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

Kritik's Beginning
Incorporation
June
Co-founders Mohsen and Carine officially incorporate the company, and Kritik is born.
Professors
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.
Research
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.
2020
New Team
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.
Universities in North America
April
Kritik is used by well over 6000 students across 25 universities in North America.
First Year
June
Kritik celebrates our first anniversary. Our team has grown to 14 talented team members in less than a year.
Universities in North America
December
Kritik closes its pre-seed round financing.
2020
Universities in North America
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.
Universities in North America
March
Kritik Marketing team is born.
Universities in North America
November
Mark Deepwell joins the mission to scale the technology.
2020
Universities in North America
April
Kritik adopted site-wide at Seneca College, York University, University of Alberta and more schools.
Universities in North America
July
Kritik closes its seed round of financing, and adds senior developers to scale the technology.
Universities in North America
September
Kritik launches LTI1.3 LMS integrates across 17 universities.

Our Values

Innovation
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
Critical
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.
Ownership
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
Honesty
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
Healthy Living
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.
Unity
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
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
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
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
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
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.
Ismael Arias
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.
Justine Kronovsek
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
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
Daniel Lantin
Business Development 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
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
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
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.
Dawar Saeed
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.
Ivansa Samararatne
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.
Vlad Terletsky
Dawar Saeed
Business Development Representative
Dawar is an experienced BDR, who has worked in startups in a diverse range of sectors. He recently graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University with a Bachelor of Arts. He is passionate about improving the way students learn and communicate with one another.

Bradley Thompson
Senior 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.
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.
Nimrah Arain
Customer Support co-op
Nimrah is a third-year student at Wilfrid Laurier University studying Computer Science. She brings previous experience in Web Development and is thrilled to join Kritik’s CS team.
Nida Zelawar
Enterprise Business Development Representative
Nida’s journey to Kritik started with a conversation with the Co-Founder of Kritik, Carine Marette. After hearing Carine’s passion for education and values that resonated with Nida, she became inspired and motivated to join the Kritik team. Nida is ambitious, resilient, and a great team player. She thrives on challenges and change and always enjoys learning from others.
Haseeb Chughtai
Business Development Representative
Haseeb has four years of sales experience in a number of industries, including retail, automotive, and now entering software sales. He is a results-oriented salesperson. Utilizing his business knowledge, sales methods, and strong work ethic to help customers choose the best products on the market
Steve Carota
Ethan Dichoso
Marketing & Research Co-op
Ethan is a 3rd-year student at Wilfrid Laurier University studying Business. He comes to Kritik with experience in marketing, and growth. He is passionate about using marketing to help build meaningful products.
Dave Liptrot
Preeti Ravi
Demand Generation 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.
Indie
Team Mascot
Indie always knows how to keep the team motivated and energized! He's always up for a walk, a treat, or just some good quality time with his fellow Kritik's.
Indie
Past Co-ops
Various roles
We believe co-op is a powerful way for students to gain experience and apply the skills they learned in school.
The co-op experience at Kritik