

Today we’d like to introduce you to Medha and Pradnya Bhawalkar.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Medha and Pradnya. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My mom, Medha, founded GuruCool after experimenting on us (her daughters) as we went through various school systems right here in Sugar Land – Montessori, public, private, and even home-schooling. She noticed that no matter the method of schooling, consistent, easy-to-use practice that went with what we were doing in school seemed to be missing. She also felt like we were not motivated to do extra practice for school subjects, such as Math and English, but we were for extracurriculars such as piano and basketball.
She founded GuruCool in 1997, when I was in 3rd grade, and since then we have taught over 1000 students in the past twenty years. In 2015, after I finished getting my MBA and had worked as a software consultant for a few years, I decided I wanted to do something more meaningful and give back to the community. I had been in and out of the business for many years, but when I joined full-time, I decided I wanted to make sure that once parents found us, they could get extra practice and help for all their school subjects – Math, English and Science. I also knew that throughout the years my mom has been a neighborhood Guru- parents always go to her for advice ranging from, “What should I do with my kid that doesn’t want to read?” to “Do you know a good piano teacher?” As we continue to grow in size and reach more students, we have been sure to continue to be a trusted neighborhood mentor and advisor as well.
Has it been a smooth road?
Is it ever a completely smooth road? When we first opened, we actually started out inside a Montessori school and no one knew about us – it was really tough to get the word out without a storefront, when the internet wasn’t particularly popular either (remember, it was 1997). After six months, when we finally got a storefront in a shopping complex, that really helped. As our own program, it took some time for parents to develop trust in our method. We were competing with some big names. As my sister and I grew up, my mom was able to use her experience with us to develop and explain what we do at GuruCool. In recent years, as awareness of after-school programs has exploded in popularity, we definitely thought we were going to go under when our landlord opened two new learning centers in the same shopping complex as us. Instead, we have just learned to redefine what we do and have actually found that our business increased with more competition.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
We are proud to be a trusted advisor/mentor for parents once they find us. Whatever a parents’ goals are for their child, we work with the parent to achieve them. We serve students who are struggling with school material and students who are trying to challenge themselves with goals such as testing into Gifted & Talented, taking the SAT in 7th grade, skipping a grade of math, or getting course credit for AP classes in high school. We make sure to constantly update our materials to go with the school curriculum in Fort Bend ISD and create custom lesson plans for our students. Above all, we strive to be a caring, nurturing resource for parents and students that they go to from when they are 4 years old all the way until they go to college. We have now had many students who have grown up in our program and end up being like an extended family.
We are proud to have created something that helps the community and keeps on giving.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Absolutely! Houston and its surrounding suburbs are a great place to start a business. The melting pot of cultures is a very warm, welcoming place to run a business. We have everything from interesting ethnic restaurants and shops, endless entertainment options, a bustling medical center, and tons of family-oriented activities. Additionally, startup capital has really expanded in recent years with incubators like Station Houston, angle networks such as Houston Angel Network, and crowd-sourced funding, like NextSeed. We also have an incredibly affordable cost of living that helps the local business community thrive. I’ve had a lot of family friends over the years who had a dream to open a restaurant or a daycare and went out and did it – in Houston, if you can dream it, you can build it.
Pricing:
- For our readers, $50 off registration – valid through the end of September.
Contact Info:
- Address: 5862 New Territory Blvd.,
Sugar Land, TX 77479 - Website: www.GuruCool.com
- Phone: 281-494-6284
- Email: info@GuruCool.com
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/GuruCoolLearning
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/gurucoollearn
- Yelp: http://www.yelp.com/biz/gurucool-learning-center-sugar-land
Getting in touch: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.