From a passion for mathematics to revolutionizing how students prepare for competitions worldwide. Join us on a journey through innovation, dedication, and mathematical excellence.
Our founder and CEO, Ethan Curtis, wasn't naturally good at math competitions or math in general. In middle school, interested in problem solving and puzzles, he started participating in math contests. Initially, he placed poorly in most and was a passionate but mediocre performer.
The big breakthrough was realizing that you could train for a math contest just as you can train for a chemistry test or a biology exam. It's all the same. Just different textbooks and resources.
Over time, Ethan understood the art of summarizing solutions, the different tools and creative patterns that competition problems were shells for.
In late 2023, Ethan sought to create a side source of income and, drawing on his limited prior experience assisting at Kumon, he began tutoring. Although he prepared diligently for his initial sessions, his early classes were fairly unremarkable—highlighting the difference between understanding mathematics and teaching it effectively.
To his surprise, demand for his tutoring services grew quickly, likely aided by the fact that his starting hourly rate was set well below minimum wage.
During this period, Dominic Ely, serving as Chief Marketing Officer, played an essential role in client acquisition and in laying the foundation for the company’s early growth. His efforts were instrumental in turning what began as a small tutoring experiment into a more structured and sustainable venture.
Ethan realized that existing tutoring tools weren't meeting student needs.
He started creating custom curriculum docs for all of his students, an approach which many of his students found great value in.
Most great products are created out of necessity, because nothing else works, rather than the grand vision of creating the next big thing.
Because Ethan was already occupied with classes and coach management, another technical perspective was needed.
So Ethan recruited Jaden, our founding CTO.
Working together they started building full-stack solutions:
AI-enhanced whiteboards for hint-based guidance, better communication systems for coaches and students, and AI powered curriculum development tools that actually saved time.
After over 6 months, we were featured on the front of the BC Business website, had a TV interview with Cheq News, and an article in Victoria News.
By then, we'd taught over 50 students and generated more than $20,000 in revenue.
More importantly, we learned how to teach—or at least made some progress in the lifelong journey of teaching.
And how to teach others to teach, managing and guiding other coaches to expand our impact further.
After months of successful paid coaching, something felt incomplete.
There are many students who could benefit from quality math education. But many can't afford it.
So in early 2024, AMC Academy started the OpenMath Initiative. The idea was straightforward: if we've figured out how to teach math effectively, why not share it with communities that need it most?
Dominic and Ethan co-authored a research paper analyzing the relationship between competition entry age and student engagement patterns—"Starting Young in STEM"—to better understand how to reach students early.
We partnered with STEM Center Africa and began running free workshops and competitions for underserved students. No strings attached. No hidden agendas. Just good teaching.
The results have been incredible so far. Over 100 students across countries like Kenya have participated in our programs. We've funded competitions, created free resources, and run workshops that focus on building genuine understanding rather than just test performance.
That's what this is really about and the direction we want to go in.
Our Mission: Revolutionize math education and accessibility :)
Thanks for reading!
- Ethan Curtis & Jaden Berger-North
