Groton Alumnus Among Forbes' "30 Under 30"

Forbes magazine has named Alex Klein '08, the co-founder of Kano, among its "30 Under 30 Who Are Moving the World 2015."
Alex, 24, was included among 30 notables in the education category, but was honored further as the sole education representative among Forbes' "20 Standouts."

Alex's company revolves around an inexpensive, do-it-yourself computer kit and a desire to make affordable technology available throughout the world. The Kano kit is designed to be so simple that the company compares building its computer to playing with Legos. “We want to put the power to create technology in anyone's hands,” Alex told Forbes. “This generation just wants to pull the pieces together, build something cool, and express themselves.” 

Kano began with a successful Kickstarter project in 2013 that far exceeded its $100,000 goal. In late 2013, Groton's online newsletter, the Peabody Press, interviewed Alex, who noted the influence of two Groton teachers, math teacher Nishad Das and former Classics teacher John Tulp. At the time, Alex said, "Computing, and code education, has been taught like a foreign language, but badly. We should adopt a more experiential approach—connected to play."

The Kano kit is purposefully playful: it includes a circuit board known as Raspberry Pi, a do-it-yourself speaker, instruction booklets, and a keyboard. It allows users to design games, websites, and more, and to follow their imaginations.

Congratulations to Alex Klein '08; Groton School applauds his creativity and sense of mission!
Back