive, Liverpool Insurgentes, Liverpool Interlomas and Chedraui Store amongst many others. The fourth musketeer at ThinkParametric is Emmanuel, who is a full stack developer well versed on several programming languages and who is in charge of the platform development.

Novedge:  Who came up with the idea for this platform?

Rodrigo Medina Garcia: We were always fans of the idea of creating a startup; we are entrepreneurship and technology enthusiasts. While working in the Architecture Industry we realized there was a huge gap between the technologies currently being developed and the ones being implemented in most projects. We have one of the most profitable industries in the world, which paradoxically is broken as it deals with different problems such as delays, rework, poor communication conflicts and being over budget. Technologies like BIM and Computational Design are helping address all those issues; we also want to be part of the solution by giving access to these skills in an affordable and convenient way, that takes into account  the times we live on today.

Novedge: Can you list the Design Software your tutorials instruct on?

Rodrigo Medina Garcia: Right now we are focusing on software like Rhino and Grasshopper, which are the ones we are more experienced on and by far are our favorite tools. However we recognize the importance of big players like Revitfor which we are are also developing courses. As the library grows more software will be added. Waffle_GrasshopperNovedge:  What makes you so good at what you do?

Rodrigo Medina Garcia: I don´t think we are particularly gifted at something other than being fast learners. we part of the generation that realized the power of internet and how you can harvest it to learn anything. If I would have to mention any talent it would be our ability to learn fast and on our own. That is why the idea of an online technology platform that helps making the learning process easier, comes quite natural to us.ThinkParametric_Team-1Novedge: Who is your target customer?

Rodrigo Medina Garcia: We are initially targeting Architecture students which are the ones more open to new technologies. Later on we hope to expand our efforts to reach more professionals. We think we can also be an attractive fit for firms that would like to have a low end solution to train their teams on the latest technologies. As we are attracting young talented people eager to learn the latest technologies relevant for companies,  we see the value that this user base could offer these companies. It would be possible, at some point, to partner with Architecture Firms and create a sort of certification that would help with the selection of the best possible candidates.

Novedge: How do you do it?

Rodrigo Medina Garcia: We are actually not inventing the wheel here, we are just one more of the multiple online education sites that are emerging these days, the novelty is that we decided to specialize in the cross section of Architecture and Technology. We also have a strong focus on quality and give our users the opportunity to track their progress.

Novedge:  You just made it into the 500StartUps. What does it mean to be #500strong ?

Rodrigo Medina Garcia: 500 Startupsis one of the more prestigious and the biggest accelerators and investment programs for technology companies out there, which means we are getting backed and mentored by some of the smartest people which at some point helped companies like Udemy and SendGrid (just to name a couple) to become what they are today.

For us having a shot to create a company that has that sort of impact in our field is an exciting challenge.

 

Check out  ThinkParametric on their website and start learning right away! We are excited to announce that the ThinkParametric Team will soon lead a tutorial for the Novedge Webinar Series .

Stay tuned and look for Webinar News on our Twitterand Facebook feeds.

 

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