Today we’d like to introduce you to Chieh-Hung (Jeff) Cheng.
Hi Chieh-Hung (Jeff), so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Chieh-Hung (Jeff) Cheng and Lai (Tony) Jiang are the co-founders of KangaCode, an engaging coding game and classroom management platform designed to help students learn Python through interactive adventures and real-world problem solving.
The idea for KangaCode came from a shared belief that coding education could be both effective and enjoyable. While working in software development and education technology, Jeff and Tony observed that many students were interested in learning programming but often lost motivation when faced with traditional teaching methods focused on memorization and repetitive exercises.
As lifelong gamers and programmers, they envisioned a different approach. Instead of teaching coding through worksheets and lectures, they created a platform where students learn by playing. In KangaCode, students write real Python code to guide characters through quests, solve puzzles, and explore game worlds, making the learning experience far more engaging and memorable.
To support educators, they also developed a classroom management system that enables teachers to manage students, monitor learning progress, review coding performance, and deliver lessons more efficiently. This combination of an engaging coding game and powerful teacher tools helps bridge the gap between student motivation and educational outcomes.
Today, KangaCode works with schools, educators, and families with a mission to make computer science education more accessible, engaging, and effective. Jeff and Tony continue to grow the platform while pursuing their vision of helping the next generation develop confidence and real-world programming skills through play.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Like many startups, the journey has not been a smooth road.
One of our biggest challenges was balancing engagement with education. There are many coding games that are fun but teach very little, and there are many educational platforms that teach programming but struggle to keep students interested. Finding the right balance between creating an engaging game experience and delivering meaningful learning outcomes required countless iterations, testing, and feedback from students and educators.
Another challenge was building a platform that serves both students and teachers. Students want an exciting and interactive learning experience, while teachers need tools to manage classrooms, track progress, and measure learning outcomes. Developing an engaging coding game alongside a robust classroom management system significantly increased the complexity of the product.
As a small startup, resources were also limited. We had to make careful decisions about where to invest our time and effort, whether it was product development, curriculum design, school partnerships, or marketing. Like many founders, we wore multiple hats and often learned new skills along the way.
Despite these challenges, each obstacle helped us improve the platform. Feedback from students, teachers, and schools has played a major role in shaping KangaCode into what it is today. While there is still a long journey ahead, overcoming these challenges has strengthened both our product and our mission to make coding education more engaging and accessible for students everywhere.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about KangaCode?
KangaCode is an engaging coding game and classroom management platform designed to help students learn real Python programming through interactive adventures, quests, and problem-solving challenges. Developed by ROULETTECH, INC., an educational technology company, KangaCode was created with a simple goal: to make coding education more engaging, accessible, and effective for students.
What sets KangaCode apart is that students write real Python code from day one. Instead of relying on drag-and-drop blocks, students learn programming concepts by controlling characters, completing missions, and solving challenges inside a game world. This creates a learning experience that feels fun and engaging while still teaching practical coding skills that can be applied beyond the classroom.
Beyond student engagement, KangaCode also includes a classroom management system that helps teachers monitor progress, review student code, track learning outcomes, and manage classrooms more efficiently. This gives educators better visibility into each student’s learning journey while allowing them to focus more on teaching and mentorship.
We are especially proud of our ability to combine engagement with meaningful educational outcomes. Many platforms focus primarily on entertainment or instruction. KangaCode was built to deliver both. Our goal is not only to teach students how to code, but also to help them develop computational thinking, creativity, problem-solving skills, and the confidence to build their own ideas.
As artificial intelligence continues to transform the world, we believe future generations will need more than just the ability to use technology. They will need to understand how technology works, how to think logically, how to solve problems, and how to collaborate with AI tools effectively. Through coding, we aim to help students build the foundation and mindset needed to thrive in an AI-driven future.
Our mission is to inspire the next generation of creators, innovators, and technology leaders by making learning both engaging and meaningful. We want students to see themselves not just as consumers of technology, but as people who can create it.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
Absolutely. Building KangaCode has been a team effort, and we would not be where we are today without the support of many people and organizations along the way.
First, I want to recognize my co-founder, Lai (Tony) Jiang. From the beginning, we shared the same vision of making coding education more engaging and accessible. Building an educational technology company requires balancing product development, educational design, business strategy, and customer needs, and Tony has been an invaluable partner throughout that journey.
We are also incredibly grateful to the educators, students, schools, and families who believed in KangaCode early on. Their feedback helped shape both our coding game and classroom management platform. Many of the features we have today were inspired directly by real classroom experiences and conversations with teachers and students.
A special thanks goes to the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Pittsburgh, particularly the CMU Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship and Project Olympus. Through mentorship, startup programming, and connections with experienced founders and industry leaders, these organizations provided valuable guidance as we grew KangaCode from an idea into a company. Their support helped us think more strategically about product development, customer discovery, and building a sustainable business.
We have also benefited from the advice of mentors, advisors, and fellow entrepreneurs who generously shared their experiences and helped us navigate the challenges that come with building an early-stage startup.
Finally, we want to thank our team members, past and present, whose creativity, dedication, and expertise have been essential to KangaCode’s development. Creating a platform that combines education, game design, software engineering, and classroom tools requires collaboration across many disciplines, and every team member has contributed to making our vision a reality.
While Jeff and Tony founded KangaCode, its growth has been made possible by a broader community of supporters, educators, students, mentors, partners, and teammates who share our belief that learning to code should be engaging, meaningful, and empowering for every student.
Pricing:
- Free trial available for students and families
- Individual Subscription: $11.99/month or $119.88/year
- School and classroom licensing available for educational institutions
- Summer camps and private instruction offered in select locations
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kangacode.ai
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kangacode_official
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kangacode.official
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kangacode
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@KangaCode
