A Former CDC Scientist Wants to Build Atlanta’s Next Founders
ATLANTA, November 7 (Hypepotamus) - Students as young as 10 are building prototypes and pitching their ideas with help from an Atlanta startup that combines AI education with entrepreneurship.
That startup, Co-AI Founder, guides students through identifying a problem, developing a solution, and making the case for why it matters. Along the way, they learn to question, test, and refine what AI gives them.
Founded by Mimi Kothari, a former public health professional and CDC alumna, Co-AI Founder combines AI education with entrepreneurship for students in grades five through 12.
Their goal is to help students develop the judgment to use AI thoughtfully while turning their own ideas into something tangible. And the startup, which is moving into raising its seed round, has already gotten the attention of one of the largest school districts in Georgia. Co-AI Founder has already been named an approved vendor for Cobb County schools, according to Kothari.
From Community Problem to Student Pitch
Co-AI Founder’s Young Founder’s Program gives students a structured path through identifying a community problem, designing a solution, building a prototype, and delivering a pitch. Guided digital activities sit alongside collaborative work with peers and involvement from teachers and parents at key milestones.
The AI platform acts as an entrepreneurial companion, prompting students to refine their ideas and explain their decisions as they move through the process.
“In our pilots, we worked with students at an elementary school in Cobb County and with remote public school learners in New Jersey, some as young as ten. Every one of them identified a real problem in their community, built a working prototype, and pitched it,” Kothari told Hypepotamus. The intended outcome extends beyond any individual project. Students practice critical thinking, problem-solving, and communicating why an idea matters.
Maija Ehlinger
Building Judgment Alongside AI Classroom Skills
As a parent herself, Kothari understands concerns about bringing AI into classrooms.
“I share some of it,” she said. “Plenty of AI tools just hand kids answers. We built ours to act like a co-founder: it asks questions, challenges students to defend their thinking, and lets their vision lead. Teachers and facilitators stay in the room.” Kothari said independent evaluators with backgrounds in government and higher education reviewed the program.
Access is another priority for the startup. Co-AI Founder has built out its own foundation which offers the educational tool through its entrepreneurship programming in under-resourced communities.
“Kids in well-resourced schools are already learning to use AI,” Kothari said. “I want every student learning to use AI thoughtfully and creatively at ten, long before they meet it in their first job.”
Maija Ehlinger
From CDC and GE to an Atlanta EdTech Startup
Kothari’s interest in preparing students for AI grew out of a career focused on preparedness.
She had expected to spend her career at the CDC. After leaving the agency earlier this year (alongside a slew of resignations and retirements from colleagues) she considered joining a different startup before she was drawn to the gaps she saw in education and access to AI.
Specifically, she saw a need to help students develop experience with AI while they still have room to experiment, question, and learn.
Shannon Whorton, and former GE corporate CIO, has joined the startup as a Strategic Executive Advisor. Whorton, who brings decades of experience at the corporate giant GE, says that she was drawn to build this type of startup because of its unique approach to education.
“What excites me about Co-AI Founder is that we go beyond traditional AI teaching aids, giving Georgia students in grades 5–12 early access to cutting-edge technology while teaching them to safely and securely interact with AI, turn their ideas into viable products and services, and build the skills to create opportunities in a rapidly evolving job market,” Whorton said.
The startup is also part of the Georgia AI Alliance, a statewide community working to make Georgia AI-ready.
For Kothari, hearing from students has been particularly rewarding.
“The moment that stays with me is one student. He was quiet and timid, and early on he told us he couldn’t do this. At our Spring Innovation Showcase, he stood up in front of a big crowd and said, ‘Before this class, I was afraid to speak, and now I’m up here sharing my idea with you all,’” Kothari explained. “That’s what we’re building. These kids are gaining knowledge, and they’re also becoming people who believe their ideas matter.”
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