About Dakoda
Dakoda was built by teachers, technologists, and educators who share a few convictions about writing, thinking, and the role AI should play in a classroom.
The questions teachers actually ask
These aren't aspirations or marketing language. They're the actual convictions that shaped every decision we made - about writing, about learning, about AI, and about what schools actually need.
ON AI
The distinction between AI that does the work and AI that asks the next question is the most consequential design decision in education technology right now. Dakoda asks the next question. That's not a technical detail; it's a philosophical commitment.
ON WRITING
A student who writes well thinks well. When we improve writing, we improve the quality of thinking in every subject, every conversation, and every decision a student will ever make.
ON WHAT WE'RE BUILDING
This shapes every decision we make about what the product does, what it refuses to do, and whom it puts at the center of the classroom - the student.
ON THE BLANK PAGE
It's not that students have nothing to say, it's that they don't know how to start. Dakoda helps students organize their thinking before they write.
ON TEACHERS
The best technology gives teachers more time for what only they can do: connect, inspire, and support students.
ON METHOD
We didn't build a tool and then find a problem to solve. We started with decades of classroom experience and built the technology to scale it. The method came first. The platform exists to deliver it.
ON WHAT WRITING REALLY TEACHES
Literary analysis, history essays, STEM research papers, college applications - the same foundational thinking skills apply everywhere. Writing isn't a subject. It's a superpower. Build it once, and it lasts a lifetime.
ON ACCESS
The quality of a student's writing education has always depended too much on where they live and who they happen to get as a teacher. Geography and resources should not determine whether a student learns to write well. That's the problem Dakoda was built to fix.
Too often, access to exceptional instruction depends on geography or resources - despite writing being one of the most important lifelong skills a student can develop. Strong writing builds confidence, sharpens critical thinking, and shapes how students communicate throughout their lives. I joined Dakoda because I believe AI can help scale great teaching responsibly - while still keeping teachers at the center of instruction.
Rachel Van Aken, M.Ed.
Head of Partnerships
Founder Voices
We thought about writing bios. Then we decided to just say what we actually think.
Founder · Co-CEO · Chief Academic Officer
"Dakoda provides students with something many have never experienced before: an approach to the writing process that feels understandable, manageable, and achievable."
For more than three decades, I taught thousands of students to become stronger writers and more capable thinkers - through a foundational approach centered not simply on writing, but on learning how to think with clarity, precision, and purpose.
That philosophy now lives at the core of Dakoda. The central belief is simple: when students become stronger writers and critical thinkers, they transfer those skills across all academic disciplines - and, far more importantly, into every aspect of their lives.
We built Dakoda to give students a clear framework for how to begin, develop, and complete their writing with confidence. As a result, they become increasingly independent, self-directed writers who understand not only what to improve, but how to improve it.
Co-Founder · Co-CEO · CTO
"Nick spent 33 years figuring out how to teach kids to think through writing. I've spent nearly 30 building software at scale. Dakoda is what happens when those two things are the same company."
My first startup failed in the dot-com bust. It was a hard lesson that taught me how to build and lead. A decade later I co-founded BeenVerified - and we built it into one of the most recognized consumer data companies in the country.
I've been using AI as a thinking partner since the day ChatGPT launched. Not as a substitute for thinking - as a partner for thinking. That distinction is the entire ballgame.
I never learned to write well in school. The train left the station and I was left behind, and it took me decades to catch up. I'm a parent of school-age kids, and I'm watching a generation get handed the most powerful shortcut in human history before they've built the muscle the shortcut is supposed to replace. Without guardrails, AI becomes a crutch and you lose a generation of thinkers.
With the right guardrails, it becomes the partner I wish I'd had: the one in the room who asks the next question instead of giving the next answer.
A Socratic writing coach for the classroom. A proven method behind every prompt. From teachers who spent decades in your seat.
